What's next @ This Is The Way
A depression pandemic, Jar Jar Binks redemption + Yellowstone philosophy
Happy Friday friends and readers, This Is The Way. It’s been a pretty great month for this little ol’ Substack dedicated to pop culture wisdom and living better. I want to share a few things I’m thinking about right now and also recap some of our top articles for March in case you missed them.
There are a few stories in the discourse right now that I’m looking at with great concern. I’ll probably write about them here soon. So here they are.
New York Times: Hospitals Are Increasingly Crowded With Kids Who Tried to Harm Themselves, Study Finds
The portion of American hospital beds occupied by children with suicidal or self-harming behavior has soared over the course of a decade, a large study of admissions to acute care hospitals shows — Mental health hospitalizations rose significantly in children between the ages of 11 and 14, but they declined in younger and older age groups during the same 11-year period. Girls became a larger portion of mental health hospitalizations, rising to 61.1 percent in 2019 from 51.8 percent in 2009. Hospitalizations for suicidal behavior rose to 129,699 in 2019 from 49,285 in 2009.
Your curator here: How long are we going to pretend that the cause of this is not the things our culture has put on a pedestal in last ten years? Radical individualism, niche identity groups, sexuality, and self-promotion.
We’re killing today’s children with “kindness.” By that, I of course mean that we’ve blown up all the societal guardrails, expectations and roles that young people have historically been expected to play. “You do you” and “whatever makes you happy” is a dead end as far as happiness goes, especially when you’re young and need guidance.
More on that and a pop culture connection to a popular TV series to come.
The Week: WSJ poll finds money now more important to Americans than patriotism, religion, kids
A Wall Street Journal/NORC poll released Monday found that "patriotism, religious faith, having children, and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations" have fallen steadily since 1998 and even 2019, the Journal reports. About 38 percent of respondents in the new poll said patriotism is "very important" to them, versus 70 percent in the Journal's 1998 poll, while 39 percent said religion is very important, from 62 percent in 1998. While the importance of patriotism, religion, having children, and other values was down across the board, there were pretty stark generational and partisan divides in the poll. Republicans topped Democrats and independents on all values except community involvement, for example — though when it came to money, Republicans and Democrats found harmony at 45 percent apiece.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a poll that speaks more to our moment of a societal strain than this one by WSJ/NORC. We live in iCulture. Everything is about you and your truth, your satisfaction, your power, and your pleasure. When we live this way, service of others — dies.
GRAIN OF SALT: My colleague Patrick Ruffini did a very compelling breakdown on the grain of salt to be taken with this dramatic poll finding. You should read it. He explains how WSJ/NORC changed their polling methodology from phones to online surveys for the 2023 numbers, and it may well contribute to the stark shifts being show here.
Starkness aside, the trend is real and consistent. Money is the top value for Americans of most all stripes. Not relationships. Not building the next generation. Not belief in God. Just belief in the self. We’re in big trouble.
The Mandalorian on Disney+ has an interesting subplot going in its current third season. Wherein the ambitious Bo Katan has found herself living with the Mandalorian commune, Children of the Watch. Previously she had demeaned the Children of the Watch and our hero, Din Djarin, as a cult.
But then her fair weather friends and allies abandon her for political reasons. She is left totally alone and apparently pretty damn depressed.
Then when she came across the Children of the Watch again, the “cult" had a little more appeal to it. These Mandalorians stick with each other. They believe in something. They are reliable. Bo Katan joins. She follows their codes and dictates, such as never showing their faces.
Interesting. I, Stephen Kent, am not saying go join a cult, but this season actually speaks to why people do just that. It’s better than the lonely, depressed, suicidal life afflicting American society in mass today.
I have more to say on this and The Mandalorian, next week. So go ahead and Subscribe if you haven’t, and consider perhaps supporting This Is The Way with a Paid Subscription. It helps make this machine run and there are some perks in it for you.
ICYMI from This Is The Way
Yes, Ahmed Best needed redemption: An explainer for why “redemption” is for you, just as much as people who have done great wrongs. There is a common misperception in the culture that redemption is only for bad guys. This Is The Way breaks down why the actor for Jar Jar Binks, who did nothing wrong, needed what we call redemption.
John Dutton and your dark thoughts: Yellowstone is a huge hit of a show. It’s also a fountain of folksy wisdom and clever philosophy delivered mostly by Kevin Costner’s John Dutton character. This piece explains a connection between Yellowstone and stoic figure, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and why its okay to say no to experiences that don’t fit into the kind of life you want to have.
You’re the oppressor now: If you know me, you know I love Linkin Park. They are releasing some new songs for the 20th anniversary of Meteora, and so I took some time to revisit the meaning of “Numb” and how that meaning has both stayed the same…and changed with age.