"They want to feel like they're part of something dramatic, something that makes their ordinary lives feel like they matter."
Yep, and there's your culture war right there. Trans kids in girls swimming can't just be something parents and school administrators work out in some reasonable way, it must be a FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
People want to believe that this moment - the one they were just accidentally born into - is the most important moment in human history, that the whole future of humanity depends on THEM. And yes, many progressive social movements draw on this same need, the key distinction is whether you're trying to hurt people or help people.
"... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses." --Juvenalis, Saturae X. People become conditioned (ie gr**med) to want less and less (emotional, material, spiritual) until all they want is plain sustenance and some kind of entertainment. Nero "fiddled" (dallied about, played games/sports) while the empire "burned" (shrank and collapsed) around him. Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Little Boots) only threatened to appoint his horse to Senate because the land-owning lords in the Senate were being so ineffectual. It's not just Il Duce nor Ill Douche; all Fa roads lead to Romulus (750-ish BCE).
"They want to feel like they're part of something dramatic, something that makes their ordinary lives feel like they matter."
Yep, and there's your culture war right there. Trans kids in girls swimming can't just be something parents and school administrators work out in some reasonable way, it must be a FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
People want to believe that this moment - the one they were just accidentally born into - is the most important moment in human history, that the whole future of humanity depends on THEM. And yes, many progressive social movements draw on this same need, the key distinction is whether you're trying to hurt people or help people.
"... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses." --Juvenalis, Saturae X. People become conditioned (ie gr**med) to want less and less (emotional, material, spiritual) until all they want is plain sustenance and some kind of entertainment. Nero "fiddled" (dallied about, played games/sports) while the empire "burned" (shrank and collapsed) around him. Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Little Boots) only threatened to appoint his horse to Senate because the land-owning lords in the Senate were being so ineffectual. It's not just Il Duce nor Ill Douche; all Fa roads lead to Romulus (750-ish BCE).