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Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

city-journal.org

101–110 of 137 posts

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#101
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the 'why' though. Plenty of people across the world grow up in similar situations as kids in the Midwest and they don't go around destroying other people's property. I honestly think there's something really messed up about American culture. I believe you can draw a direct correlation between what I think it is - people being indoctrinated into selfishness from an early age - and behavior like that. For co…

But did their parents consistently love them and have a stable relationship with each other? It's well known that lack of those factors causes lifelong psychological problems in children which manifests as criminal behavior, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and suicide, as well as perpetuating the problem to the next generation.

A better question: Where are American kids not being repressed?

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#102
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't make sense. The losers of those wars were risk takers as well - and they lost. In fact, for an EXISTING nation, risk taking males are more of a threat to social order. Risk taking, non-conformist males make terrible infantrymen - that's why they beat out the risk taker and make you follow orders. The military doesn't want a cosplaying rambo cocking everything up.

> In fact, for an EXISTING nation, risk taking males are more of a threat to social order. Risk taking, non-conformist males make terrible infantrymen - that's why they beat out the risk taker and make you follow orders. That's 100% wrong. One of the main advantages of western militaries is that they encourage independent thinking. In the Marines, one of the things leaders are told is that they should tell their troo…

I think op is talking about army/navy kids, not marine officers.

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#103
I spent several years of my life raising someone else's son "out of wedlock" with great care and devotion, while his other male family members have so much family values they have been married several times, but couldn't bother to show up. We are on good terms, and in spite of his having a "single mother" he survived to adulthood, and without the criminal record the author warns of as a consequence.

This publisher is operated by a conservative think tank. I am not surprised that they claim that civic unrest following police executions is the result of "out of wedlock" parenting by the poor, but it is paternalistic, condescending, self-serving, personally insulting to myself, and most importantly, totally unsupported by any provided evidence.

This is hacker news. What is a hacker if not someone who does what works because it's works, even when it's not conventional, and even when authority figures tell you not to because it's naughty?

This article furnishes no evidence that being married forces poor people to be good parents, nor do all the downvotes in world.

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#104
post #9

This post resonates with me, but I definitely don't think it's hopeless. I'm in my early 30s, and have "no friends". There are people I would consider my friends, but as we grew up, we got adult responsiblities like jobs and family, most moved to different states for work, so I haven't actually been able to see them for years. Recently I've been working to improve my life, so I've been going out for walks around my n…

I'm in my late 30s. 5 years ago, I had "no friends".

Keep at it; I've only just now started to make a few really great ones.

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There used to be 'sportsman's' clubs, ham radio clubs, sailing clubs, hiking clubs, bowling leagues, search-and-rescue, jeep clubs etc that have to an unfortunate degree just faded away only to be replaced by meetup groups that just seem to be trying a little...too...hard.... Fraternal organizations, hell, that's what they're for! Men of 30 and up to get together and drink beer and tell war stories. It's not weird an…

I want the old Viennese/Parisian/Arabian intellectual cafe and salon clubs to come back. I would join one in a heartbeat.

My nostalgia is for Ed Ricketts' version of that at Pacific Biological Laboratories in Monterey. Sort of a low-brow early California take on it.

"The lab became a meeting place for intellectuals, artists, and writers, including Bruce Ariss, Joseph Campbell, Henry Miller, John Steinbeck, Lincoln Steffens, and Francis Whitaker."

If you ever make it to the Monterey Bay aquarium they have Ed Ricketts' bookshelf, including a copy of A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Biological_Laboratorie...

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#106
post #3

Everybody already knows this, so it has become a moot point. Nobody really cares, but they should. The deconstruction of the male's role in society will contribute to the downfall of the west, and that's coming from one of these mistrusting, nihilistic, 4chan contributing males

I don't see the "downfall" narrative in real life. It seems like it's meant to provoke a defensive response from people the same way certain political language does. I, as a stereotypical guy, have more freedom now than ever to do what I want. No doors have been closed on me by recent societal changes. Yes, maybe cultural attention is elsewhere but that doesn't mean that anything has really changed. In fact the relat…

I have a few questions out of curiosity: what is your age? What is your income? and where do you live? A 35 year old making 350k in the bay area is not prone to the nihilistic struggle that fuels many young men

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#107
post #42
post #3

Everybody already knows this, so it has become a moot point. Nobody really cares, but they should. The deconstruction of the male's role in society will contribute to the downfall of the west, and that's coming from one of these mistrusting, nihilistic, 4chan contributing males

> The deconstruction of the male's role in society will contribute to the downfall of the west, and that's coming from one of these mistrusting, nihilistic, 4chan contributing males You should get off 4chan if you actually think any part of what you stated here is real. You are stuck in an echo chamber but those beliefs are by no means universal.

I would say that there is copious evidence of the effort by some to degrade the role of white men in society today, often simply in the name of diversity. The relegation of high achieving men is a hallmark of foundering societies.

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There used to be 'sportsman's' clubs, ham radio clubs, sailing clubs, hiking clubs, bowling leagues, search-and-rescue, jeep clubs etc that have to an unfortunate degree just faded away only to be replaced by meetup groups that just seem to be trying a little...too...hard.... Fraternal organizations, hell, that's what they're for! Men of 30 and up to get together and drink beer and tell war stories. It's not weird an…

I want the old Viennese/Parisian/Arabian intellectual cafe and salon clubs to come back. I would join one in a heartbeat.

https://hackerspaces.org/

Re: Family instability fuels rising nihilism among young men

#110
post #2

Not related to the content of the article, but that has to be the worst page scrolling experience I've ever come across. Something steals focus and scrolling breaks until you click on the page.

Works for me on both Firefox 80.0.1 and Chromium 85 without any plugins on either of them.

What browser are you using?

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