The Infantilization of Society

Hi ATS.

I see a lot of grown men and women acting like children these days and it bugs me. For all sorts of reasons. It represents a society in trouble, a society in decay that has grown soft and spoiled beyond any reasonable level.

Here's two examples (warning, some strong language in the first one):





These are both grown men who act like spoiled little kids. Something is very wrong with a society that gives rise to these types of characters.

Now, I know times are tough and there is no shame in living with your folks as an adult - as long as you at least try to pull your weight and improve yourself. That's not what I'm talking about. Rather I'm talking about grown men who retreat into imaginary videogame worlds or start playing with plastic McDonald's pony toys. Women who act and live like teenagers, partying away the years without a care in the world, well into thier 30s, 40s, and even beyond. Its increasing, and its the symptom of a sick society.

reply to post by FailedProphet

Ageism, or age discrimination is stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups because of their age. It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination.[1]

Source

Sorry, but it's not my place, nor yours to judge another person based on their age. Doesn't matter if you are 12 or 40, you want to act like a child in certain circumstances, that's your right. Doesn't make you any better or worse a person.

Now of course I mean take into account the responsibilities that you have agreed to uphold. Raising your kids, performing at your carreer etc.

In all honesty people take themselves WAY too seriously as adults. I for one am very happy to see some people get super excited over the most mundane thing.

~Tenth

reply to post by FailedProphet


Where are the Grownups, the ones to look up to as we mature. The elders in our society?

My husband is very upset with the fact that all the commercials now are child like even though selling adult goods and services. very few speak as adult to adults. Most are cartoons.

I am seeing a trend which has no elders to look up to in society. People are encouraged to continue to act like and do what their teenage children do. They actually compete with their kids.

Personally I miss the days when there was an "Aunt Bee" character in peoples homes.

Now any grandmotherly or grandfatherly figure is not a wise elder who has LEARNED to stopped narrowly focusing on their cloths, body and goods and realizes that we inside are the true person.

Instead you get fast talking, drug using, hard swearing, partying, tattooed and teen cloths wearing Grandparents.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by FailedProphet

 

Ageism, or age discrimination is stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups because of their age. It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination.[1]

Source

Sorry, but it's not my place, nor yours to judge another person based on their age. Doesn't matter if you are 12 or 40, you want to act like a child in certain circumstances, that's your right. Doesn't make you any better or worse a person.

Now of course I mean take into account the responsibilities that you have agreed to uphold. Raising your kids, performing at your carreer etc.

In all honesty people take themselves WAY too seriously as adults. I for one am very happy to see some people get super excited over the most mundane thing.

~Tenth

I agree with the right to respond in a more fun childlike manner in certain circumstances, my Grandparents were fun! But they were also respected adults and I knew where to go when i need advice from someone who had gained wisdom.

They reached a stage in their lives that no one seems to anymore. They had no interest in fancy cloths, styles or the cheep trash of society, they had matured and lived a life full of gentle peace and wisdom.

Since it's been said well here, I won't try to re-invent the wheel.

Freudian Nations

Freud's theory of the personality can be extended from individuals to nations. Freud argued that our personality is shaped by three components - the id, the ego and the superego - two of which are in conflict, with the third mediating between them.

The "Id" is infantile, narcissistic and pursues the Pleasure Principle. It wants self-gratification at every moment and resents anything that stops it getting what it wants. It's the ultimate spoiled, over-indulged child. Its supporters link it to freedom and self-expression. "Do whatever you want," is the id's mantra.

Junk TV, junk computer games, junk Hollywood movies, peep shows, internet porn, social networking, theme parks, cheap alcohol, cheap drugs. The western world is Disney World run by drug pushers. The superego is extinguished. The West is the opposite of the superego societies. Whereas those are run by old men, western societies revolve around spoiled brats, men and women who never grow up, people suffering from arrested development, stuck in their baby phase. The West is an infantilised culture.

The credit crunch is the inevitable consequence of an unrestrained id ideology. In an id culture, no one holds back. Those who can be as greedy as they like, invariably take everything they can get, regardless of the consequences, and regardless of others. Why would they stop? They are simply fulfilling the core ideology of the society they live in. Regulation, the superego mechanism for moderating markets, was dismantled in the West thanks to Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and the two Bush presidents, and thanks to Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the UK. .

link

(For several reasons I want to add a personal disclaimer ... It's a good site for drawing insight together, but I advise not getting sucked into their barrage of gnostic propeganda).

reply to post by Char-Lee


The problem is deeper rooted however.

Your grand parents probably had good savings, retired at an appropriate age.

People in their 30's or 40's today are NOT as well equipped as people use to be. It's harder to be successfull today as a lower income/middle class person than it has ever been.

So I do expect our society to be filled with more of these types as a symptom of a country that doesn't encourage healthy, financially responsible & well educated citizens.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Is deeper in another way also. There is no one looking to find anyone to look up to anymore, they want contemporaries and don't even understand the concept of respecting an elder.

My children are in their early 40's. They resent me because I am NOT interested in styles, in looking "hot" (todays call word)

I don't care if I "fit in" with their friends parents who are trendy, party friendly and tattooed. I don't watch general Tv and no sitcoms. I don't belong to facebook, I don't carry a cell phone,.

I read and as much non fiction as fiction. I am not wanted as I approach being like my Grandparents whom I respected and looked up to. I don't think the changes are for the better in any way.

personaly, i think it's fun to act like that! .... at least tubby [the gentleman in the first vid] is getting himself some exercise.

There is no hope for humanity.

None.

Where games and mmo's are concerned people take it seriously or have it as a hobby because it is what they grew up with. my parents were never into computer games and even when i use to ask my dad if he would play against me on the Atari he would always seem disinterested. If I asked him to give me a game of darts or pool however he'd always say yes because he grew up knowing those things.

we have a generation of adults now who grew up on trying to clock a game or trash their mates on the latest game.
it's the norm. when i went to college to get a qualification this year, my tutor in her late 30's - 40's mentioned how she likes to relax at home by playing a few hours on the console. this simply would of been unheard of when I was a kid.

the pony guy could have a mental illness that gives him the mental age of a 7-9 year old. that dosn't mean he cannot post on you tube what he finds fun.

'Francis' is a fake persona. I think that guy is hysterical. He's mocking gamers and nerd rage but there certainly are people like that out there.

I do see society as a whole becoming more immature every year. Many seem to have a gimme gimme self centered attitude. I also think social media is contributing to this. Unwarranted self importance EVERYWHERE. Kids living at home until their 30's. Calling people in their 30's kids. It's weird.

reply to post by Char-Lee


when you finally grow up, in your sixties or sometimes earlier, nobody listens to you anymore. If you start to challenge how things are they say you are pre-Alzheimer. The pharmaceutical companies are tied right into this plot, as you start to mature they try to dope us up along with the FDA so nobody will listen. They even teach the kids in school that they are smarter than their parents. This has been going on since the sixties when I was in school and isn't going to change. If the grownups did start running things than we would have to clean house and that won't happen in the near future unless a collapse of the economy occurs. Right now our country is straddled in debt, debt that means that government assets, the land and minerals, can be confiscated and handed over to another leadership. I think this was planned myself even though I don't know who would be smart enough to pull it off. If it is random than we are the stupidest society on the earth.

I practically busted a gut laughing at the pony show. The guy's Inner Child came out to play.

Margaret Paul has written books about the Inner Child, and I have seen her actually do a dialogue with a teddy bear.

Step Three of Inner Bonding is self-exploration in the form of dialoguing with our Inner Child. In many ways, this is the most important part of the process, because without understanding the source of our pain and false beliefs we cannot fully love the part of us that holds so tightly to them. To move into our wholeness at the deepest level, we must go through the wounded child(ren) within us, loving them, understanding them, holding them, and bringing in the truth for them.

www.innerbonding.com...

Nurture your Inner Child OP.

This is a very american phenomenon.

My take on why comes from analyzing my own experiences and those of people nearest me.
The problem is that the adults right now are the X Generation. Most of us did not have responsible adults in our lives while growing up. They were usually experiementing with drugs, sex and rock and roll; with "finding themselves" through creativity like dancing naked outside or painting with their fingers. They were putting us in experimental schools where no teaching was done, the kids were left to "teach themselves" in nature.

Many of us had to be the grown ups instead, from a very young age.I knew how to help momy come down from a bad acid trip, how to bail dad out of jail, and thought everyones parents had orgies in the living room, or left with their lovers for the weekend and left the kids (all under the age of 8) at home alone. Life was pretty scary and it left me with adrenal deficiency from being stressed and worried about survival.

I have no concept of an "aunt bee" character as mentioned. Captain Kirk was the closest I saw to a responsible adult and he's not real.

So I find myself now a parent who may have been a bit overly strict and protective, as I gave my kids what I wished I had had, they are getting to be young adults, and now? I am finally getting to be a kid!!!!

It wasn't easy, I actually had to look beyond what I NEED to survive, and consider for the first time- what would I like? What would be fun? Totally new experience for me, and awesome.

My husband is in the same boat. His father was an alcoholic and he had to be the man of the house from an early age and take of his mother and brother- he didn't get a childhood either.

Now he is playing in his (real) fighter plane cockpit flight simulator, riding on his ChiPs motorcycle in full uniform, and driving New York Checker cabs around South France. I am on my horse playing cowgirl and cutting cows, learning to scuba dive , or meditating in the forest.

The grnadparents? Well, mom is dead, killed herself, dad is a stock broker, a outspoken Christian and secret daily pot smoker, and totally unreliable bag of passive aggressivity. I honestly don't want to tell my kids to see him as a good example of integrity and wisdom.

So ....I don't know. People my kids age are perhaps just starting to become parents, are they being too chuldlike because we were too protective and strict? Because they watched how hard we strived to support our family and it made them think, "gee, that doesn't look like fun, I don't want to be a grown up!"

Possible. But I figure, if we could make it, they can too.

Originally posted by Char-Lee
reply to post by tothetenthpower
Is deeper in another way also. There is no one looking to find anyone to look up to anymore, they want contemporaries and don't even understand the concept of respecting an elder.

My children are in their early 40's. They resent me because I am NOT interested in styles, in looking "hot"

Honestly, I dunno you as a person at all and I could be totally crazily way off base begging for the most awesome throat punch ever and am certainly not old enough to say these things but ... (and I'm really really sorry!) Do you not think maybe it's a bit childish having the expectations as you do? I mean you say you're not worried about fitting in, but it seems you're at least a little sad at how your children are treating you?

I think it's understandable and natural! With my grandfather I guess at a point we stopped relating to one another and stopped talking. I hope he understands that really I just didn't know what to say, and we just didn't share the same interests any more. I loved him very much, and there are so many questions I'd ask him now but I didn't have them at the time. I guess I also thought perhaps he wasn't interested or stopped caring.

I get on very well with my dad. The one thing that really stands out to me with him is that he never seems to judge me exactly. I've made lots of mistakes, and he is still there. At times I neglected him or thought he was wrong about lots of things, but he was never upset or angry at me. Anything I do, I know I can always come to him and talk about it and it won't be a shouting match or a falling out. He just says, oh I think you're wrong, but give it a try. He is usually right.

The biggest lesson he has taught me is not to give in to those negative feelings. Sometimes I feel my friends or lover are neglecting me, or not paying attention to me, but if I truely love them am always there for them; it doesn't mean being a door mat or being dishonest, it just means always being there and not letting feelings get in the way of that.

It's almost kind of like watching a persons life, and often they realise sooner than you think. My dad taught me that, and it's true wisdom in a way, giving people the time and tools to change even if they don't realise what you're doing or never realise. It isn't about recognition I suppose.

I'm sure the pain you're feeling is because you love your children very much and I truly mean no disrespect. My dad's loving temperament and awesomeness truly makes me regret every moment I've treated him how you describe though I never resented him for not being hip ... I guess I just felt for a while perhaps I knew better or perhaps he might judge me, so we didn't communicate.

I hope your children aren't shallow enough to resent you for the reasons you describe and in a really nice way I hope you're wrong about it!

Please don't hit me! *hides*

I understand what you are saying and to some extent agree... down here in NC, we call it the "wussification" of America.

On the other hand, it has to do with background and culture.

I work in a farm supply store and this time of year we have all of our Xmas toys out... tractors, toy guns, toy hunting sets, John Wayne memorabilia, trains and trucks... and about half the time, you see Dads and their sons playing around the displays "shooting" at each other... 50 year old men can not keep their hands off the trains and tractors... senior citizens push all the buttons on the fire trucks and their eyes light up. Gray haired women playing with the toy horses and ponies.

we also have 4x4 UTVs all camo with winches and roll bars and hunting spot lights... and every man... every man that walks by stops and looks.. most climb in and you see them light up...

Truth be told... somewhere inside.. we are all just big kids... some just forgot how to be.

As for me... I build some awesome sand castles down at the beach and love a remote control German Panzer.

The merchant class realizes that it is easier to make a sale to an immature intellect.

Everything is either a sales pitch,or an unfair contract you must enter into to get some # you don't really even need anyway.

Aside from the above,there is nothing wrong with enjoying simple things.

Or,I suppose you could be an adult,and go deeply into debt buying "Big Boy Toys",and end up looking kinda stoooooopid when you get hurt,sick or killed.Maybe work yourself to death for that boat you can't afford to feed?.

Don't fall for the sales pitch,but keep close to your inner child.

Remember when you were happy?,go there,leave your allowance at home.

francis is a troll who acts like that for attention

you can find an interview with him talking to a reporter.. cant find the link though, its all an act for youtube revenue

reply to post by FailedProphet


I could only watch 26 seconds of the first video.This "man"
should be considered the poster "child" for reasons why you
shouldn't live your life through video games.

Im pretty sure the guy in the 2nd video isnt all there so im not sure he can be counted as an example...