tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post6330735806752157703..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Jonathan Franzen, FreedomJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-83161645755260454352011-02-23T08:13:28.316-05:002011-02-23T08:13:28.316-05:00Certainly the anger of Americans is probably exagg...Certainly the anger of Americans is probably exaggerated in the press, and many people are quite content. But the Tea Parties are real and they have mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to "fight back" at things they seem to hate with a passion. I see a lot of political anger in America. No doubt much of it is simply character, and many of those people would find something to be angry about. But there is a large swath of America that seems quite angry about "big government" and "liberalism," and I find this quite puzzling -- especially since so much of it comes from people who depend on Social Security and Medicare. <br /><br />And in defense of my theory that much American anger is rooted in economics, I point out that polls of the "national mood" track the economy very closely. When the economy is booming, people say the country is "on the right track," and when the economy is bad they say the opposite.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-32463684925772229972011-02-22T16:14:57.380-05:002011-02-22T16:14:57.380-05:00I'm actually not sure there's that much an...I'm actually not sure there's that much anger in the comfortable middle class. I see it in the media, but I don't see it around me, and so I wonder if the idea that the middle class is angry is like the idea that crime rates are rising.<br /><br />I have a feeling that a lot of the anger that is out there derives from personality; in the old terminology, the angry folks are of a choleric humor. But, since our society in all sorts of ways actually encourages mellowness (or least repression) and discourages anger, we're shocked and fascinated by anger when we see it, as we are shocked and fascinated by violence.<br /><br />Internet anonymity also may encourage expressions of anger, or at least make them more visible to more people.<br /><br />Incidentally, I don't actually see that much professorial anger around me either. There's a fair amount of frustration with student apathy and the prevailing top-down admin style. But anger? I don't sense floods of it.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-36350968991097099002011-02-22T14:38:06.964-05:002011-02-22T14:38:06.964-05:00So what's your theory about the anger of the c...So what's your theory about the anger of the comfortable middle class?Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-43432788981907049022011-02-21T22:25:43.153-05:002011-02-21T22:25:43.153-05:00My experience is that people with a lot of money c...My experience is that people with a lot of money complain just as much or just as little as they would if they had somewhat less. Another way of saying it is, just because an abrupt doubling of a person's salary would be a pleasant surprise and mood-lifter, doesn't suddenly mean that all other issues are really proxies for money. If you suddenly made them all ten years younger, I bet they'd be happy with that too. But that doesn't mean that all professors' unhappiness is "really" about their lost youth.<br /><br />For that matter, a lot of people's worries, including their money worries, are much alleviated when you put them on prozac. Does that mean the great American novel should be about serotonin? (It would at least be different.)Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-67677984697417213652011-02-21T20:45:27.109-05:002011-02-21T20:45:27.109-05:00I think the root of professors' complaints rea...I think the root of professors' complaints really is money. I think if you doubled all professors' salaries, their complaining would be cut in half. That is partly because other things about their jobs are pretty good, in terms of autonomy and doing things that interest them. So, sure, they defend their turf, but they would worry about it less if they could afford to spend the summer in Tuscany.<br /><br />To quote my brother-in-law the business tycoon, "I find that the best way to motivate people is money."Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-46987524572957677212011-02-21T19:41:41.230-05:002011-02-21T19:41:41.230-05:00"Why do college professors feel ignored and a..."Why do college professors feel ignored and abused? Money. Why do working class people rail against "elites"? Money."<br /><br />I can't say this is true in my experience at all. My colleagues joke about money, but I don't sense any indication from them that "money" is the reason they feel abused, to the extent that they do. When I see money disputes, they often seem to be actually about power. At my school, people are upset that the admin cut the school's retirement contribution, but I gather that my colleagues are upset less about the money than about the fact that this looks like a power grab by the admin--if they can prove they can cut something by fiat, they've won a victory; if the faculty can prove they can't, it's the faculty that's won. The same goes for the current union and budget fights in Wisconsin and in Washington.<br /><br />Yes, folks without jobs, or who think they're going to lose their jobs, or who suffer health catastrophes, etc., worry about money. But it's not clear to me this is what you're talking about. You seem to be talking about a societal obsession, rather than individuals in particular circumstances, and I just don't see it--not the way you describe it.<br /><br />That said, adultery seems to me even less central to our society than money. It affects and obsesses some individuals, but it's not a societal issue either. Franzen's book sounds absolutely trivial, and forgettable.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08993570411881726772noreply@blogger.com