These Increasingly Juvenile Times


An extreme artist has been performing acrobatics hundreds of metres above a canyon in central China.

Eskil Ronningsbakken, who worked on the Aizhai suspension bridge in Hunan province without a safety harness, later balanced on a rope ladder hanging from a hot air balloon. - bbc

“There were times when intellectual, spiritual, and creative achievement preoccupied quite some people. Now, its just 'career advancement', reproduction, grocery shopping, celeb worship and reality shows.

With the devaluation of life, its no wonder that people put it at risk for 'kicks' as a last effort at feeling alive. People who like 'living on the edge' are those who don't have anything going on in the plains of the lives, if you think about it.” - ed, on facebook

What we are seeing all around us is the best a child would do if pushed to be creative and intelligent but forced to remain a child.  The child can reach the maximum of its intelligent and creative potential as a child, but not as an adult.  Bodes well for elite-control.

I remember the story of someone being asked why they climbed mountains, and the response was a proud, ‘because it’s there.’  But the more accurate and honest answer, after a dash of critical introspection, would have been, ‘because I’ve nowhere else to go as I don’t have the character to appreciate more’.  It’s a matter of how the ‘progress’ of society allows you to define yourself that sees what you reach out toward to develop and express ‘yourself’. 

'Planking' - bbc

In the progress of capitalist civilisation, there are only two ways you can go.  One, you either be reduced as a person and just stick to an close-to-animal existence - working, shopping, eating, reproduction - or Two, aspire to shallow interests that basically indicate society’s deviation from its creative, spiritual, and intellectual path.  You can expect derision or be ignored if you are not one or the other - that is how the masses keep their own down to the delight of the elite.


Whether it is ‘planking’ - where people feel special about themselves when they lie still ‘like planks’ in different locations; or ‘flash mobs’, where people get together and behave silly for a short time in public; or ‘x-treme sports’ where they do acrobatics with a variety of machines to climbing mountains and rock-faces; these are a far cry from the scientific, creative, and intellectual pursuits of those who came before us, and whose present-day  but lesser variants are derided as ‘nerds’ and ‘geeks’.   Some might say that this is an exhibition of vibrancy and is hence a ‘good thing’.  In itself, I’d agree, but where vibrancy expressed in juvenile fashion is not complemented by, or serves as fuel for meaningful adult ones, it just serves as a catharsis or vent whereby one relieves the tension built up for not having the latter.  That just entrenches one in the former and it becomes an end in itself.

...where vibrancy expressed in juvenile fashion is not complemented by, or serves as fuel for meaningful adult ones, it just serves as a catharsis or vent whereby one relieves the tension built up for not having the latter.  That just entrenches one in the former and it becomes an end in itself.

'Beach Party' 'Flash Mob'

In a global american/juvenile-led climate where ‘revolution’ is associated with a comic ‘Marvel Universe’, or food, or fashion; where to speak like a child is increasingly becoming fashionable; where people try to get popular and rich by putting up videos of their cats’ antics or seeking ‘stardom’ on silly ‘Idol’ shows; where heroes like Malcolm X, Marx, Gandhi, Jesus, the Buddha, or Muhammad, are being replaced with Iron Man, Spider-man, and the Avengers; where sit-coms thrive on sarcasm and vindictiveness instead of true wit; where people take pride in being ‘practical’ and apathetic; and so on and so forth, it is no wonder that we are seeing a rise in extreme sports, or over-focus on sports which is basically the juvenile expressing itself for want of more meaningful avenues of development and expression.

The human spirit needs to express itself no matter what, but the avenues to do so are fast becoming juvenile and nothing besides.  Anything more is ignored.  What a waste.  The intellectual, spiritual, and creative still remains, but it is being expressed in a juvenile fashion, as opposed to maturing juveniles to adulthood.  What we are seeing all around us is the best a child would do if pushed to be creative and intelligent but forced to remain a child.  The child can reach the maximum of its intelligent and creative potential as a child, but not as an adult.  Bodes well for elite-control.  They have really done it haven't they.


ed