4 ms·

> to hate everything that is new because they don't believe that anything is possible don't exist Painting these people as cynics is not the entirely right cha

by trgn 4y ago

> to hate everything that is new because they don't believe that anything is possible don't exist Painting these people as cynics is not the entirely right characterization imho. I think parent describes a certain class of people who are constantly in fear of getting done over. Everything new is an opportunity for them to take the short end of the stick. Their imaginary adversary is always a nebulous "they", generally people they suspect to be wealthier, either in money or cachet or political leverage. That pervasive fear of getting taken advantage of is hard to explain. To use the example of the parent, you can show CAVErs a popular bikelane addition in another neighborhood, and still they would block it in their own. I think that fear and distrust that animates the CAVErs (great term by the way, hadn't heard it), is because they really lack imagination. An almost physical inability to imagine something else, that's aspirational, outside one's own experience. I'm not sure why that is, why there is such a deeply seeped in mental sclerosis and solipsism, which at times can almost feel uniquely american.

mschuster91 4y ago
> I'm not sure why that is, why there is such a deeply seeped in mental sclerosis and solipsism, which at times can almost feel uniquely american. Because, at least from an European POV, y'all are constantly getting the short stick in life. Rich people can do whatever the fuck they want with absolute impunity (remember Trump claiming he could shoot someone on 5th Ave [1]?), meanwhile the poorer you are the harder you can get screwed over. Even if you are in the upper classes of employment, such as a high-paid programmer, you can be fired effectively immediately in 49 states [2] for no reason at all. You can go bankrupt from hospital bills even if you have health insurance. Obviously that leads people to the desire to have at least one thing they control - their homes and neighborhoods. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/24/donald-trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-still-not-lose-voters https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/24/donald-trump... [2] https://www.betterteam.com/at-will-employment https://www.betterteam.com/at-will-employment
- trgn 4y ago
  Great point, thanks for the links. I can certainly see that, nimbyism as some sort of compensation for impotence.
FredPret 4y ago
I think you’re describing a lack of Openness as understood in the Big Five personality model.
jrochkind1 4y ago
> I think parent describes a certain class of people who are constantly in fear of getting done over. Everything new is an opportunity for them to take the short end of the stick I mean... perhaps they have been taken advantage of a lot. I feel like the US has become a society basically built on taking advantage of people, so... it's not actually unreasonable to worry you are being lied to and misled for someone else's advantage. It's a mess. It all becomes circular and self-reinforcing, but we're going to need some fundamental changes to society to get out of it... that are made harder by the very conditions we're talking about.

by trgn 4y ago

mschuster91 4y ago

> I'm not sure why that is, why there is such a deeply seeped in mental sclerosis and solipsism, which at times can almost feel uniquely american. Because, at least from an European POV, y'all are constantly getting the short stick in life. Rich people can do whatever the fuck they want with absolute impunity (remember Trump claiming he could shoot someone on 5th Ave [1]?), meanwhile the poorer you are the harder you can get screwed over. Even if you are in the upper classes of employment, such as a high-paid programmer, you can be fired effectively immediately in 49 states [2] for no reason at all. You can go bankrupt from hospital bills even if you have health insurance. Obviously that leads people to the desire to have at least one thing they control - their homes and neighborhoods. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/24/donald-trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-still-not-lose-voters https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/24/donald-trump... [2] https://www.betterteam.com/at-will-employment https://www.betterteam.com/at-will-employment

trgn 4y ago
Great point, thanks for the links. I can certainly see that, nimbyism as some sort of compensation for impotence.

FredPret 4y ago

I think you’re describing a lack of Openness as understood in the Big Five personality model.

jrochkind1 4y ago

> I think parent describes a certain class of people who are constantly in fear of getting done over. Everything new is an opportunity for them to take the short end of the stick I mean... perhaps they have been taken advantage of a lot. I feel like the US has become a society basically built on taking advantage of people, so... it's not actually unreasonable to worry you are being lied to and misled for someone else's advantage. It's a mess. It all becomes circular and self-reinforcing, but we're going to need some fundamental changes to society to get out of it... that are made harder by the very conditions we're talking about.