We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

The West is raising a crippled generation. People born in the past 5 to 25 years are more obese, less intelligent, more depressed, less happy, more conflicted, more prone to drug abuse, less proud of their country, and less encouraged by the authorities than those born even 10 years prior. A monstrous generation, ideologically besieged by what external observers looking for our weaknesses call a ‘bizarre horde of savages,’ is currently being shaped by our schools, media, and propagandists. Our youth have been taught to hate themselves, their own culture, and their own history. Their weak intellectual ability means they will struggle to decipher what has happened to them or who they are. Relative to generations as recent as Generation X, our youth are unhealthy, anxious, socially shy, prone to flee towards online gaming and offline drugs, stuck in victimhood narratives, angry at the world, and lonely.

What is this crippled generation going to do once it gains adulthood and power? We know they will have low productivity, low social skills, and a poor understanding of the world. What about their hearts though – will they at least have humanity and compassion for their fellow man? Sadly, what we have taught them in this area leads us to predict that when the going gets tough, they are not going to blink twice about sending millions into death camps if their weak minds can be manipulated into thinking that doing so will save them. We are producing a Frankenstein generation.

Paul Frijters, Gigi Foster, Michael Baker

19 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • Not sure why online gaming is giving the authors the vapours but otherwise yes.

  • bobby b

    “The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress.”

    (From a sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274)

    “The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants of the households. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize over their teachers.”

    (Commonly attributed to SOCRATES by Plato

  • andyinsdca

    They will also be unable to maintain the infrastructure so central to a civilized existence like water (plumbing, etc.), power (generation, general electrician work) or other mechanical skills (HVAC, machine maintenance…like at food processing plants). We’re already reaping this whirlwind.

  • Snorri Godhi

    People born in the past 5 to 25 years are more obese, less intelligent, more depressed, less happy, more conflicted, more prone to drug abuse, less proud of their country, and less encouraged by the authorities than those born even 10 years prior.

    Given that the list begins with “more obese”, i find it worrying that the authors do not consider the possibility that most if not all of these problems are caused by bad nutrition, rather than (or: in addition to) bad education and social media.

  • Stonyground

    The alleged obesity problem seems to be mainly caused by constantly obsessing about the ridiculous BMI scale and defining anyone outside a very narrow range as being overweight. Such problems that do exist are down to the government relentlessly promoting high carbohydrate foods as being healthy.

    OT or maybe at a slight tangent. Has anyone else noticed that random stuff keeps becoming unavailable in the supermarkets? There was always the odd time when a specific item was out of stock but this is on a different scale. My local Asda was completely bereft of cooking oil today. Olive oil yes. Sunflower oil, or similar stuff for the deep fat fryer, shelf completely empty. This is happening every other week now and it has left me wondering why.

  • JohnB

    Stonyground – Are you being genuine, or am I being stupid? The reason for sunflower oil becoming scarcer and doubling in price in places is the current war.

    Re the kids. I think Paul Marks would offer the best comment on this.
    Basically, the fruition of Frankfurt School Marxism.
    Woke, and all.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Basically, the fruition of Frankfurt School Marxism.
    Woke, and all.

    Oh yes, but why are the kids so dumb as to swallow this Frankfurt BS??

    Such problems that do exist are down to the government relentlessly promoting high carbohydrate foods as being healthy.

    It’s not just high-carbohydrate foods: it’s also seed oils (more precisely, omega-6 fatty acids). Which is why the scarcity of sunflower oil, if it lasts, might actually reverse intellectual and moral decline.

    I only use coconut oil (for cooking), olive oil (after cooking), and occasionally butter. But palm oil is also good (low in omega-6 fatty acids).

  • NickM

    I actually spend quite a bit of time with kids. I’m with bobby here. Every generation thinks we are seeing The End of Days. Just saying it does not make it so.

    Anyway, Peter the Hermit – I assume he didn’t get out that much?

    I think the kids of today are OK (I do live in a somewhat middle-class part of Cheshire). It’s the buggers in their ’40s you gotta keep an eye on.

  • “Après moi, le déluge”

    Which means, for me, that I am old. By the time it all goes to Hell, I’ll be safe six feet under. Or, if I’m not dead yet, soon after. I have no children, and only one or two books, to mourn.

    As for JohnB — I’ve noticed groceries missing from the shelves long before the current war. Don’t know about sunflower oil — never bought the stuff. Don’t blame Putin while Biden is around.

  • NickM

    Stony is correct. There are Olympic class athletes that are technically obese. But then we live in a world where you can have a beard and testicles and be a woman so who am I to judge?

  • Stonyground

    Not just sunflower oil but regular cooking oil of all kinds, just an empty shelf. Maybe people are putting it in diesel cars. Fairy liquid is in stock, Asda’s own brand which is very similar but about half the price is often unavailable. Different random things, not just sunflower oil.

  • Stonyground

    I’ve just seen Britain’s Strongest Woman competition at the Doncaster Dome. Current world champion and former three times world champion present. Not sure what the BMI of these girls would be but I don’t expect that they would be inside recommended government guidelines.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Not just sunflower oil but regular cooking oil of all kinds, just an empty shelf.

    How do you define “cooking oil”?

  • How do you define “cooking oil”?

    How about oil with a smoke point high enough to cook something. For example, I don’t use olive oil in cooking, only in salad dressings or as for dipping with bread because it burns at too low a temperature.

    If I want to cook a meat chicken or fish I use butter.

    I know people say sunflower oil is better than animal derived fats (butter, lard, etc.), but I remain unconvinced.

  • Snorri Godhi

    JG: animal fats (saturated) are better than olive oil _for cooking_, at least at high temperature; and infinitely better than omega-6 rich seed oils. (Look up The Devil’s Fat; or just this article.)

    But coconut oil, palm oil, and palm-kernel oil (which i never used) are also poor in omega-6 fat. See the article at the link.

    Although, looking at it again, i see that sunflower oil is an option, if it’s high-oleic.

  • Prof Paz

    Also with bobby b. “why are the kids so dumb as to swallow this Frankfurt BS??”

    It was fashionable. I suspect it’s getting less fashionable. It’s a swinging pendulum. My own kids seem pretty skeptical of it. Not sure how much of that is my influence; probably not much.

    One thing that isn’t like a pendulum is we’re all getting richer and more comfortable (over generational time scales at least). This probably does have some effect on the attitudes of the kids. Not sure what, though.

  • Ben David

    0Old sad Jewish joke:
    Modern successful businessman comes to the Rabbi, distraught at his grandchild’s impending intermarriage.

    “Rabbi this is killing me – i remember so sweetly my grandma lighting Sabbath candles, my grandpa chanting the blessings on the wine and bread…. Where did we go wrong? We gave him the best of everything, everything…”

    “Did you give him a grandma who lights Sabbath candles and a grandpa who chants the blessing?”

    “We don’t keep those old fashioned rituals…”

    “So what did you expect?”
    – – – – –
    Young people do not know what we know.

    It is very hard not to assume that everyone knows what we do – we see everything through our own experience.

    So *we* know that the Judeo-Christian West is uniquely good and free, not uniquely evil and oppressive. We learned the history – from patriots not propagandists.

    And *we* know what real racism was. And Nazism and Communism. People born since tbe 90s relate to those words like I (mid 60s) relate to “the Eisenhower era” or “the Korean War”.

    These children were not taught what we were. Many parents are only now waking up to this – to the purposeful cultural ignorance and revisionism of their kid’s schooling.

    TBH many parents acquiesced to the liberal fashion. Thinking that *they* could loosen received cultural norms without consequences… They didn’t think they had to actively transfer/preserve Western culture – because of this illusion that their kids knew what they did. That “it” – the West’s definition of humanity, its social contract – would always be there.

    We are able to understand dystopian counterculture in contradistinction to what came before. Kids have not experienced the “before” and don’t have our contextualizing frame of reference. It starts here for them. Forexample, they undestand the slew of revisionist films and TV shows (such as “Mad Men”) as accurate representations.

    Here in Israel the Army found it must invest time to give soldiers the back story. Although they risk their lives due to Oslo-era decisions, today’s recruits have no living knowledge of Oslo, Rabin, Arafat, Begin, Peres…

  • Finn Harp

    Surprised everyone is missing the most obvious, least sinister explanation – WHO HAS BEEN REPRODUCING THE PAST 20 YRS?

    The DNA stock of people <21 in Western countries has changed somewhat dramatically. A combination of immigration policies and welfare state benefits have brought hordes of migrants to Europe and the Anglosphere.

    At the same time, people born in Europe and the Anglosphere between 1960 and 1990 are not reproducing at anywhere near the needed/socially desirable rates of at least 2.3 children per woman.

    As a consequence of migration and reduced "native" fertility, the population of <25 and 40-70yrs olds is VERY different. Shouldn't be surprising that measures of those populations also differ. This does not mean that the deplorable "social" trends over the past 30 yrs don't play a big role. They do.

    But the victim worship, climate paranoia and overarching social media brainwashing is happening ON TOP of a monstrous shift in the composition of population.

  • Finn Harp

    Concur with Ben David.

    We’re all somewhat guilty and have failed our children.

    We could have and should have done more to preserve the schools, churches/synagogues, scouting and athletic organizations that helped form our character. These institutions are precious. And we slowly let the SJWs take them from us and pollute them with self loathing and fear.