I will be taking a break for the rest of the week from the blog, but thought I'd add something on our national tragedies after 9/11:
The pivotal moment for my parent's generation was Pearl Harbor; for mine, the assassination of President Kennedy; and for my son, 9/11. These "pivots" are times when the nation reacts almost as one to a highly important, or highly visible tragedy, one that invariably involves death and marks an important change in
the nation. In the case of JFK, it concerned only one man who was easily replaced within our system, as it should be. But, aside from the man being president, we as a nation knew that something crucial, some historical threshold had been crossed. Perhaps it was the assassination itself, giving us, at the height of the cold war (when all children were taught to "duck and cover" in case of nuclear explosions), something tangible to reflect the changes that were occurring due to the aftermath of WWII and an explosion of technological development. In a few short years after the death, America did change, so greatly that it would have been inconceivable just a decade earlier. We are still dealing with the results today in evolving mores and family structure and even the very idea of national sovereignty. The baby boomers' own vision got out of control, and in many ways no one knows where we are going with it. And few seem happy, regardless of their political affiliation.
What of 9/11 and my son's generation? Talking with him a few days ago, he said of himself and his peers that they see no future for the country; that, in fact, they expect the nation to dissolve into some sort of dystopic chaos within a few decades. Ideas of catastrophe and a world without borders and definite ways seems to have crept in along with the rogue jets of the hijackers of 9/11. Now, not only is no one safe, but there are no definite enemies, no nations we might go to war with to win or lose our cause. For many young people, in spite of continued technological achievements and relative prosperity, theirs is a world of entropy, without purpose as the world - both the human and the natural - crumbles. No borders, no limits, no hope. Disaster, and then anarchy. With this they live and shrug - what can they do about it?
I am not so pessimistic, but perhaps they are on to something. Theirs is the second generation orphaned by high divorce rates, or no firm family at all, who now are told that the very fabric of their nation is, at core, rotten - slavery, sexism, all sorts of phobias, greed, violence. This core is being torn asunder, but with nothing concrete to take its place - with no vision of a better tomorrow, however idealistic that might be. For those pushing this agenda, no one knows the end-game, least of all the activists. It does seem a doorway to anarchy. As an anthropologist, I can say with great certainty that no human social group can exist for long under those conditions. I cannot, however, predict what is to come. I do not, or will not, concede (at least not yet) to global or national ruin. But where, in this contradictory world where traditional values are belittled and chaos seems to be courted, can we go? What is the logical conclusion?
And what will be the next generation's pivot, for there probably will be one? Will it close the circle and bring back confidence and prosperity as the horror of WWII did? Or will it buttress the apparent unraveling of centuries of cultural evolution?
The End Times have been preached for centuries, and in no time did the End Times come to Western Civilization. But they did come for others, often at the hands of the West. Are we now succumbing to our own designs? Have we begun to conquer - and destroy - ourselves in some unconscious effort to at last bring the end - and with it somehow, a relief of an unseen burden?
Still, the wind blows and the leaves flutter without fluster. In the Catholic Apostle's Creed, in spite of the belief in the Judgement Day, it ends, "world without end, amen." Maybe, hopefully, it is only time to take a breath and be grateful for what we have - at least until the next pivot. FK
The pivotal moment for my parent's generation was Pearl Harbor; for mine, the assassination of President Kennedy; and for my son, 9/11. These "pivots" are times when the nation reacts almost as one to a highly important, or highly visible tragedy, one that invariably involves death and marks an important change in
the nation. In the case of JFK, it concerned only one man who was easily replaced within our system, as it should be. But, aside from the man being president, we as a nation knew that something crucial, some historical threshold had been crossed. Perhaps it was the assassination itself, giving us, at the height of the cold war (when all children were taught to "duck and cover" in case of nuclear explosions), something tangible to reflect the changes that were occurring due to the aftermath of WWII and an explosion of technological development. In a few short years after the death, America did change, so greatly that it would have been inconceivable just a decade earlier. We are still dealing with the results today in evolving mores and family structure and even the very idea of national sovereignty. The baby boomers' own vision got out of control, and in many ways no one knows where we are going with it. And few seem happy, regardless of their political affiliation.
What of 9/11 and my son's generation? Talking with him a few days ago, he said of himself and his peers that they see no future for the country; that, in fact, they expect the nation to dissolve into some sort of dystopic chaos within a few decades. Ideas of catastrophe and a world without borders and definite ways seems to have crept in along with the rogue jets of the hijackers of 9/11. Now, not only is no one safe, but there are no definite enemies, no nations we might go to war with to win or lose our cause. For many young people, in spite of continued technological achievements and relative prosperity, theirs is a world of entropy, without purpose as the world - both the human and the natural - crumbles. No borders, no limits, no hope. Disaster, and then anarchy. With this they live and shrug - what can they do about it?
I am not so pessimistic, but perhaps they are on to something. Theirs is the second generation orphaned by high divorce rates, or no firm family at all, who now are told that the very fabric of their nation is, at core, rotten - slavery, sexism, all sorts of phobias, greed, violence. This core is being torn asunder, but with nothing concrete to take its place - with no vision of a better tomorrow, however idealistic that might be. For those pushing this agenda, no one knows the end-game, least of all the activists. It does seem a doorway to anarchy. As an anthropologist, I can say with great certainty that no human social group can exist for long under those conditions. I cannot, however, predict what is to come. I do not, or will not, concede (at least not yet) to global or national ruin. But where, in this contradictory world where traditional values are belittled and chaos seems to be courted, can we go? What is the logical conclusion?
And what will be the next generation's pivot, for there probably will be one? Will it close the circle and bring back confidence and prosperity as the horror of WWII did? Or will it buttress the apparent unraveling of centuries of cultural evolution?
The End Times have been preached for centuries, and in no time did the End Times come to Western Civilization. But they did come for others, often at the hands of the West. Are we now succumbing to our own designs? Have we begun to conquer - and destroy - ourselves in some unconscious effort to at last bring the end - and with it somehow, a relief of an unseen burden?
Still, the wind blows and the leaves flutter without fluster. In the Catholic Apostle's Creed, in spite of the belief in the Judgement Day, it ends, "world without end, amen." Maybe, hopefully, it is only time to take a breath and be grateful for what we have - at least until the next pivot. FK
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