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Perpetual Childhood of the Left
The last few years, in particular, have demonstrated the increasing polarization between the Left and Right. Demonstrations on college campuses, attacks on Donald Trump and his administration, far-reaching demands for others to succumb to their demands are endless. Many of us have tried to figure out ways to deal with these perpetual attacks: we’ve focused on how to speak to the Left, how to ignore their outrageous behavior, how to ridicule them, ways to fight back, and even how to change them. I think, however, we’ve been going about these efforts in the wrong way.
For the most part, the Right has offered solutions to deal with the demands of the Left, particularly with efforts to communicate with them or to use reason to show them the errors of their ways. Instead of solutions, I suggest we identify the source of their actions. Broadly speaking, they are trapped in Perpetual Childhood and are either unwilling or unable to find their way out. Let me provide an explanation of Perpetual Childhood, suggestions for its domination of so many on the Left, and general suggestions about where we can begin to deal with it. I’d like to begin with a practical list of attributes that I discovered. Think about people on the Left whom you know: do you think that any of these describe their thinking processes or behavior?
- Emotional escalations—think of the temper tantrums you have seen on college campuses, at demonstrations, in Congressional elevators (as in the attacks on Senators Flake and Graham).
- Blaming—it’s always someone else’s fault: conservatives, the government, and efforts to be successful, described as greed, setting limits and rules, simply saying no, or cutting back on what the Left describes as “necessary” resources. Accepting reality or taking responsibility are not concepts they understand.
- Lies—most of these lies are generated by people who’ve accepted the Leftist propaganda and have no desire to seek the truth. Confirmation bias is always important. (Looking for information that confirms their pre-existing views.) If they’ve heard it on the TV news they watch, read it on the internet or seen it in the newspaper, it must be true.
- Name–Calling—greedy, bigoted, hateful, homophobic, Nazis are some favorites used against their “enemies.” The flavor of the day and all-encompassing term is “racist.”
- Impulsivity—acting out without considering the possible consequences or the needs of others, often jeopardizing safety and compromising free speech.
- Need to be the center of attention—this might involve individual attention, but being part of a group protest against other hateful people might be very satisfying and empowering.
- Bullying—this behavior not only happens on college campuses, but in businesses, and especially on social media.
- Budding narcissism—this happens when people see themselves as the center of the world, when everyone—parents, teachers, coaches, and even peers–repeatedly defer to them. They don’t think that others have anything worthwhile to offer them.
- Immature defenses—shouting others down, degrading their ideas, and rejecting their input provide emotional barriers to protect themselves against others who may want to engage with them. Denial of having said something, in particular, is another strategy.
- Inability to learn from their mistakes—they are unable to self-reflect on their actions to determine if they were helpful or appropriate.
Now the Leftists you know may not have all of these characteristics; in fact, those who are less belligerent may not seem so out-of-control. I have a good friend who is a Leftist who is not very outspoken, but if you dig under the surface, she shows a number of these characteristics.
So if we assume we are dealing with the likes of immature children, at least in the area of politics, what else should we consider?
- Remember that life seems dangerous to them. They are terrified about taking risks, getting hurt, even dying.
- They must be saved, because they are helpless to act alone. Everyone is a potential threat, particularly if they have different views. Those other people are dangerous, hurtful, unempathetic and mean. This belief also validates how dangerous the world is.
- Many of these people were raised by over-protective people. There are probably thousands of reasons for their parents’ suffocating behavior—you may want to offer some of them—but helicopter parents essentially tell their offspring that they can’t survive without mom and dad. That may be true financially, since children need a home, food, and some supervision. But as they grow into adulthood, they don’t mature out of those beliefs and instead have internalized how dangerous life truly is.
- Since these people feel helpless, they are terrified about being alone. They are most comfortable in crowds such as political meetings, where only blind allegiance is required. They needn’t demonstrate any particular skills; they just need to be participants.
- The tribal call is irresistible. They have no community groups in which they engage, including and especially religion. The lack of belief in G-d, the disdain for the sanctity of religion, make joining any kind of religious organization a sign of weakness and even betrayal of the cause. So if they are terrified of being alone, political groups provide a safe haven.
- They choose to insulate themselves from the dangers of the world. The media conspires to keep them closeted and to provide propaganda that supports their isolation from the rest of society. They are not interested in “truth,” since they’ve been taught that truth is relative. So they must believe in guides who have been carefully selected to teach them and protect them.
- They need to create scapegoats. This point is especially intriguing, since the premier scapegoat at this time is anyone on the Right, but particularly Donald Trump. It’s helpful to remember that scapegoats are identified as targets for the disdain of others; the Left is also fed additional information (often lies) to keep the image alive. Scapegoats are necessary to the Left because they can project all their own negative attributes on the “others”; this suggests that those of the Left are everything they attribute to Donald Trump. You only need to review the first list above to realize that scapegoating provides this kind of relief and outlet. And of course, these scapegoats garner aggressive behavior, since they are so dangerous (an irony worth noting).
So what’s to be done with this group of Perpetual Children? Reaching the future parents and explaining the damage they are doing might be helpful. Publishing more self-help books? Producing stories for TV or movies? The problem here is that these productions would need to be presented as alternatives, not to correct the kind of damage they’ve done. No one likes to be criticized.
But if we are going to try to address the current Leftists in the population who are much like children, I think everyone has to be prepared to just say no, and to set limits, just like we would do with children. Starting out with reasoned discussions with those on the Left who are Perpetual Children is a waste of time. If you are on social media, make a commitment to yourself not to engage in angry attacks: just say no. In fact, you could simply say “I’m not responding to your comments.” If the person does it again, ignore him or her. If others join in, don’t respond. If you are with the person, you can suggest a reasoned discussion; if the person, through action or behavior refuses, excuse yourself and walk away. Politeness is your guide.
You may say that you simply can’t do that, that you shouldn’t have to do it, the others should behave themselves. Do immature children behave themselves? Only rarely. We must take away the rewards for their despicable behavior.
It sounds, strangely enough, that the best way to respond to these Perpetual Children is to remember one thing:
We are the adults in the room. We need to act like it.
Published in Culture
Nope. It is in full bloom.
Remedial daycare.
A lot of this began with the Boomers’ infatuation with youth. (I am a Boomer, btw.) Among the many colossally foolish ideas pushed by the youth movement of the 60s was “never trust anyone over 30.”
What a bunch of nonsense that was.
I love it, @percival. We’ll just re-name their safe spaces. What do you think?
I hadn’t thought of that @songwriter. I’m a boomer, too, but I was always an outsider (dorky sort). But it would make sense that they’d pass that foolish mentality on to their kids. Sheesh.
After reading Clifford Brown’s latest post , I wondered if there was a conflict between his premises and mine. I don’t think so. I think the leaders of ideological movements know just what they’re doing, as Clifford describes; the people who follow them are the people I’m talking about. It’s all ugly.
Great Piece.
What to do?
Somewhere along the way, much of our populace has been instilled with the idea that life should be handed to them on a silver platter free from any struggle. But Life is a struggle. Recently my daughter and I have been trying to watch – no, endure- the latest version of Les Miserables on PBS Masterpiece. It makes Dickens seem like child play but should be a reminder to us all that not very long ago life was mean, brutish and short. Even though many, including many young adults just starting out in life, in our Deep State controlled economy are greatly suffering, the idea persists that life should be a bowl of cherries, somehow and that society should put us all in a protected safe space bubble where we need to make little effort to live and live well.
So what to do? I would suggest a start would be force upon our illiterate masses exactly how the world works and the idea that unless our society works very hard to produce a good life for all our citizens, that good life so expected by so many could turn to dust very easily. And a good place to start to bring that knowledge to our populace would be with our schools which have over the last few decades so ill prepared our young for the real world.
We need to teach our people that life can be tough, and how to deal with the world when things turn to crap, as they often do during many a lifetime.
Excellent comment, @unsk. I agree. And also that we haven’t communicated that it is the fighting through the adversity that results in our own empowerment and success. There is joy and satisfaction on the other side. Thanks!
I think this is part of the reason that leaders and thinkers have feared democracy for centuries. At least pure democracy, where everyone gets a vote. You can understand their skepticism, from a certain standpoint.
Whenever my kids show me a funny video they found online, of somebody doing something funny and stupid, like pouring oil all over their car instead of into the actual engine or something, I remind them, “Remember – in the United States, that person can vote.”
The French Revolution scared the daylights out of most of our founding fathers. So that is what happens when you give power to the masses. Hmmm…
There is a reason that our founders instituted the Electoral College, no elections for senators, voting restrictions (like only landowners or whatever), and so on. They were scared. Of the tyranny of the majority. They were scared of mob rule. And they should have been scared.
When Ben Franklin said that we had a republic, if we can keep it, this is what he meant.
You may be right that our society produces more perpetual adolescents than it used to, although I’m not sure if that’s really true. But regardless, I think there are many people who never reach sufficient emotional maturity to think much beyond their immediate self-gratification, just like some people will never be able to do multi-variable calculus, or dunk a basketball. There will always be people like that, no matter what. We’re all born with different abilities.
This is why Democrats want EVERYBODY to vote. And they want to import poor third world refugees from socialist countries, who don’t really know how to take care of themselves. They know who they appeal to. They know where their power lies. And they’re not wrong.
You’re obviously right, that conservatives are the adults in the room. Thus, our message tends to resonate with other adults. It will not resonate with everybody.
You ask for a solution to this problem. I don’t see one.
There are some people who will never be able to dunk a basketball. No matter how much you want to help them learn.
We have a republic. If we can keep it.
Works for me, @cdor! I’m not on Facebook or Twitter; I did the former for a while, years ago, and new I had to get out!
I agree, @drbastiat. Some people will never get it. And that’s how the world works. I have to believe–have to believe— that some people will be surprised at what they can do, if they see the opportunity to get there. I don’t have solutions either, but I feel compelled to call out to those who might. Thanks for your comment!
Our education system could very well be a source of the problems you address in this post @susanquinn. They seem to be teaching reliance on government as the Big Daddy. Are our kids being taught self-reliance and the value of individual freedom? If you blame so many problems on something that hasn’t been a part of our society for over 150 years, how can you ever become a self-sufficient, independent, and proud adult? And yet, I know many African Americans who would take great exception to blaming slavery for the current plight of their community. I would love to see our President hold rallies specifically for the African American and Hispanic communities…not just one time, but over and over again. By what Trump is actually doing, those communities should be voting for him.
There are small but powerful efforts happening. Hillsdale College continues to open more schools nationally that teach children the kinds of things you mention and more. I’ll add their link in just a minute.
https://www.hillsdale.edu/educational-outreach/barney-charter-school-initiative/
Mission
The mission of the Barney Charter School Initiative is to promote the founding of classical charter schools and excellence in their teaching and operations, to the end that public-school students may be educated in the liberal arts and sciences and receive instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue.
Here’s more information on the schools they’ve opened (20 to date) and their locations:
These are good!
They are certainly noisier than they used to be. Perpetual adolescence used to be cut short by its consequences. Now it seems to have devolved into a movement.
Yes. This was the point that came to my mind. There is evil in the Saul Alinksy fetishists that lead the Left. They exploit the desire of the immature who want to feel good about themselves even as they pursue pleasure without responsibility. As described by Solzhenitsyn quoted in my post, to do the greatest evil you must persuade someone that it is good.
Yes. This.
We need to be careful of underrating the opposition. While many on the Left do show the attributes you mention, there are a lot of Leftists who are successful in their careers, have quite a few friends, are reasonably-well though not deeply educated, and are well over 40.
I think this is the more important point.
You’ve got the symptom, he’s got the cause. Together, they are consistent.
The “perpetual childhood” you describe didn’t just happen. It was nurtured. Because it’s a really effective way to gain political power; create bureaucracies, win elections, make waves, etc.
It’s a simple matter of following the incentives.
And it grew to its current state because the conservative side didn’t know it was happening, and didn’t address it. Until now.
So with that said, @susanquinn , I would take the original premise of your post and suggest the opposite action. Huh? Y’know how adolescents tend to want to rebel against their parents? Go with that.
An example would be the Walk Away campaign.
Risk averse people like big government solutions to suburban risks. Some people think having choices/freedom is risky, because they might make a wrong choice. These people embrace socialism, with government removing all risk and choice. Unfortunately, risk and choice are necessary for long-term prosperity. The majority of Americans prefer prosperity to risk aversion (according to polls), so the Right needs to keep framing the trade-off properly. If the debate is solely about suburban worries, then we’ll end up with too much government.
I agree. And I would group many of them with the leadership of these groups. Even more dangerous than their followers. Thanks, @davidfoster.
I know about Walkaway and it’s great. I’m not clear on what you’re suggesting about “the opposite action,” Don.
I think that proposition would be extremely difficult to prove, using behavioral studies rather than self reported polls…
What a great Sunday morning post, perceptive and humane. I’ll read it again after the croissants are out.
I’ll just note for now that the distinction between children and adults is the paradigm of responsibility. A child sees opportunity in everything and is perpetually asking “What is here for me?” An adult asks “What does this call for from me?”
Good parents inculcate that paradigm by giving their child limited doses of responsibility (and hence authority.) They praise and correct as appropriate, keeping things under control but only just. The child shapes himself to that responsibility and so becomes ready for more.
So the obvious answer is “give them responsibility.” It’s necessarily going to be hard on them, if they haven’t been trained for those malleable years to seek responsibility, but there is no other way to produce an adult.
An incidental upside of assigning them heavy responsibility, even if they don’t grow as a result, would be to tie them down. I personally like the fact that all those pathetic Middle Engrish Lesbian Studies majors are stuck in their parents’ basements. They cause less trouble there.
Got to go.
I did want to make one other comment about the Walkaway campaign, which encourages people to walk away from the Left. It’s a great program if people come across it, or if they are open to our suggestions about looking for alternatives. I think, however, that it won’t help us in our one-on-one ugly confrontations with the Left. In those encounters, they need to be shut down, however politely. Tell me what I’m missing, @dontillman.
Your proposal was to be the adults, or parents, in the room. I’m suggesting the opposite, sort of… Encourage their natural rebellious nature against their “parents”, the party establishment.
The Walk Away campaign is an example of this.
(I’ve often said, partially as a joke, the it’s the responsibility of every generation to piss off the previous generation.)
Until they run for office.
Bernie Sanders couldn’t support himself until he got into government. Neither could Hitler or Lenin. Marx never did earn a living. John Kerry. Barack Obama. Joe Biden.
The left seems to attract such people…
Such a thoughtful post, @barfly. Giving them responsibility is a great idea; I’m sure the Left uses it when they hand out nasty posters for them to carry. So help me out–how do we bring them to responsibility in a way that will speak to them? How do we convince them that taking responsibility is deeply satisfying? Meanwhile . . . any croissants left?
The Left are a special kind of stupid. In their minds, it’s OK if someone gets rich as a public servant, but if that person had gotten rich by selling people a good product at a reasonable price and managing his company well, he is a filthy, greedy capitalist.
Making them pay off their student loans is a start, I guess. It’s still up to Mom and Dad to kick them out of the house.
But I didn’t mean we need to convince them. That’s futile. You don’t convince a kid, you train him. I haven’t answered your question, of course.
Yes, a few. There’s more jam in the fridge.