This is a seed post – to spark posts, post-nomination, that will keep us going. That means it’s weakly reasoned, poorly documented, and more sloppily written than usual.
[UPDATE: The two artifacts below turned out to be sub-optimal ways of looking at the next couple generations of political activism. This article in The Guardian, despite its incorporation of tattoos, cover some interesting trajectories from well before and looking to after 2016. It has a Sanders focus, but that’s where the debate is.]
It’s about a topic that pops up and surprises us a lot: how 20-somethings are veiwing politics and what 2018 – 2024 might look like. I spent last night in a FinTech accelerator hanging out with many young people, playing Magic, so I’m the expert for now. That said, Mister Jones has done a lot to highlight the unleashed anger within this generation, as well as the deeply personal connection to issues that seem frankly less personal than abortion, or gender equality. I’ll try to bring it down to a popular culture level.
Exhibit #1 no why they’re pissed and are deeper than the media coverage of them:
- “Stop telling me” – they’re tired of being told how to view history, how to think, how enthusiastic they need to be, or how they should have been voting all along
- “hasn’t won the nomination yet” – a little trickier, but a lost of this is connected to the pre-California announcement by the AP that it was over, and HRC’s statement that it’s time for Sanders to shutter the operation. Glenn Greenwald put it in better context, but I think it’s more than the naive hope that “he might win”
- “She’s NOT the first woman” – I have trouble taking this one too seriously. HOWEVER! Given how quickly, and inescapably, a lack of enthusiasm for HRC translates into sexism, I could see a desire to turn the tables on the Woman Card being played against them.
- “why should I celebrate” – I think there are two things at play here: 1) HRC has come to represent the ultimate game player; 2) HRC’s connection to 2008 (which directly diminished the future prospects of many millenials) through WJC’s deregulation, her closeness to the financial sector, and some blaming the victim in the sub-prime mortgage crisis; and 3) possibly, a higher-minded notion of the women they want to celebrate.
- “corrupt kleptocracy” – doesn’t need annotation, post-Occupy
- “Stop being sheep. Fight” – not sure what’s next, Occupy, Obama, Sanders were all worthy places to put energy and educate themselves and now their outlet is HRC or Trump.
This meme comes from Lee Camp, the host of Redacted Tonight, and an aspiring youTube heir to the Daily Show tradition. I personally find him charming, often funny, but burdened by his anger. But this is an age where rage must be served up with humor. And as the outrage gets stronger, Jon Stewart’s menchsy approach might not cut it. Witness the John Oliver cadence: spend two minutes getting really, authentically angry about a surprisingly sober analysis, and then riff on a reach-around joke for a minute to defuse the tension, repeat throughout the piece.
But the point with the video is an assertion of independence – “our dismissing their dissent on that basis [youth0 is one of their issues” and this technically accurate but arguably wrong argument serves that purpose.
In at The End of The World 
He’s right. I still get goosebumps when I think of Cynthia McKinney’s nomination in 2008.
Not impressed with Mr. Camp, but he’s still got time to refine his act. I think from Samuel Johnson to Will Rogers to (leaving a lot of people out) Stewart and Colbert, you have to be funny first and then outraged. When i was in college I remember buying an anthology book of material from The Realist, which was a “humor” magazine from 1959 to 2001, but that had its heyday in the sixties.I purchased it with much anticipation, but was disappointed to find that most of the material wasn’t funny. Just angry and mean.
No one’s telling anyone that they have to celebrate the historical moment. But, it is a moment. Pretty sure there are a lot of women over 50 pretty excited about this.
I do like point number 3. Anything that heaps shame on financial speculation. And puts pressure on Hillary to not revert to 1990’s era financial deregulation is great. How she deals with this will be one of the most important elements of her campaign and presidency.
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Yeah, I have trouble reading his following and checked out some of his non-political stuff. He’s funnier when he’s not on a drumbeat and having to be topical (similar to the Young Turks hosts). There is scolding around not celebrating – direct and indirect. I see loads of things like “A woman just got nominated by a major party for the first time and so-claled “progressives” have their heads up their asses” (that’s a real one). Not sure about the MSM or larger outlets, but it’s a way in which people are challenging, provoking and prolonging their grudges.
I like the phrase corrupted klpetocracy. I probably won’t embrace but it comes close to being an analysis.
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I hadn’t noticed the “corrupt kleptocracy” phrase so much. But, as Mr. Jones points out, it’s kinda nonsense. You can’t have a non-corrupt kleptocracy.
Nothing i’m saying in recent posts is anti-Sanders. I’m all for everything he campaigned on and hope the movement that he coalesced becomes a permanent part of the party. In fact, becomes the party. Just not impressed with this guy.
And btw, I don’t think it’s just an age thing. I’ve seen plenty of older people who were passionately committed to a losing campaign, make similar comments. I’m sure that I’ve made them myself.
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Right, it’s not an age thing in that way — but what’s interesting now may be that the insurgency has been defining itself partly as an age thing. Ironic, given Sanders’s age, and a lot of older people support him too, but still: young intellectuals I follow are scathingly articulate in being fed up with over-40 liberals as a group, and policy and demographics get conjoined. That Matt Breunig explosion calling Joan Walsh a geriatric, as if age in itself delegitmized her positions and affiliations, was the tip of the iceberg. They accept elder fellow travelers, but there’s a purity test, which is agreeing with them about everything. Their rage impresses and scares me.
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I’ve been thinking about the comedy question a lot, and it needs a longer post — this one really is a “seed” post! — but Laska, you’ve perfectly defined the John Oliver rhythm and structure — it’s been bugging me, but I haven’t been able to see how it works. I stopped watching pretty much right away, and my thought was “John Oliver’s great, except he’s not funny.” More thought needed . . .
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Trying to respond to Mr. Jones’s comment on my comment. But, WordPress won’t let me.
And suddenly, you wake up and find yourself on the other side of a generation gap. If the Sanders movement is largely fueled by people under thirty, then it’s not going to be sustainable. And I don’t say that as a criticism of the young people supporting Sanders. It’s all good. A party has to earn people’s loyalty when they are young. Why, in my day, Reagan secured a generation of younger voters for the GOP. And Obama did the same for the Democrats. But, I can’t think of a political movement that had lasting influence that was based on a youth vote. First of all, they tend to not vote in mid-terms. Vote for those state senators! That’s where future U.S. senators come from.
I don’t know who Matt Breunig is or what he said about Joan Walsh. But, it sounds mean and angry. She’s 57. Brian Williams is 57. Talk about sexist. Would he refer to Williams that way? Which lead me to Google the ages of various reporters. Hey, Chris Jansing on MSNBC. Still pretty hot at 59.
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The post was not about Sanders as a movement, it was about what we should make of young voters coming up – generally screwed, generally in debt, generally not impressed by politicians, generally distrustful of people not worthy of trust, generally pissed, and, according to The Innkeepers, generally incapable of comedy or coherent thought. I was trying to avoid DailyKOS or MoveOn or organizers because it was less of a pipeline question and more about political climate, emerging political culture. Let’s go over there and talk about that?
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I didn’t mean to be an angry old guy writing off the kids. I just wasn’t impressed with Lee Camp. I’m honestly not qualified to comment on the state of young voters. The ones I know are impressive people and I’m glad that they are Democrats and liberals.
And, as I write this, Sanders just appeared at the White House and delivered his “Hillary and I have our differences, but . .. ” speech.
I also stand by my Chris Jansing comments.
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All good. I do however have an interest in unpacking what’s going on. In some ways the lashing and frustration are as frightening or dispiriting as the various modes of Trump activities.
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I can;t nest a response to Laska’s comment about the lashing and frustration, but I have the same feeling: it’s not only Trump’s success that’s unsettling. Tone on all sides of what I guess we can call the liberal divide — and I’m no fan of civility for its own sake! — exposes something weird, possibly related to Trumpism.
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