Posted on 11/18/2021 9:11:37 AM PST by Kaslin
Washington -- Are you familiar with the work of professor Simon Gottschalk? I have only become familiar with his work recently, but I commend it to you. He is a professor of sociology with the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He apparently watches a lot of television in the course of his work, and he even takes notes. He has come up with a brilliant, if alarming, insight. According to the professor, television assists in spreading the "infantilization of the West." For instance, if you have seen a grown man wearing shorts as winter approaches, pay attention. Probably, he is carrying a bottle of water and has his baseball cap on backwards. Perhaps, he is wearing a T-shirt with an infantile declaration across the chest. If this spectacle alarms you, you probably are in Gottschalk's camp. You certainly are in my camp.
I live in Washington D.C., and I see spectacles such as the above all the time. Since the Biden Administration settled in, I have even seen an influx of this sort of dress around the White House. In fact, I would not be surprised to see a fellow dressed like this on the very steps of the Old Executive Office Building. He probably checks his water bottle at the front door and submits his attache case for the Secret Service's inspection. Protocols have declined in the dress code, but I assume everyone still observes security regulations. By the way, I would not be surprised to see women in the Biden White House attired in this way, too, particularly wearing their baseball caps backwards as they skip into the Oval Office. Doubtless, Gottschalk would be alarmed even if he is a Bidenite.
He also finds it peculiar for television to feature "a cartoon bear pitching ... toilet paper" to his television audience. Moreover, the professor objects to "a gecko with a British accent selling you auto insurance and a bunny in sunglasses promoting batteries." I do not mean to be picky, but I have seen the same advertisements, and I am almost certain that the gecko was Australian. Yet, I have no problem with the professor's conclusion. "This has always struck me as a bit odd," he concludes. "Sure, it makes sense to use cartoon characters to sell products to kids -- a phenomenon that's been well-documented. But why are advertisers using the same techniques on adults? To me, it's just one symptom of a broader trend of infantilization in Western culture."
Gottschalk proceeds to demonstrate how we "routinely infantilize large swaths of the population." We do it when we "refer to grown women as 'girls.'" We do it when we treat the aged as children when they live in adult care centers, and I love this: the professor trains his focus on higher education. He accuses administrators at higher education asylums of infantilizing their students by promoting "safe spaces" and such nonsense as "trigger warnings" about an indelicacy that might lie ahead when they are reading a book. Then he goes a bit off the rails when he talks about the treatment of teenagers. Nonetheless, Gottschalk is on to something when he warns against cartoon bears and safe spaces and trigger warnings.
All are examples of the infantilizing of the West. The phenomenon has invaded a tremendous range of social spheres, as the professor says. I became interested in it when I was doing some writing about recent American history. The culture has genuinely changed. It is not changing because of a particular movement afoot in the land. There have been other periods when American culture changed, but it usually changed in response to a social movement, say feminism or the civil rights movement. Who leads the movement for cute little cartoon bears to promote toilet paper or for insisting on "safe places" at universities for scores of other social changes in our society? And what precisely characterizes most of these movements? I would say a softening of reality. Possibly a flight from reality. Is it a rejection of discipline, the discipline that tells us cartoon bears do not use toilet paper?
I actually have no answer to this infantilization of the West, but having looked into it, I know it exists. I shall look for Gottschalk's next installment, and in the meantime, I shall keep asking questions.
Best name I ever saw was a woman on the local “Most wanted” list.
Her name was Vendetta.
OMG, I wish my parents had named me that.
:D
Wrong. His accent is Cockney. He's a British gecko.
I used to ask, “Does a bear [poop] in the woods?” back when “Is the Pope Catholic” wasn’t such a controversial question.
I’ve know two different guys named Richard Gage, unrelated, and I’m sure HS lockerooms were hell for them.................
“Did Jerry Garcia tune between every song?”
If they poo in my house they do.
In Owensboro Ky, there is a gynecologist named Richard C. Good.
I knew a family whose last name was Curry. They had a daughter named Vindaloo, She went by Vinny.
Which conveniently points people away from questioning the merits of the companies or people involved...
"Wow, your insurance company really screwed you over on your loss. Why in God's name did you ever go with them?"
"They had funny commercials!"
We're obviously doomed.
Yeah but the Pope is Catholic, whether you believe it or not. Because only Catholics can become Pope. Although this Pope is also a socialist.
back when “Is the Pope Catholic”... was only a rhetorical question
Bears usually use rabbits.
It’s not about the bear or the toilet paper, but the important issues are the bears pronouns, that using toilet paper is part of the White Male dominance culture, and that the creation of toilet paper is one of the many causes of global warming...
That is why white hares turn brown in the spring right after their ursine neighbors come out of hibernation.
Yeah, that gives me name envy also.
But her name may be the reason she is on the wanted lists.
Children do try to live up to their names so giving them meaningless made up names or negatively loaded names is poor guidance starting at birth.
Words mean things, especially names, so parents shouldn’t be glib or thoughtless in choosing them.
I believe you. But are there geckos in Great Britain??
I live about three blocks from a high school, and even in cold, rainy weather I see a lot of students wearing shorts and t-shirts, no jacket.
Infantilization is a byproduct of the West being too successful, becoming too rich, and having a huge, comfortable safety hammock (not net) which has led to far too much idle time. With all that idle time, the West can indulge in completely unserious endeavors that are counter-productive to a functioning society.
When people had to worry about putting the next meal on the table themselves, they were deadly serious about life. There was no time for frivolities.
The only way back to a serious life is to wipe out our abundance and easy life. That requires societal collapse which can be brought about by war, years of hyperinflation, or Democrat Communists. But you could argue that war hyperinflation are products of Democrat Communists.
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