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Wow, this is amazing! Everyone here is reacting exactly the way the OP's theory would predict. Those under (approximately) 40 rave against the article. They sti
by joshuak 10y ago
Wow, this is amazing! Everyone here is reacting exactly the way the OP's theory would predict. Those under (approximately) 40 rave against the article. They still have a sense of meaning. Those who are at the apex of 40 are depressed by it, they still bemone the loss of meaning. Those over 40 and past the transition like myself find the article to be great and not depressing at all, just a bit of gallows humor.
Granted it's a young crowd and the young are a noisy bunch, so you expect the comments to skew towards the dissenting view.
Really fantastic result, and article. Thanks. I found it eminensly helpful.
- coldtea 10y agoYou've nailed it. Add a few outliers who never cared for culture or meaning much, even when young, and don't understand what the whole thing is about anyway (those won't even have midlife crises).
- apatters 10y agoAha, that must be what I am!
- joshuak 10y agoI'll add... If you find yourself disagreeing with this article, or depressed by what seems like a cynical outlook consider this example. If you are a child who believes in Santa. Would you not rave against a world in which Santa no longer exists? If you were a child who just learned or is starting to suspect that Santa does not exist would you not be depressed about that? Would you not think parents so cynical to fake all of these stores? But if you are the parent who already knows these things, it's neither good or bad, it's just a nice story to tell the kids, and see their eyes light up with images of elves and winter wonder lands. This article isn't depressing or cynical. In fact it might be quite the clever meaning game for the over 40 set, just like Santa Claus is for parents. ... And what is Santa Claus if not a cultural construct of meaning. As the author says, this isn't a bad thing.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- nzealand 10y ago...and if you find yourself trying to explain concepts that took you forty years to understand... then you probably only recently turned forty. :)
- rl3 10y agoI'm well under forty and enjoyed the article immensely. While that normally would disprove your observation, it's probably just the dubious honor of falling within one of the article's "well-known fucked-up life scripts" (I'm going with 40 < 40). You're right though, there is a lot of negative sentiment towards the article—some of it bordering on pure vitriol. Those people would do well to not take it so seriously. It's basically gallows humor, as you said.
- jcoffland 10y agoI'm on the cusp. Just turned 40. The only thing I find depressing about this article is how it rambles on and on in its pseudo intellectual tone. It's mostly erudite fluff sprinkled with aphorisms.
- marssaxman 10y agoI will turn 40 later this summer, and I am reacting in none of those ways; I simply can't get enough meaning out of the writer's highly coded stylization to understand whether there is a point worth reacting to. What little I can get out of it sounds like a translation from a foreign culture; I don't live in the author's world.