We’re living in what they call the “Information Age,” but life only seems to be making less sense. We’re isolated, listless, burnt out on screens, cutting loved ones out like tumors in the spirit of “boundaries,” failing to understand other people’s choices or even our own. The machine is malfunctioning, and we’re trying to think our way out of it. In 1961, Marxist philosopher Frantz Fanon wrote, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it.” Our mission, it seems, has to do with the mind.
— Amanda Montell, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality (Atria/One Signal Publishers, April 9, 2024)
Notes:
- Book Review from the Washington Post: ‘The Age of Magical Overthinking’ tries to pinpoint our mental health crisis.”
- Post Inspired by: “Directors and writers now have nothing to push against because there are no rules or cultural prohibitions, so there’s no friction, everything is left cold, and the art turns in on itself and becomes merely weird… Why does it all bother me? Because even though it isn’t new, uglification is rising and spreading as an artistic attitude, and it can’t be good for us. Because it speaks of self-hatred, and a society that hates itself, and hates life, won’t last. Because it gives those who are young nothing to love and feel soft about. Because we need beauty to keep our morale up. Because life isn’t merde, in spite of what our entertainment geniuses say.” — Peggy Noonan, “The Uglification of Everything Artistic culture has taken a repulsive turn. It speaks of a society that hates itself, and hates life.” (Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2024)