I'll get a little more philosophical here, Max (because that's me, as you know.)
If there is something beyond this material existence, life CAN have meaning. Not it WILL, but it's at least reasonable to seek it. If naturalistic materialism is true, Nietzsche is right and life is ultimately pointless.
"the political system has run out of answers for our problems. We’re running on momentum now, and that momentum is running out."
Christianity was what imparted this momentum in the first place.
We've been running on inertia for decades or centuries. Different authors our cultural automobile out of gas at different times: some Catholics with the Great Schism, Brad Gregory with the Reformation, Patrick Deneen with the Enlightenment, some with J.S. Mill, Nietzsche, or postmodernism (3 legs of the same stool); modern Protestants with Sexual Revolution; Robert Putnam with the decline of civic organizations. I date it between Francis Bacon and John Locke personally.
Whenever you date it, a slide that has been centuries in the making appears to be now coming to an endpoint. Much of humanity gazed into Nietzsche's abyss during the 20th century; their kids are now clawing their way back from it in horror. You can see that in the rise of the "spiritual but not religious" demo, the rise of wicca, the self-help industry, increased church attendance among 18-34 year olds, the prosperity gospel preachers, Buddhism in the late 20th century and Orthodoxy today. These assume an enchanted world, one shared with powers vastly beyond us.
We ran down 1700 years of Christian cultural inertia in 300 years of secularism. The tank is empty and we've coasted to a near standstill. If you want to restart the car, you need a similar source of power. This is what Heidegger meant late in his life when he said, "only a god can save us." (And he said that in 1966.)
The two boys were from different High Schools in Frisco ISD, about 7 miles apart so I’m not sure how bullying would have occurred the week before. They only came together for a district wide track event.
I mean kids from other schools interact with one another outside a school setting, so that's not entirely inconceivable. However, as Andrew Branca pointed out, the fact that they had a pre-existing beef, if that were the case, might work against Anthony, since that pre-existing beef can be used as a motive for murder.
They may have interacted a week before, and that Anthony came to a tent that wasn’t for his specific campus and brought a knife with him may speak to motive. Tragic event that was unnecessary no matter what happened before.
Also, on the Metcalf-Anthony feud, I’m still going with Anthony was trying to bait Metcalf into taking that first swing. I don’t know if he meant to kill Metcalf, but it sure sounds like he was provoking him to FAFO. People don’t quite know how deadly knives can really be. Whatever comes of it, Anthony ruined his own life. I still don’t buy the Derbyshire-esque view of this. Sometimes people just have a beef that has nothing to do with race. All the people on the BLM side of thing and all the people on the alt-right are going to see things through their own lenses, whatever the reality is.
The race thing is obviously a matter how the incident would be perceived publicly had the races been reversed. We go from living in the most racist society imaginable to living in a color-blind society depending on the races of the perpetrator and victim. It's maddening; most people will tolerate anything as long as it's consistent. But race in America is so inconsistent. That's why it matters here. I think White people are more tired of being blamed for everything, being called racist constantly, than they let on. Not even the most Woke White liberal would take it kindly if you called them racist right to their face. The entire premise of their worldview is that all Whites are racist... except for them.
Also, you can bet, given the high profile of the case, Anthony's defense will undoubtedly invoke race. They may even accuse Metcalf of racism. Once that happens, it won't mean anything to say that race had nothing to do with it. Race had nothing to do with O.J. Simpson's murder trial, yet it became a big part of the case, likely influencing the final verdict. People still think Kyle Rittenhouse shot Black people.
Race matters. It matters especially when it doesn't. That's how powerful it is.
The election was weird in a lot of ways. I know quite a few Democrats who crossed over just because they couldn’t deal with the prices of things anymore. I’m not so sure that’s a question of narrative, unless a dozen eggs were on Trump’s payroll. Loss of purchasing power is a real thing. I make what would have been a really good living ten or fifteen years ago. I’m still trying to make ends meet, like I did back then. No one can raise a family on a single income now. The opportunities the boomers and gen xers had aren’t there anymore. It’s not getting better…because it can’t get better. America was riding high off of accumulated wealth, but that is all gone now. People are going to get angrier and angrier because things don’t make sense anymore. There’s no narrative driving that, just economic reality.
I'll get a little more philosophical here, Max (because that's me, as you know.)
If there is something beyond this material existence, life CAN have meaning. Not it WILL, but it's at least reasonable to seek it. If naturalistic materialism is true, Nietzsche is right and life is ultimately pointless.
"the political system has run out of answers for our problems. We’re running on momentum now, and that momentum is running out."
Christianity was what imparted this momentum in the first place.
We've been running on inertia for decades or centuries. Different authors our cultural automobile out of gas at different times: some Catholics with the Great Schism, Brad Gregory with the Reformation, Patrick Deneen with the Enlightenment, some with J.S. Mill, Nietzsche, or postmodernism (3 legs of the same stool); modern Protestants with Sexual Revolution; Robert Putnam with the decline of civic organizations. I date it between Francis Bacon and John Locke personally.
Whenever you date it, a slide that has been centuries in the making appears to be now coming to an endpoint. Much of humanity gazed into Nietzsche's abyss during the 20th century; their kids are now clawing their way back from it in horror. You can see that in the rise of the "spiritual but not religious" demo, the rise of wicca, the self-help industry, increased church attendance among 18-34 year olds, the prosperity gospel preachers, Buddhism in the late 20th century and Orthodoxy today. These assume an enchanted world, one shared with powers vastly beyond us.
We ran down 1700 years of Christian cultural inertia in 300 years of secularism. The tank is empty and we've coasted to a near standstill. If you want to restart the car, you need a similar source of power. This is what Heidegger meant late in his life when he said, "only a god can save us." (And he said that in 1966.)
The two boys were from different High Schools in Frisco ISD, about 7 miles apart so I’m not sure how bullying would have occurred the week before. They only came together for a district wide track event.
I mean kids from other schools interact with one another outside a school setting, so that's not entirely inconceivable. However, as Andrew Branca pointed out, the fact that they had a pre-existing beef, if that were the case, might work against Anthony, since that pre-existing beef can be used as a motive for murder.
They may have interacted a week before, and that Anthony came to a tent that wasn’t for his specific campus and brought a knife with him may speak to motive. Tragic event that was unnecessary no matter what happened before.
Also, on the Metcalf-Anthony feud, I’m still going with Anthony was trying to bait Metcalf into taking that first swing. I don’t know if he meant to kill Metcalf, but it sure sounds like he was provoking him to FAFO. People don’t quite know how deadly knives can really be. Whatever comes of it, Anthony ruined his own life. I still don’t buy the Derbyshire-esque view of this. Sometimes people just have a beef that has nothing to do with race. All the people on the BLM side of thing and all the people on the alt-right are going to see things through their own lenses, whatever the reality is.
The race thing is obviously a matter how the incident would be perceived publicly had the races been reversed. We go from living in the most racist society imaginable to living in a color-blind society depending on the races of the perpetrator and victim. It's maddening; most people will tolerate anything as long as it's consistent. But race in America is so inconsistent. That's why it matters here. I think White people are more tired of being blamed for everything, being called racist constantly, than they let on. Not even the most Woke White liberal would take it kindly if you called them racist right to their face. The entire premise of their worldview is that all Whites are racist... except for them.
Also, you can bet, given the high profile of the case, Anthony's defense will undoubtedly invoke race. They may even accuse Metcalf of racism. Once that happens, it won't mean anything to say that race had nothing to do with it. Race had nothing to do with O.J. Simpson's murder trial, yet it became a big part of the case, likely influencing the final verdict. People still think Kyle Rittenhouse shot Black people.
Race matters. It matters especially when it doesn't. That's how powerful it is.
I tend to agree with Matt Walsh on most issues: https://youtu.be/1Q2h3GAIPiA?si=Dt3Ulf7l74dyB_QX
The election was weird in a lot of ways. I know quite a few Democrats who crossed over just because they couldn’t deal with the prices of things anymore. I’m not so sure that’s a question of narrative, unless a dozen eggs were on Trump’s payroll. Loss of purchasing power is a real thing. I make what would have been a really good living ten or fifteen years ago. I’m still trying to make ends meet, like I did back then. No one can raise a family on a single income now. The opportunities the boomers and gen xers had aren’t there anymore. It’s not getting better…because it can’t get better. America was riding high off of accumulated wealth, but that is all gone now. People are going to get angrier and angrier because things don’t make sense anymore. There’s no narrative driving that, just economic reality.