Ironic Self Detachment
June 23, 2019 11:13 PM Subscribe
The head of an odious rightwing thinktank that's been called the "farm team for the trump administration" apparently forgets what he's done all his life and writes a completely un-self-conscious essay about how to manage aging and professional decline by adopting Hindu wisdom on balance, serenity, and (of all things) love of others.
This post was deleted for the following reason: This isn't getting a warm reception, sorry. -- goodnewsfortheinsane
I don't get the point of the framing of this post. It feels pretty editorializing.
I thought the essay itself was interesting, with a lot of truth to it. Unrelated to the author, it would be fun to have a MeFi discussion thread about the subject. I think the way to deal with the shift from fluid to crystallized intelligence while not feeling useless is to mentor younger people in your workplace, for instance.
Unfortunately, the author is president of the American Enterprise Institute, which is a conservative "think" tank that's been offering newspaper op-eds in support of bad ideas for as long as I can remember. So you do wonder whether he was using all his fluid intelligence to come up with creative new justifications for the Contract On America.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 11:34 PM on June 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
I thought the essay itself was interesting, with a lot of truth to it. Unrelated to the author, it would be fun to have a MeFi discussion thread about the subject. I think the way to deal with the shift from fluid to crystallized intelligence while not feeling useless is to mentor younger people in your workplace, for instance.
Unfortunately, the author is president of the American Enterprise Institute, which is a conservative "think" tank that's been offering newspaper op-eds in support of bad ideas for as long as I can remember. So you do wonder whether he was using all his fluid intelligence to come up with creative new justifications for the Contract On America.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 11:34 PM on June 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
Agree with Harvey, I had just flagged this when he posted... it's an important topic that could use better framing without dragging the Trump administration into it. Surely someone other than the AEI dude has written about this?
posted by Spacelegoman at 11:37 PM on June 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Spacelegoman at 11:37 PM on June 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
I don't get the point of the framing of this post. It feels pretty editorializing.
Not to threadsit (i wont post further after this) but by way of extended description, my point was that the article is all about self awareness vis a vis one's personal and professional life, and concludes with a paen to love and community, and yet given the author's own actual professional life, it's about the least self-aware one could possibly be, which to me is funny and ironic, especially since it got the frontpage of the Atlantic.
it's a dinner party pop culture post, that's all.
posted by wibari at 11:42 PM on June 23, 2019 [5 favorites]
Not to threadsit (i wont post further after this) but by way of extended description, my point was that the article is all about self awareness vis a vis one's personal and professional life, and concludes with a paen to love and community, and yet given the author's own actual professional life, it's about the least self-aware one could possibly be, which to me is funny and ironic, especially since it got the frontpage of the Atlantic.
it's a dinner party pop culture post, that's all.
posted by wibari at 11:42 PM on June 23, 2019 [5 favorites]
I thought it made an excellent companion piece to the Financial Times "where are they now?" article on 1980s Oxford elite students, except I actually made it to the end of the FT article.
I mean, I get it, you need to make room for the next generation - but not this self-lionisation, where only if the next generation are the "right sort".
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 11:58 PM on June 23, 2019
I mean, I get it, you need to make room for the next generation - but not this self-lionisation, where only if the next generation are the "right sort".
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 11:58 PM on June 23, 2019
The question with the framing is whether another two minute hate, however well deserved, brings anything benefitial to the site.
posted by Candleman at 1:12 AM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 1:12 AM on June 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
given the author's own actual professional life, it's about the least self-aware one could possibly be, which to me is funny and ironic
I'd probably find it funnier and more ironic if apparent total absence of self-awareness and utter tone deafness were not so completely the defining characteristics of right-wingers always and everywhere.
posted by flabdablet at 2:51 AM on June 24, 2019
I'd probably find it funnier and more ironic if apparent total absence of self-awareness and utter tone deafness were not so completely the defining characteristics of right-wingers always and everywhere.
posted by flabdablet at 2:51 AM on June 24, 2019
« Older No soundtrack, no commentary, just old toy... | Proximity builds tension Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
My prescience astounds me.
posted by Scattercat at 11:26 PM on June 23, 2019 [4 favorites]