What I admire most about Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generation (2024), is that it not only presents a problem, but also spends a significant amount of time recommending a solution. We have let this skill atrophy in our culture. With news as entertainment, engagement comes down to cheering for your side, and we’re typically reduced to complaint. That’s why the kids think everything sucks.

Well, one reason anyway. Here’s another:

Every generation grows up during a disaster or under the threat of an impending disaster, from the Great Depression and World War II through threats of nuclear annihilation, environmental degradation, overpopulation, and ruinous national debt. People don’t get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless. As I’ll show in later chapters, this is what the Great Rewiring did to Gen Z.

The Spectator’s latest editorial is about the looming UK election, but this line made me rethink how we understand polarization:

The lack of any serious clash of ideals between the main parties has allowed a lazy consensus to thrive, with inevitable results, including economic stagnation and mounting bills.

That is, if the parties are the same, then our tribalism is trivial, and does not rise from some grand ideological rift that we have to either repair or make peace with. There’s hope in that.

I haven’t seen anyone make this comment about the passing of Rex Murphy yet so I’ll include it here for posterity: It’s not about whether you enjoyed his work, or even agreed with him, it’s that we’ve lost the clear voice of someone who understood the country and could speak to how it ought to better become itself.