The ‘politics of impossibility’, where a problem-solving focus is replaced with a fatalist do-nothing. That’s…

The ‘politics of impossibility’, where a problem-solving focus is replaced with a fatalist do-nothing. That’s what political libertarianism is, it wants to castrate collective political action. But it’s deeper, culturally. /1 https://t.co/pKa0ajpz9s

Fatalism is an adolescent view of the world, ‘shit happens’. Because for teenagers, shit really does happen, and they have very little agency in avoiding it. Society is a high school, political libertarianism is just high school culture translated into adult life. /2

‘Freedom’ to do what you like - teenagers, anyone? - all restriction seen as oppression etc. A shrug when terrible consequences ensure, fatalism, because again adolescents have little agency in problems. ‘Living with’ Covid deliberately tapped into this cultural shift. /3

Social media magnifies this shift exponentially, it turns the entire adult world into a high school on steroids. Every issue transformed into a team sport debating game, allowing people to ‘mobilise’ into teams or groups, to oppose other teams. Pure school playground. /4

There is no more circle of life, each life stage with its particular focus and role. Just an eternal lifestyle present, ‘living your best life’, to hell with tradition or the future. Only the present matters. And having ‘fun’ in that present. h/t @Eerrnn for the link. /end