There’s a time to do a lot of questioning, and certain times to just let things go. I like to listen to Judas Priest sometimes (and Rush and AC/DC, and a smidgeon of the very vulgar Tenacious D).
To the point here, I was listening to the lyrics of “Breaking the Law” (very 80’s looking video linked on the title), and thinking: “this is the direct outcome of socialism.” Long term unemployment. A sense of meaninglessness. A frustration with a Nanny State that promises the sun, moon and stars, and can’t even deliver healthcare (even though it is “free” if you can get it). Profound and unrecognized indulgence in self pity.
If you think back to the history of loud music, the really angry, nasty stuff started in the mid to (really) late 70’s, with groups like the Sex Pistols leading the way. What was going on then? Leftism. Through determined indifference to the plight of the South Vietnamese people, and a lack of a sense of national pride and honor, leftist media hacks were able to convince the American people the war was lost, and that we should retreat, even though we were ideally positioned to end the war the same way the Korean War ended.
To this add pervasive attacks on moral norms, religion, patriotism, then in England combine it with long term unemployment, and increasing dependence on a Nanny State. None of the talking heads on TV made sense. Nothing seemed to make sense. Hence: anger.
I had thought some time ago to entitle my chapter on the 60’s “From flowers to skulls”. What happened was that the high ended, adulthood happened, and the hippies found they didn’t believe in anything. Now, we see their children with the same obsession with death prefigured by the Grateful Dead.
“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” began in Woodstock. I am quite convinced of it. If you hew to no chosen moral order, you will get lost. This seems clear enough.
Love is not a value. It is an outcome. If you are serious about being a loving person, you have to have the character for it; otherwise, it is just the warmth of being drunk, that fades just when trust is offered. If this happens enough times, you get the jaded cynicism that the aging hippies cannot recognize for what it is, or its pervasiveness in their children. The moral vacuity at their core is what drives them to NEED the leftist narratives–and following actions–that are doing so much to damage our communities, national security, economic health, and sense of meaning.