It's not hard to come up with sad but unlikely eventualities. The question is whether any of this article's hypothesis are true. This question is far from settled. For example, the whole retreat to an infantile world bit. The examples are cherry-picked. In television, the most acclaimed and talked about shows have characters far more ambiguous than decades past. Even in movies, the idea of inferring a trend from but two datapoints that are almost by definition outliers (I.e. the record-setters) is sensational but unsound.
I've only read some of the article. But of what I did read 100% was bullshit of similar provenance. I don't trust it.
For example, the whole retreat to an infantile world bit. The examples are cherry-picked. In television, the most acclaimed and talked about shows have characters far more ambiguous than decades past.
We're exiting postmodernism in favor of a world less nihilistic and relativistic, which makes heroism attractive, even when the hero is morally questionable (e.g. Jack Bauer, Dr. House).
On the other hand, casual sex is as common as ever, so nihilism and self-loathing haven't gone away entirely.
By "questionable" I mean "can be questioned". I'm not using the euphemistic definition, whereby "questionable" means the question is already answered.
Dr. House behaves in a way that would generally be considered ethical, but that is at odds with medical protocol (because his cases are always exceptional and odd). Most people wouldn't call this wrong, but it is "questionable", when the word is taken at face value.
Huh? Casual sex can be an expression of nihilism and self-loathing, but aren't necessarily.
In theory, you're right. In practice, "hookup culture" is founded on the humiliation of the woman, which makes it an expression of loathing for humanity.
> In practice, "hookup culture" is founded on the humiliation of the woman, which makes it an expression of loathing for humanity.
Someone else pointed out that you're wrong about hookups, so I'll point out that casual sex is a broader term than hookups and humiliation isn't necessarily part of it either.
My kinky friends would point our that humiliation need not have anything to do with self-loathing, let along loathing for humanity.
> On the other hand, casual sex is as common as ever
Citation needed. Other than lots of pictures of nekkid people on the internet, most studies show sexual activity (amongst teens and college students anyway) to be going down. It's been argued that availability of porn is reducing the amount of casual sex.
Really? I hope you're right. It's hard as hell for a guy to find a marriageable woman in New York right now. I'd love to see this improve in the next 10 years.
If you're implying that casual sex is a result of nihilism and self-loathing I simply don't get that. If anything, I see casual sex as an exploration of self and another form of communication and understanding.
Comments
It's not hard to come up with sad but unlikely eventualities. The question is whether any of this article's hypothesis are true. This question is far from settled. For example, the whole retreat to an infantile world bit. The examples are cherry-picked. In television, the most acclaimed and talked about shows have characters far more ambiguous than decades past. Even in movies, the idea of inferring a trend from but two datapoints that are almost by definition outliers (I.e. the record-setters) is sensational but unsound.
I've only read some of the article. But of what I did read 100% was bullshit of similar provenance. I don't trust it.
For example, the whole retreat to an infantile world bit. The examples are cherry-picked. In television, the most acclaimed and talked about shows have characters far more ambiguous than decades past.
We're exiting postmodernism in favor of a world less nihilistic and relativistic, which makes heroism attractive, even when the hero is morally questionable (e.g. Jack Bauer, Dr. House).
On the other hand, casual sex is as common as ever, so nihilism and self-loathing haven't gone away entirely.
> which makes heroism attractive, even when the hero is morally questionable (e.g. Jack Bauer, Dr. House).
What's "morally questionable" about House? Is it his hitting on the Cuddy?
Yes, he's a jerk, but that's different from being morally questionable.
> casual sex is as common as ever, so nihilism and self-loathing haven't gone away entirely.
Huh? Casual sex can be an expression of nihilism and self-loathing, but aren't necessarily.
By "questionable" I mean "can be questioned". I'm not using the euphemistic definition, whereby "questionable" means the question is already answered.
Dr. House behaves in a way that would generally be considered ethical, but that is at odds with medical protocol (because his cases are always exceptional and odd). Most people wouldn't call this wrong, but it is "questionable", when the word is taken at face value.
Huh? Casual sex can be an expression of nihilism and self-loathing, but aren't necessarily.
In theory, you're right. In practice, "hookup culture" is founded on the humiliation of the woman, which makes it an expression of loathing for humanity.
> In practice, "hookup culture" is founded on the humiliation of the woman, which makes it an expression of loathing for humanity.
Someone else pointed out that you're wrong about hookups, so I'll point out that casual sex is a broader term than hookups and humiliation isn't necessarily part of it either.
My kinky friends would point our that humiliation need not have anything to do with self-loathing, let along loathing for humanity.
in practice, "hookup culture" is founded on the humiliation of the woman
uh?
> On the other hand, casual sex is as common as ever
Citation needed. Other than lots of pictures of nekkid people on the internet, most studies show sexual activity (amongst teens and college students anyway) to be going down. It's been argued that availability of porn is reducing the amount of casual sex.
Really? I hope you're right. It's hard as hell for a guy to find a marriageable woman in New York right now. I'd love to see this improve in the next 10 years.
Interesting. Do you have a citation as well?
http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=514
If you're implying that casual sex is a result of nihilism and self-loathing I simply don't get that. If anything, I see casual sex as an exploration of self and another form of communication and understanding.
And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...