4 ms·

there are too many digressions and obscure inside-references in this essay, but this cuts to the heart of the matter: "[Premium mediocre] is an economic and cu

by yaway 9y ago

there are too many digressions and obscure inside-references in this essay, but this cuts to the heart of the matter: "[Premium mediocre] is an economic and cultural rearguard action by young people launched into life from the old middle class, but not quite equipped to stay there, and trying to engineer a face-saving soft landing…somewhere." i'm 24 and while i can see the humor and hyperbole in this article, its also a pretty astute description of the disenchantment many of my bicoastal "elite" friends from middle/upper-middle class families feel. timely too. one of my friends texted me this morning: "[my large corporate employer] laid off 90% of its sales force yesterday...survived another day in corporate America" the worst side effect for me is feeling like i am stupid and naive for trying to do things the "right" way - the meritocratic, socially conscious, altruistic way - when it seems like these are values that do not achieve the right outcomes anymore. should just shut up and get mine. overall i feel my generation, or at least my social strata, will mature to be colder, harder and more distant than our predecessors. all it will take to cement this transformation is another recession

hkmurakami 9y ago
I have a few good friends who lean hard towards the mission driven engineering side. They tend to find each other for continual inspiration and support. Find kindred spirits. It'll help you stay true to your way. All of us need this kind of community support from like minded peers.
UnpossibleJim 9y ago
Yeah. That's basically what happened to the kids of the 60's and the kids of the 80's. They started out anticorp and f-society, then ended up doing cocaine in the boardroom and smashing anything that they didn't own. It's a weird shift that seems to happen. =)
- jameskegel 9y ago
  I feel this change- every time I get a raise, every time I make a $500 purchase on a whim, these are the things that my inner-teenager rages about, but why experience success if I can't enjoy it? When I was younger, I didn't understand the ways of the people above me because I didn't have the discipline to obtain the means that would allow me to make those choices. In essence, "you hate it because you ain't it".
  - eropple 9y ago
    You hate it because you ain't it and have been conspired against by the entirety of society to never, ever, ever be it. That's what you are eliding, and it should be out in the open. You got lucky. So did I. You may have worked hard for it. I certainly didn't. Hard work increases luck; it does not substitute for it. It's a crapshoot, and the folks referred to in that article know it. Why not just shrug and go along, if the roulette wheel controlled it in the first place?
    - flachsechs 9y ago
      > Why not just shrug and go along, if the roulette wheel controlled it in the first place? notice how buddhism and stoicism is all of a sudden so fascinating to everyone in the 'scene' ?
      - eropple 9y ago
        I am an Emojishrugcurian, personally, but that's a good pull, I hadn't thought of that.
    - jameskegel 9y ago
      I think you applied some type of subconscious bias to my statement, and in the process misunderstood it. It took a lot of hard work for most things in my life, like most people. Nobody has conspired against me, but interesting you say that because I've met many like yourself who conspire against themselves, unwilling to realize their true potential because of an imaginary bogie-man. I view that habit as apathy, and so long as everyone else is idled and unwilling to try, I will continue to be relatively successful just doing my best, over and over until I stop.
jordanpg 9y ago
It feels like the author started by coining a catchy turn of phrase, "premium mediocrity", and then just started writing until he tenuously connected it with his various insights about the psychosocial dynamics of Millennials. The important detail about "premium mediocrity" seems to be that it is manifestly not, in fact, "premium". It's the end result, the evolution, of armies of marketing people doing their job. A gimmick. I think the people he writes about are more savvy to this than he gives them credit for. It's just that these kinds of consumption choices are just usually the most convenient, and there are lots of other things to be dealing with.
- TheBeardKing 9y ago
  I think that's exactly it. You can choose to not buy into the social media hype around new products, services, whatever, and just abstain. Premium mediocrity is just another spin on consumerism and materialism that has plagued the US for decades. Ignore it all, buy for quality or used, make your own damn coffee, grow some vegetables, cook at home - common sense things that have been advisable for longer than the consumerist attitude. Life can be enjoyable and on a steady path to retirement with patience, frugality, and perseverance, barring the unfortunate events which are also part of life. I reject premium mediocrity in favor of regular mediocrity. I'll put the premium in the bank and spend it in retirement.
arkh 9y ago
"overall i feel my generation, or at least my social strata, will mature to be colder, harder and more distant than our predecessors. all it will take to cement this transformation is another recession " I think you're wrong. I think the previous generation was colder and harder than us. Boomers exploited the silent generation. Boomers got children as a sacrifice to their never-ending hunger for more. They're the cold, hard and calculating ones who fucked and are fucking over every other generation.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  It's so incredibly easy to look at other people see their flaws and point them out, but much harder to understand how they got there. The Boomers are selfish because they were raised to be selfish, but the children they raise make them look altruistic by comparison.
- notyourwork 9y ago
  > They're the cold, hard and calculating ones who fucked and are fucking over every other generation. Can you elaborate on how so? I don't agree or disagree because I don't understand how you feel the boomer generation fucked over everyone else?
  - arkh 9y ago
    Fucking over the previous generation: instead of taking care of your parents once they're old just put them in a "old people ready to die" home. Fucking over the next generation: up the requirements for jobs (education and experience) so it is harder for them to find one. Concentrate jobs in some huge cities and refuse new constructions so the rent can go up way more than salaries. In most countries setup a Ponzi scheme for pensions where you paid peanuts because there were not a lot of pensions to pay while you were active but now that you are there the active:passive ratio is a lot worse. And my favorite: sell the college experience (especially humanities) to people who can't afford those.
    - notyourwork 9y ago
      > instead of taking care of your parents once they're old just put them in a "old people ready to die" home. I don't want to sound ignorant but do we have any stats to back this up. Also, do we have an answer to how many of the boomer's parents didn't save enough to support themselves? I don't disagree but I also don't agree with this. In my family, my Dad's parents saved and diligently prepared for their later years. My Mom's parents did not. So now I ask myself, am I expected to care for my parents in their later years? I don't think our generation expects to do so but personally I would do what I can for my family. However, I am not so sure that the boomers fucked us over by not caring for their parents. By not caring for their parents, how does this fuck us over exactly? > up the requirements for jobs (education and experience) so it is harder for them to find one. Is this the boomers fault? Each generation the requirements and expectations for jobs increase. Middle school teachers and police officers required to have masters degrees in some states and cities. Some cities do have the housing problems you speak of, San Francisco comes to mind. However, this isn't a generalization that you can apply to an entire country or world. I am from a large midwest city that isn't plagued with this problem, is quite affordable and has lots of jobs. I think you are taking a specific situation and applying it to an entire generation of people which I feel is unfair. I do agree however that you raise some discussion points.
losteverything 9y ago
feeling like i am stupid and naive for trying to do things the "right" way You are in the forrest with no GPS Take a very deep dive into your family tree. Ask how and why with each relative or dead tree. I found hard work. I also found this: greatness by association is hollow and shallow. Dont be bothered analysing other people or other families.
cellularmitosis 9y ago
should just shut up and get mine. Shutting up and getting yours isn't at odds with doing things the "right" way, if you allow for a decade or two of phase shift. When you are on an airplane, you put on your oxygen mask first, then you assist others. For about a decade, I despised Bill Gates. Fast forward to today, and he now gives away far, far more money to social causes than I will ever earn in my entire life.
- bigmanwalter 9y ago
  Maybe you would earn more and have the opportunity to donate more yourself if he hadn't monopolized the market. We can't know for sure but it's not obvious to me that he's such a Messiah.

by yaway 9y ago

hkmurakami 9y ago

I have a few good friends who lean hard towards the mission driven engineering side. They tend to find each other for continual inspiration and support. Find kindred spirits. It'll help you stay true to your way. All of us need this kind of community support from like minded peers.

UnpossibleJim 9y ago

Yeah. That's basically what happened to the kids of the 60's and the kids of the 80's. They started out anticorp and f-society, then ended up doing cocaine in the boardroom and smashing anything that they didn't own. It's a weird shift that seems to happen. =)

jameskegel 9y ago
I feel this change- every time I get a raise, every time I make a $500 purchase on a whim, these are the things that my inner-teenager rages about, but why experience success if I can't enjoy it? When I was younger, I didn't understand the ways of the people above me because I didn't have the discipline to obtain the means that would allow me to make those choices. In essence, "you hate it because you ain't it".
- eropple 9y ago
  You hate it because you ain't it and have been conspired against by the entirety of society to never, ever, ever be it. That's what you are eliding, and it should be out in the open. You got lucky. So did I. You may have worked hard for it. I certainly didn't. Hard work increases luck; it does not substitute for it. It's a crapshoot, and the folks referred to in that article know it. Why not just shrug and go along, if the roulette wheel controlled it in the first place?
  - flachsechs 9y ago
    > Why not just shrug and go along, if the roulette wheel controlled it in the first place? notice how buddhism and stoicism is all of a sudden so fascinating to everyone in the 'scene' ?
    - eropple 9y ago
      I am an Emojishrugcurian, personally, but that's a good pull, I hadn't thought of that.
  - jameskegel 9y ago
    I think you applied some type of subconscious bias to my statement, and in the process misunderstood it. It took a lot of hard work for most things in my life, like most people. Nobody has conspired against me, but interesting you say that because I've met many like yourself who conspire against themselves, unwilling to realize their true potential because of an imaginary bogie-man. I view that habit as apathy, and so long as everyone else is idled and unwilling to try, I will continue to be relatively successful just doing my best, over and over until I stop.

jordanpg 9y ago

It feels like the author started by coining a catchy turn of phrase, "premium mediocrity", and then just started writing until he tenuously connected it with his various insights about the psychosocial dynamics of Millennials. The important detail about "premium mediocrity" seems to be that it is manifestly not, in fact, "premium". It's the end result, the evolution, of armies of marketing people doing their job. A gimmick. I think the people he writes about are more savvy to this than he gives them credit for. It's just that these kinds of consumption choices are just usually the most convenient, and there are lots of other things to be dealing with.

TheBeardKing 9y ago
I think that's exactly it. You can choose to not buy into the social media hype around new products, services, whatever, and just abstain. Premium mediocrity is just another spin on consumerism and materialism that has plagued the US for decades. Ignore it all, buy for quality or used, make your own damn coffee, grow some vegetables, cook at home - common sense things that have been advisable for longer than the consumerist attitude. Life can be enjoyable and on a steady path to retirement with patience, frugality, and perseverance, barring the unfortunate events which are also part of life. I reject premium mediocrity in favor of regular mediocrity. I'll put the premium in the bank and spend it in retirement.

arkh 9y ago

"overall i feel my generation, or at least my social strata, will mature to be colder, harder and more distant than our predecessors. all it will take to cement this transformation is another recession " I think you're wrong. I think the previous generation was colder and harder than us. Boomers exploited the silent generation. Boomers got children as a sacrifice to their never-ending hunger for more. They're the cold, hard and calculating ones who fucked and are fucking over every other generation.

QAPereo 9y ago
It's so incredibly easy to look at other people see their flaws and point them out, but much harder to understand how they got there. The Boomers are selfish because they were raised to be selfish, but the children they raise make them look altruistic by comparison.
notyourwork 9y ago
> They're the cold, hard and calculating ones who fucked and are fucking over every other generation. Can you elaborate on how so? I don't agree or disagree because I don't understand how you feel the boomer generation fucked over everyone else?
- arkh 9y ago
  Fucking over the previous generation: instead of taking care of your parents once they're old just put them in a "old people ready to die" home. Fucking over the next generation: up the requirements for jobs (education and experience) so it is harder for them to find one. Concentrate jobs in some huge cities and refuse new constructions so the rent can go up way more than salaries. In most countries setup a Ponzi scheme for pensions where you paid peanuts because there were not a lot of pensions to pay while you were active but now that you are there the active:passive ratio is a lot worse. And my favorite: sell the college experience (especially humanities) to people who can't afford those.
  - notyourwork 9y ago
    > instead of taking care of your parents once they're old just put them in a "old people ready to die" home. I don't want to sound ignorant but do we have any stats to back this up. Also, do we have an answer to how many of the boomer's parents didn't save enough to support themselves? I don't disagree but I also don't agree with this. In my family, my Dad's parents saved and diligently prepared for their later years. My Mom's parents did not. So now I ask myself, am I expected to care for my parents in their later years? I don't think our generation expects to do so but personally I would do what I can for my family. However, I am not so sure that the boomers fucked us over by not caring for their parents. By not caring for their parents, how does this fuck us over exactly? > up the requirements for jobs (education and experience) so it is harder for them to find one. Is this the boomers fault? Each generation the requirements and expectations for jobs increase. Middle school teachers and police officers required to have masters degrees in some states and cities. Some cities do have the housing problems you speak of, San Francisco comes to mind. However, this isn't a generalization that you can apply to an entire country or world. I am from a large midwest city that isn't plagued with this problem, is quite affordable and has lots of jobs. I think you are taking a specific situation and applying it to an entire generation of people which I feel is unfair. I do agree however that you raise some discussion points.

losteverything 9y ago

feeling like i am stupid and naive for trying to do things the "right" way You are in the forrest with no GPS Take a very deep dive into your family tree. Ask how and why with each relative or dead tree. I found hard work. I also found this: greatness by association is hollow and shallow. Dont be bothered analysing other people or other families.

cellularmitosis 9y ago

should just shut up and get mine. Shutting up and getting yours isn't at odds with doing things the "right" way, if you allow for a decade or two of phase shift. When you are on an airplane, you put on your oxygen mask first, then you assist others. For about a decade, I despised Bill Gates. Fast forward to today, and he now gives away far, far more money to social causes than I will ever earn in my entire life.

bigmanwalter 9y ago
Maybe you would earn more and have the opportunity to donate more yourself if he hadn't monopolized the market. We can't know for sure but it's not obvious to me that he's such a Messiah.