arcade fire: keep the car runnng
today’s gonna be one of those days when i ask you guys to give me yr opinions, not only cos i’m curious but because, as usual, i’m not sure of my own opinion.
earlier, jezebel linked to an article in the new york observer entitled “american cutie.” now, just yesterday, i was writing about cuteness, so i was immediately intrigued. but it was the subheading that really got me:
“The Rising Age of Obama May Look Twee, Naïve and Idealistic, But Like Gwyneth Paltrow, the Hobbits, Arcade Fire and Iron Man, It Shows a Scrappy New Generation That Has Learned to Fight”
wow. that’s a lot of things. a lot of things i LOVE!
so i read the article, which you can find here.
and you know, i’m not entirely sure what it’s about. i suspect that it’s actually not v. well-written, and it seems more like a rambling blog post (not that i would know what those look like) than some kind of editorial. but i can’t help but find it interesting, since
ok, i actually really don’t get his point. but here’s my attempt at presenting a passage that might capture it:
(note: the person speaking is win butler, from arcade fire)
***
“It’s finally our turn to have a great president,” he said, and at this point the crowd was going wild. “I’m sick of fine presidents and good presidents and mediocre presidents. I’m sick of Rutherford B. Hayes and James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce and Millard Fillmore. We got Barack Obama! Barack Obama, for crying out loud!”
In other words, Win Butler was going for the naïve moron vote. The crowd that was somehow equating Hillary Clinton and Millard Fillmore was not the Oxford Union debating society. But still, elevating Barack Obama beyond the stage of the Children’s Crusade was turning him into the Tough Twee candidate. Why Tough Twee? The crowd had the affect and information base of children, the idealism of the truly protected and insular—the province of child-voters since the beginning of the republic.
***
yeah, that probably didn’t explain much, did it? if i had to take a stab, i would say his point is that our generation has been twee-obsessed, twee meaning cuteness, innocence, the sweetness and playfulness of childhood. and yet now we’re become “tough twee,” for some reason that i don’t think he quite explains but maybe assumes that we’re old enough to feel like we should be political, like we can change things in this country. like we want to be taken seriously.
and mr.
***
The Lord of the Rings trilogy hit the Twee nail on the head. A great battle is taking place, and by a series of unfortunate circumstances, the little Hobbits have gotten involved.
J.R.R. Tolkien described the race of tiny creatures he invented thusly: They are “unobtrusive.” They “love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-farmed countryside was their favorite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill or a hand-loom, though they were skillful with tools.” They are “shy of the Big Folk.” Hobbits were Twee Pioneers. But at least they took on Sauron frontally and beat the crap out of him.
***
i will admit, i do feel a certain affinity with the hobbits. first of all, eating meals every hour of the day is pretty much the best idea i’ve ever heard (SECOND BREAKFAST, ANYONE?!). plus, i hate conflict. and their houses look so cozy! yay hobbits!
and it’s not like the hobbits were simple-minded, necessarily. they just had simple lifestyles.
even though i think we’re attracted to ideas of simplicity (farmer’s markets, etc.), i don’t think our generation has a simple lifestyle. it’s more materialistic, yes, but it’s also more complex. we are INUNDATED. we inundate ourselves. i gorge all day long on bands and celebrity gossip and books and the lives of my friends and yes, even world events, and none of that (ok, maybe the whole perez hilton thing) is empty. my preferences shape me, the world shapes my preferences, so then i shape the world? maybe?
then again, i do feel naive sometimes. but i’m young (ish?!!). that’s when you’re supposed to be naive, right?
and the only way to learn about things is to experience them… and i think people getting involved in the presidential race, feeling *excited* about it, can only be a good thing.
perhaps mr.
that leads me to the main question that’s been on my brain (in spite of all of this rambling): what does our generation actually care about? what ARE our values? and how do they translate into politics, into the future of our country?
i know, i know, we aren’t all the same cos we were born in the late 70s-early 80s. i’m not trying to label anyone here. i’m just curious about the FORCE of “us.” where will our values take us in the future? what will the country look like when we’re no longer naive, twee little hobbits?
what will happen when we’re in charge?
LINKS
meet my new hero, the nancy drew of mac laptops!
you guys. check out my new favorite reality show. WOW.
if i ever have kids, i should probably move out of america first. why does our country hate maternity so much?
jonah hill is apparently gonna make a movie of “21 jumpstreet.” i will miss you, johnny depp, but this is an AWESOME idea.
fun food art! yay! i esp. loooove the broccoli poodle.
have you guys heard of “the night of a thousand stevies”? uh, awesome?!! guess where i’ll be a year from now?! with a lace shawl and sequined beret?!
Since I’m all for Strawberry Shortcake in 2008, I thought I would comment instead on one of your links…As a young female teacher, here are the maternity leave plans:
1. Get pregnant so your Due Date is in April, six weeks before the last day of school (seriously, people try to plan this), thus enabling you to have around 18 weeks with your newborn.
2. Stockpile your sick leave/personal days so you have said days for possible bedrest and/or maternity leave
3. Carry disability insurance so that you are paid when sick leave ends. Yes, giving birth qualifies as a disability with disability insurance, and as one of my friends just found out, our disability insurance kicks in the day you are admitted to a hospital, so that is even better.
4. For ever after, you will use all of your sick days every year and may end up even being docked since you run out of sick days, because each time your child is sick, you are the one who has to stay home (since it is easier since you are a teacher). Even my friends whose husbands run own their own companies are the ones who stay home with the sick kid and take them to the doctor.
And people wonder why I am not jumping at the gun to have children. I can’t even imagine trying to have kids in a job where you don’t have two months of “summer vacation.”
what does our generation actually care about? what ARE our values? and how do they translate into politics, into the future of our country?
Well, for me, that answer’s simple. We only care about ourselves.
This sentiment isn’t new. I think every generation grows up selfish, but the culture and technology that surround us aide our self-centeredness in a way unmatched by all previous generations. Similar to the car changing life decades ago, the internet and computers are altering the way we live life. Since we’re the first generation to be able to take full advantage of technology, we’re inventing ways to be selfish. In short, if it feels good, do it. If it can feel good faster, do that instead.
We live in a land of the Wii, drive-thru lanes and all other means of instant gratification. While I love to Wii, I have friends who will erase four hours of their life on guitar hero. By themselves. At home. Is there anything more selfish and wasteful?
In a world that is seriously hurting, we devote time mainly to ourselves, what we want, what we like, what we love. What we love to eat. What we love to shop for. What we love to see. What we love to do. We. We. We. We value ourselves above all other.
For the first time in our generation, with the war in Iraq, the slower economy, immigration “issues”, and our leader excessively hated, our lives of convenience are beginning to be threatened. We’re still able to go hang out at the local sushi bar and chat The Hills, but life isn’t as easy as it was four years ago. At just the right time, there is a political figure who promises to change this direction. In my opinion, the Twee following is fighting for Obama only because they believe they are fighting for themselves. They believe that he will deliver on this change and hope and we will receive immediate gratification. I don’t mean to belittle anyone who has actually made a cogent, well-thought-out rationale in their support of Barack. If you’ve thought it through, you are not Twee, if I understand the term correctly.
I can only hope that maybe we’re starting to bail out of this selfish mindset with this new political mini-revolution, but I’m also somewhat afraid and can’t decide which outcome in November is worse. Is it worse for Obama to lose and leave hundreds of thousands of new voters dejected or is it worse for him to win and those same hundreds of thousands realize that he can’t fix what he promises to fix and all other things wrong with the federal government? He isn’t the change agent he makes himself out to be. We will still be in Iraq in November 2009. And in 2010, too. The problems we face are bigger than the Presidency. I hope he proves me wrong, but I don’t think he will. (I’m not holding out McCain to be some beacon of hope, either, so this isn’t Republican speak)
I don’t know that our generation and the ones to follow will bail out of our over-Americanized, selfish lifestyles unless something cataclysmic happens that truly threatens our way of life in a multi-faceted way. Whenever that happens, things could get messy. The world hates us. And it’s not Bush’s fault either (although I agree some of his policies haven’t helped). Peter Parker says that with great power comes great responsibility, but this isn’t Marvel Comics and I don’t live in Metropolis. Even if I did, I don’t see a generation apt to take responsibility for anything unless they see some immediate gratification on the other end.
This was probably way longer than you wanted it to be. Sorry
I don’t think our generation is any more preoccupied with frivolity than previous generations. Sonny and Cher have morphed into the Brat Pack which in turn eventually bled into Perez Hilton. The older any generation gets, the more frivolity begins to fade away and we’re left with what we always had to begin with–genuine concern for mankind, political passion, “deep” pursuits that are only currently overshadowed by Guitar Hero and Gossip Girl.
The article is filled with nonsense and rambling. Maybe to confuse the reader, or maybe because the writer likes a disjointed style. From a journalist standpoint, presenting both sides is always the “fair” thing to do. The problem with this style is Americans don’t want to think for themselves - it’s just too difficult. Presenting facts on both sides creates deep thinking, which has disappeared in our culture. Thus, today’s journalism is heavily slanted in one direction, leaving the readers to simply agree or disagree (and when presented with political conversations, people simply regurgitate what they have read or seen on TV.) People don’t form their own opinions or thoughts anymore. They assume the media is honest and gives them an accurate picture of war, finances and world politics. This is not the case. I distinctly remember attending the Air Force’s public affairs conference as a young, naïve 2nd Lt in 2003. A panel of top media was present, CNN, FOX, ABC, etc, were all in attendance for a Q&A. A seasoned public affairs officer stood up and presented an intriguing question. “Why don’t the media communicate the ‘good’ stories that the military sends them? We write press release after press release telling of the water running [in Iraq], children attending schools, women going out in public, but all that is told are the stories of bombs, death toll and the cost of the war.” Without batting an eye, the CNN representative answered flatly, “It’s an election year.” Bush was up for his second term and the media wanted to present the bad to slant voting opinion. I was stunned at the response and soon noticed the media’s influence at the local level with every single unit I served with. As a public affairs officer, I had to present both sides, to “go ugly early” and tell the bad and usually the positive stories were never mentioned. My caution is don’t believe everything you see and hear…there is another part of the story not being told.
The current political candidates point the finger of blame to the current presidency without presenting solutions. I personally want to see solutions, which all cost money, time and effort – all of which Americans don’t want to invest. There simply isn’t a quick fix, however, Americans are being told there is. No presidency is perfect. Mistakes are made. Hollow promises of a better future, lower gas and food prices, create warm feelings of security that we all desire. There are no quick solutions and Randy’s comments of the “we” generation wanting immediate gratification will vote for who they think will give them that gratification.
The good thing I see from all this is that people are actually voting. Don’t complain about the presidency if you don’t vote.
Sorry about the soap box…but I have become very cynical when it comes to media.
I am really insulted when this guy writes this:
>The crowd had the affect and information base of children, the
>idealism of the truly protected and insular
I am not sure we do have the “information base” of children–or that people who go to Arcade Fire shows do. I mean, really? And I am not sure idealism is the unique realm of the truly protected and insular; quite a lot of people from less protected or insular lifestyles have believed in idealistic things.
I’m also not sure Barack Obama is naive. He seems to be arguing that politics-as-usual (the Bushes, Clintons, Kennedys, etc.) is actually the only way things can be, and if you want something else, you’re Twee.
That said, I kind of tend to think that quite a lot of people only care about themselves. They only want politics or news or economics articles that are about how they will be affected, and how America is affected. They don’t care to get the real story from anything in the world, or how it will affect people on the ground. (Just read an interesting article on how Afghanistan reporting totally leaves out some of the more mundane human costs–increased conflict on the ground caused by the roads that are paved to decrease IEDs against troops, etc.) But I think that’s probably (unfortunately) at least a socialised if not natural human characteristic.
What ideals define the youth in America? I think it’s quite mixed. I don’t know that I think it’s that people are more selfish than in past generations, and I think that in general the US has been more concerned with itself than any ideals of helping others. That is basically true of all countries and especially those with large foreign presences (colonial powers etc). I think young people want something to change but are still worried they’ll lose everything they have, and thus are confused by the big complex problems: Iraq, the economy, poverty, climate change, etc. How can we stay comfortable but help everyone else? — I’d say that’s the way people think about changing things. And it’s not bad, but what if it’s not possible to change things enough in the rest of the world while remaining comfortable?
I had no Internet this morning. It was very distressing. As is leaving a comment so late.
Really interesting comments here. As an historian I write an awful lot off to the chaos of the moment, as it were. We have no way of judging ‘our generation’, if there even is such a thing, rather we will be judged by the next.
History does not repeat itself, and so oppposition to the war in Iraq does not correlate (directly) with opposition to actions in Vietnam in the 1960s, for example. Current trends might reflect historical events but not necessarily reproduce them, although we are doomed to repeat old mistakes lest we fail to learn…
I think civic order is a huge problem, moreso in Britain and in Ireland than in the US, just yet. The western world in general is suffering serious side-effects of the capitalist wave that spurred phenomenal development in the first place. In Britain, there are sections of cities the police just don’t want to go into. Ireland is developing the same problem. It doesn’t seem to be an issue here in the US, but that doesn’t mean the police here are any more effective when they do go in to entire urban areas not included in a gentrified, capitalist path to development.
In this regard, inaction is a problem. And, this might seem a bit crusty of me, but it’s directly linked to people failing to bring up their children properly. Being a parent is not like being a friend, and disciplining your child (and therefore upsetting him or her) is not a bad thing to do. Causing a small child for whom you are entirely responsible any kind of discomfort is not pleasant, but people fail to set boundaries because they aren’t willing to step forward and be a strong parent. We have anecdotal evidence from some of the readers of this blog, I have more from other friends involved in teaching. Children lack respect. That filters through to everything else.
Finally, as a videogame nerd, I want to respond to Randy specifically for a second. I agree, playing video games on your own is inherently selfish… I am about to do it for the next eight hours in an empty house on my own. But video games are edging towards being completely integrated with the Internet, to become another form of what we’re doing right now. Eventually, it will be very rare that one plays a video game without some kind of interaction with another human. However, is that any better? I met a couple last weekend who actually met through World of Warcraft, an online game. He moved down to Texas to be with her. It’s a nice story, but is it typical? I had an undergrad classmate in Japanese class that told me about how most of her friends are ‘online’: i.e. she’s never met them in person. I think that our generation’s embrace of the Internet and virtual relationships will prove to be our greatest legacy, I just hope it doesn’t contribute to making the civic issues of which I spoke even worse.
That was long. Sorry!
My God, I hate trend pieces. The assumptions and generalizations involved make me sick from the non-journalism. At least Op/Ed pieces are presented honestly as the personal opinion of the writer. With stuff like this, it takes on the air of researched fact.
Whatever “twee” is, who among the following Obama supporters fits the author’s generalization:
Urban black female, middle class.
My brother, white suburban professional, conservative but sick of neocon foreign policy and raging national debt.
Rural black male
Young suburban couple with children, moderates, wish to vote for someone who did not authorize war in Iraq and does not want to extend it.
Or, me. I like Belle and Sebastian, I voted for Obama in the Texas primary, I have a JD and work in an environmental law firm that strongly favors individual property rights. I make mortgage payments. Most of the young urban professional Obama supporters have similar stories. We’re not little shells of fluffy soft cuteness and wide-eyed, puppy like idealism. Don’t patronize us, Author Dude Who Makes Wild Idiotic Generalizations Because He Has A Story Deadline.
If we were truly tough we would not let anyone call us Twee.
One thing I’d note here - why do “we” have so many opinions of who “we” are? Randy, you said “we” are obsessed with our Wiis, but your tone of voice made it sound as though you’re not really lumping yourself in with all the rest of the selfishness in your generation. Jen, you’re saying that “people” don’t form their own opinions. But as soon as you assume something for the “we” or for the “people” that is different than what you assume for yourself, you’re entering into dangerous waters.
Media Studies calls this something like The Third Person Effect, and it’s the kind of nonsense that people use when they’re trying to ban Grand Theft Auto, or comic books, or novels, or anything. It’s the sense of, “I can watch this and not kill someone, sure. But other people are way more susceptible to this kind of thing! The kids are going to grow up thinking it’s okay to murder hookers in stolen cars!” And that’s just silly.
Similarly, it’s silly to think that we as a generation are more selfish, or less informed, than the people who came before us. Yes, we have the Internet, and that allows us to reach for more instant gratification. But it also allows us to form real relationships with people on the other side of the world for less of a cost than before, and when we know people going through things, we’re able to empathize with them more fully, and so the youth of today sets up things like the Invisible Children movement. And yeah, plenty of people watch Fox News and then recite things that they hear, but blatantly biased journalism can still be a safe and just method of reporting the news as long as there is no government committee banning the opposite bias from forming it’s own journalistic entity. Fox News can spew its lies, and John Stewart can call them on it. It’s not as if Pulitzer and Hearse were upstanding members of their communities, anyway.
And to aid in John’s defense of videogames - Would it be selfish of me to spend four hours reading Tolstoy? Or four hours reading the Bible? Playing Guitar Hero, for members of the Guitar Hero community, is a similar sort of past time. It connects you to other players, it lets you talk about things that you share in common, and it brings you closer together. Those bonds can go on to create other beautiful things that we haven’t even imagined yet. I’m not saying that we should lock ourselves in our basements and never meet in real life, but it’s silly to suggest that taking an afternoon to pursue our own interests and work on our own self-development, however we choose to do that, is selfish.
I like this discussion, though, and all the long comments. It’s like we’re forming our own little community of Posh here. But only John and I can take it from this forum and into Liberty City!
Also, I agree with Moody. Let’s make sure that stupid Twee word never catches on anywhere. In fact, from now on I will never write or say it again, and will instead just refer to it as “Win Butler Is A Moron, The Generation.” That should spread virally, yeah?
I apologize if my tone did not communicate that I lump myself in with that group - I am as equally selfish as the Guitar Hero guy I described.
The last three nights, I’ve spent app. eight hours watching the Astros by myself on TV and doing nothing else. I could argue that a little bit of that was just resting from a hard day of work and whatnot, but honestly, it was time wasted. Sure, I can talk about Berkman’s awesome home run with someone, but most people simply won’t care. I managed to connect with nothing but a baseball team that has no impact on anything significant. I could have spent that time learning, writing, building on my marriage, planning a vacation or simply enjoying creation. I watched baseball.
I didn’t know that Guitar Hero gave the player the ability to connect with the outside world - I didn’t mean to demonize that game, Nintendo Wiis or the video game community, in general. If you want to play GTA4, then be my guest if you can handle “Rated M for Mature.” I do, however, see a huge difference in reading four hours of Tolstoy and spending 240 minutes mastering ZZ Top’s “La Grange” on Guitar Hero. I don’t think that’s an adequate comparison. Also, I believe there is much to be gained by reading and commenting on blogs such as this one.
What I should have communicated more clearly is that while I believe each generation is equally selfish, (we are, after all, human) technology has enabled our selfishness and self-centeredness moreso than any generation in the psat. Certainly, we can find the Sonny and Chers and Ratpacks of our day and say, “See! We’re the same!,” but we’re not the same. We’re different. How we carry ourselves is different. How we raise our children is different (hat tip: John). How we communicate is different. We’re different. This isn’t necessarily bad, but I believe it’s very true.
I also see the wisdom in what John said about not being able to adequately judge ourselves in the moment. Similar to judging Clinton or Bush’s Presidencies, we simply won’t know for another twenty years or so. So, I guess everything I’ve written is conjecture and to be taken with a grain of salt.
BTW - I agree that the column wasn’t the greatest. And the people who came up with the Sweet 16: Redux show are brilliant.
A generalization is simply that - a generalization. Not everyone fits into that mold. The Census only takes a snapshot and not everyone agrees with that snapshot, but it is still a representation. If anyone takes offense to the media statement, then you obviously don’t fit into that mold.
And I am very appreciative that the government does not mediate what is printed or published. People can burn the flag if that’s how they want to exercise their freedom of speech. Whether or not it offends someone isn’t the issue, rather it’s simply their right.
I just want people to see past the singular issues and realize that there is a lot more to the story.
i really enjoyed this!!! thanks, everyone, for sharing yr perspective. you guys are the reason i love blogging so much.
in the words of the backstreet boys:
All you people can’t you see, can’t you see
How your love’s affecting our reality
Every time we’re down
You can make it right
And that makes you larger than life
you guys are so larger than life pants.
how’s the Kool-Aid, Randy? Because everyone who isn’t drinking it can totally judge Bush now. You’re right, though; we’ll be able to see how much he screwed us over much more clearly in 20 years. Nice try, though.