The World You Were Raised to Survive In No Longer Exists

The School of Hard Knocks

The recent post on Generation Y drew a lot of comment. One of the most prominent questions pertained to why so many members of generations after X are seemingly unsalvageable. As Bruce Lee taught us, understanding the problem points to the solution. So let's examine Gen Y's besetting vice: terminal…
April 9, 202415 Comments
Richard Dawkins by Tom Jamieson

New Atheist, Cultural Christian

The man who was perhaps the most notorious purveyor of the New Atheist movement back in the aughts has dropped a bombshell in a recent interview. A famous atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins explained he identifies as a "cultural Christian" in an interview after learning Ramadan lights were hung…
April 3, 202413 Comments
Comic Book Guy

Growing out of Comic Books

If you had the fortune of being a kid back when we still had a coherent society, and if you'd developed a taste for comic books, odds were that at least one adult in your life warned you against the habit. If the warning went unheeded, the common wisdom held…
April 2, 202418 Comments
Con Inc Crackup

The Coming Crackup of Con Inc

Unless you have a heart of stone, you've got to take pity on normie Conservatives' plight. Though still immersed in consumer culture, every brand they love to consume long ago sold out to people who hate them. Included in that regime-aligned rogues' gallery are the manufacturers of Conservative politics and…
March 28, 202429 Comments
Last Third Place Mall

The Last of the Third Places

Last week's popular post on the decline of the shopping mall drew robust comment about the societal consequences of losing that public forum. One key idea readers introduced to the discussion was the Third Place. Reader Sian writes: [T]he mall was the last Third Place. Previous and following generations definitely…
March 25, 202413 Comments
Perverse Generation

Faithless and Perverse Generation

American members of Generation Z face overlapping crises of identity, faith, and general happiness, if recent reports are to be believed. According to several high-profile surveys, young adults in America may be the most faithless and perverse generation yet. And they're suffering the mental and spiritual health consequences. Young people…
March 22, 202428 Comments
Retro Stream

Years Ago and in Another Country

A common saying has it that the past is another country. It's taken as a figure of speech, but pay a visit to almost any mid-American shopping mall these days, and the prevailing vibe resembles an archaeological site. What was the hub of American commerce in the previous era is…
March 21, 20247 Comments
The Mall

The Idea of a Mall

Yesterday a fascinating intergenerational conversation took place on X. And it put me in mind of a subject we haven't touched on in a while: The cultural impact of the mall - how it rose to dominance, and how it faded. While loving the idea of a mall is a…
March 19, 202428 Comments
Rooster Teeth Logo

Rooster Teeth Bites the Dust

Earlier reports of geek culture cartoon studio Rooster Teeth Productions' demise turned out to have been premature. But now, the Time-Warner subsidiary's general manager has issued a statement confirming that the animation company has indeed given up the ghost. Dear Rooster Teeth, Since our founders created and uploaded their first…
March 7, 202427 Comments
1990s despair

The 1990s: Decade of Despair

"If only Pat Buchanan had beaten Bush for the nomination!" "If only George Lucas had adapted the Zahn  Trilogy instead of making the Special Editions!" "If only Sega had won the fifth console generation!" "If only Clear Channel hadn't taken over top 40 rock radio!" "If only they'd kept it…
March 5, 202419 Comments