4 ms·

At this point the men you discuss are sitting around playing video games and doing oxy. They don't seem to be threatening society in any way. https://www.comme

At this point the men you discuss are sitting around playing video games and doing oxy. They don't seem to be threatening society in any way. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/our-miserable-21st-century/ https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/our-miserable-21...

toyg 10y ago
And electing Trump for a laugh. Totally non-threatening. /s
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  The article suggests their civic engagement is low, so likely most of them didn't vote. Would love better data on this though.
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    The ones that did vote likely voted for Trump in order to bring manufacturing jobs back. However misguided you may of believed this to be, the Democratic candidate said things like "We are going to put coal miners out of business"[0], if you were a coal miner that would scare you. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksIXqxpQNt0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksIXqxpQNt0
  - marchenko 10y ago
    The focal males of the article didn't vote, but their worried family and friends did.
  - ThrowawayR2 10y ago
    The economic situation isn't bad enough to put pressure on them to do so. If a repeat of the dot-com bust or 2008 occurred and their lifestyle became endangered, you honestly think that this demographic wouldn't turn out to vote for some even worse demagogue who makes pie-in-the-sky promises to fix all their problems?
tomjen3 10y ago
Both of which are inventions by very skilled people that can only exist in an industrialized society.
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  Those skilled people are still working and are still marriageable. Speculating about a scary future dystopia works less well when we already live in that world and it's not so bad.
  - rudrigu 10y ago
    The phenomenon is way too recent. A few more decades of this, and let's see.
  - DaUR 10y ago
    Except dystopia isn't "everyone lives in a bad, mean world". It's societal dislocation. For some, the dystopia is real, right now. For others, it never will be.
Pica_soO 10y ago
Unless they go to syria. Or vote for a populistic president?
dripton 10y ago
As someone who's always been employed, this confuses me. How do the permanently unemployed afford video games and drugs, in addition to rent and food? Sponge off their parents? Their partner? The state? I'd love to see a real study.
- douche 10y ago
  If you are permanently unemployed, you don't pay taxes, you get subsidies for food, for rent, for health care, for heating, and for a plethora of other services, if you know how to game the system properly. You may be on "disability", and if you're smart about it, you probably work a little bit off the books, cash-only. There's a whole system of perverse incentives and interacting welfare programs that produce income cliffs where it is suboptimal to work more and have greater income, because that small increase in wages results in a much larger loss of services.
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  It is discussed in this article: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/our-miserable-21st-century/ https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/our-miserable-21...
- DaUR 10y ago
  These are often not kids of the lower-classes, who are more likely to end up on the streets caught up in crime than in their bedroom playing video games. It's the middle or even upper middle class children often doing this, not just for economic reasons.
DaUR 10y ago
Take away their video games and drugs, and see what you end up with. Their video game addiction is obviously a sign of deep, fundamental and overwhelming distress. I think you're going for the "they're victims too, not violent inhumane monsters" which is true, but doesn't take away from GP's point that they're potentially volatile and therefore a threat to stability.

toyg 10y ago

And electing Trump for a laugh. Totally non-threatening. /s

yummyfajitas 10y ago
The article suggests their civic engagement is low, so likely most of them didn't vote. Would love better data on this though.
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  The ones that did vote likely voted for Trump in order to bring manufacturing jobs back. However misguided you may of believed this to be, the Democratic candidate said things like "We are going to put coal miners out of business"[0], if you were a coal miner that would scare you. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksIXqxpQNt0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksIXqxpQNt0
- marchenko 10y ago
  The focal males of the article didn't vote, but their worried family and friends did.
- ThrowawayR2 10y ago
  The economic situation isn't bad enough to put pressure on them to do so. If a repeat of the dot-com bust or 2008 occurred and their lifestyle became endangered, you honestly think that this demographic wouldn't turn out to vote for some even worse demagogue who makes pie-in-the-sky promises to fix all their problems?

tomjen3 10y ago

Both of which are inventions by very skilled people that can only exist in an industrialized society.

yummyfajitas 10y ago
Those skilled people are still working and are still marriageable. Speculating about a scary future dystopia works less well when we already live in that world and it's not so bad.
- rudrigu 10y ago
  The phenomenon is way too recent. A few more decades of this, and let's see.
- DaUR 10y ago
  Except dystopia isn't "everyone lives in a bad, mean world". It's societal dislocation. For some, the dystopia is real, right now. For others, it never will be.

Pica_soO 10y ago

Unless they go to syria. Or vote for a populistic president?

dripton 10y ago

As someone who's always been employed, this confuses me. How do the permanently unemployed afford video games and drugs, in addition to rent and food? Sponge off their parents? Their partner? The state? I'd love to see a real study.

douche 10y ago
If you are permanently unemployed, you don't pay taxes, you get subsidies for food, for rent, for health care, for heating, and for a plethora of other services, if you know how to game the system properly. You may be on "disability", and if you're smart about it, you probably work a little bit off the books, cash-only. There's a whole system of perverse incentives and interacting welfare programs that produce income cliffs where it is suboptimal to work more and have greater income, because that small increase in wages results in a much larger loss of services.
yummyfajitas 10y ago
It is discussed in this article: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/our-miserable-21st-century/ https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/our-miserable-21...
DaUR 10y ago
These are often not kids of the lower-classes, who are more likely to end up on the streets caught up in crime than in their bedroom playing video games. It's the middle or even upper middle class children often doing this, not just for economic reasons.

DaUR 10y ago

Take away their video games and drugs, and see what you end up with. Their video game addiction is obviously a sign of deep, fundamental and overwhelming distress. I think you're going for the "they're victims too, not violent inhumane monsters" which is true, but doesn't take away from GP's point that they're potentially volatile and therefore a threat to stability.