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Notes -
It's interesting that for all the repudiation of narcissistic individualism and neoliberalism by the new, young right, they're far more cutthroat and "realist" about a mandatory sense of competition in life. They're far more zero sum about things. "You're not in competition with others, just yourself" is a load of hogwash. Dropping out and doing your own thing is looked down as cope. I don't think they believe someone when they say they're unhappy doing something prestigious and wants to quit, even at the risk of becoming invisible. A mandatory sense of hustle, but from their peers, not bosses and older adults, is so omnipresent and taken for granted such that they can't imagine someone not wanting anything to do with it unless they're just sucky losers.*
(This also helps to explain why third parties in politics have become passe. It's thought of as a way of dropping out, and at a time when your cultural enemies seem like they're right on top of you, necessitating remaining in the 1 of 2 political tribes and with gusto.)
They're the least Buddhist people in the universe.
*Karl Pilkington once told Ricky Gervais that he quit his job as a program manager at a radio station to...walk dogs. Gervais was aghast. "I wasn't happy doing it." How could you not be?!
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