Backstory

What inspired “Ok Google: What should I do in 2017?”

This post, just published in Adventures in Consumer Technology, was partially inspired by reading the first chapter of Yevin Levin’s book The Fractured Republic. Levin has a fascinating diagnosis for the issues facing America today. He weaves a compelling narrative around the facts of the post-World War 2 era in america public life.

He attempts to show that a profound commitment to individualism is the theme of this era. This individualism is evident both on the left and on the right. Conservatives are individualists who feel stifled by economic institutions. Liberals are individualists who feel stifled by moral institutions.

I’m not sure Levin has sold me on this schema yet, but he has certainly convinced my that is perspective is worth taking seriously.

A couple fascinating quote:

“The pervasiveness and intensity of our nostalgia make it hard to achieve the kind of analytic distance that would allow us to address these questions seriously. ”

“Americans were attached to a vague cultural conservatism mostly because of the seemingly broad consensus around it, rather than by deep personal commitment. As that consensus, like most forms of consensus in our national life, has frayed, their attachment has weakened.”

And another quote:

“Ironically, the individualism of late-century America, by weakening that instinct to digest and integrate new immigrants into a self-confident whole, created more coherent subgroups, and therefore less assimilation into a culture of individualism.”

This post is part of my attempt to write and publish One Good Paragraph per Day. Who wants to join me?

If you like this post, please ❤️️ below :).