I’ve opined on this situation before, mostly when it comes to topic of the success of comic-book movies among so-called grownups:
The Democratic Party’s vision of the American future is a kind of permissive classroom, no doubt appealing to its base of spoiled children. It is not a place where real work will ever get done. Democrats tell their voters there is nothing they cannot have, and that if they complain and demand loud enough the stingy, bad parent (the Republicans, the rich, Old White People©) will be forced to give them treats. They are led to believe that anyone who does not give them what they want freely (free health care, free college, reparations, housing, jobs) is doing so out of malice.This jejune political rhetoric is mirrored on social media in the left’s call for people to be deplatformed. Censorship is the demand for teacher to restore order in the classroom and punish the disagreeable pupils. Unanimous agreement on all the big questions is a precondition for playing in the same nursery.
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Going beyond politics, the infantilization of America is unmistakable by the success of Disney. As a film company, they’re on a hot streak almost unparalleled in Hollywood history. Within any given year they drop new releases in Star Wars, Marvel superheroes, children’s cartoons, and live-action remakes of children’s cartoons. These movies do well with children and with adults. It sucks the satire out of another Onion headline, “Rising Disney World Ticket Costs Prompting Many Parents To Leave Children At Home.”
This trend is also evidenced by the numerous toys geared for adults. Electronic toys and video games for men are extremely popular. Equally ridiculous is the number of adult women who have an affinity for Disney princesses.
Millennials (born 1980–1994) and Gen-Zers (1995–2009) don’t seem to realize that video games, toys, and the like were things you were only supposed to be into until you were old enough to drive, date, get married, and be an adult. But millennials don’t drive, they don’t date, they don’t marry, and they don’t really grow up. So it’s no surprise they are stuck in a preadult world [].
Don’t even get me started on supposedly-adult men of voting age who are infatuated with My Little Pony (a.k.a. “Bronies”). Great Napoleon’s bleeding ulcers, it actually turns my stomach to read about these fucking losers.
At the risk of sounding all White Christian Male and stuff [irony alert], allow me to remind everyone of this excellent precept from Corinthians:
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Except that men aren’t doing any of that. Instead, they’re clinging to the artifacts of their childhood, hoping that Mommy will be there to keep the Big Bad Wolf/Zombies away.
What will inevitably happen is calamity. As Charles Norman puts it: “The world is running out of grown-ups. It will probably take tragedies and a prolonged era of diminished affluence for people to grow up.”
Like I said: calamity.
A lot of the infantilization of men in particular is because they’ve taken a hard look at the prospect of marriage/family and decided the lemon juice isn’t worth the squeeze. They realize that if she ever decides she’s not happy/fell in love with someone else/isn’t fulfilled/likes women/is really a man she can file for divorce and get half of his stuff, plus he’ll be paying child support until they’re 21 and likely alimony for the rest of his life.
So they buy a sports car instead.
We’re now in the third generation of women who’ve been raised by single mothers to believe men are good only as meal tickets, plenty of men have realized the game is rigged so they’ve opted not to play. Sure, there ARE women who aren’t like that (I married one), but such women were hard to find 20 years ago and I doubt they’ve become any more common in the younger generations. So while the young men may be ACTING in a childish manner, the reasons are entirely grown-up.
As far as putting aside childish things, here’s a joke you may appreciate:
A kindergarten teacher is asking her students what they like to do after school. One little girl says “I like to play with my horsie.” The teacher says “That’s nice, but you’re a big girl now, you should call it a horse, not a horsie.” A boy says “I play with my choo choo” and the teacher replies “You’re a big boy now, you should call it a train, not a choo choo.” A girl says “I like to read my books.” The teacher asks “What’s your favorite book?” and she replies Winnie the Shit”.
Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week, try the veal.
Mark D
This quote from Michael Hopf summarizes it nicely:
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
I was thinking about this the other day vis-a-vis why are Millennial’ so seemingly infatuated with leftist politics and the nanny state.
My hypothesis is this: It’s the first generation where the overwhelming majority was raised almost entirely from birth to now, by an institution. Start at Daycare, move to School, Move To University.
They have never been away from the collective ant-hill. All of which was funded by invisible outside sources.
Uniqueness was extolled, but true independence of thought or action was suppressed, or medicated away. All the while being fed prog propaganda in the main.
Now you have a generation who cannot think outside of art time, nap time, lunch time, xbox time.
There doesn’t seem to be the sense of “I can take on the world, and make my place” anymore, because it was never inculcated in them.
Anyway my $0.02
I was thinking about this the other day vis-a-vis why are Millennial’s so seemingly infatuated with leftist politics and the nanny state.
My hypothesis is this: It’s the first generation where the overwhelming majority was raised almost entirely from birth to now, by an institution. Start at Daycare, move to School, Move To University.
They have never been away from the collective ant-hill. All of which was funded by invisible outside sources.
Uniqueness was extolled, but true independence of thought or action was suppressed, or medicated away. All the while being fed prog propaganda in the main.
Now you have a generation who cannot think outside of art time, nap time, lunch time, xbox time.
There doesn’t seem to be the sense of “I can take on the world, and make my place” anymore, because it was never inculcated in them.
Anyway my $0.02