I agree the social malaise in pop culture has existed since at least the 2010s when shows like Walking Dead and Breaking Bad were popular, but I think it could be argued that it really got injected into the mainstream a few years earlier once South Park moved away from the content the show originally had, i.e. the difference between the …
I agree the social malaise in pop culture has existed since at least the 2010s when shows like Walking Dead and Breaking Bad were popular, but I think it could be argued that it really got injected into the mainstream a few years earlier once South Park moved away from the content the show originally had, i.e. the difference between the episode when Cartman had an alien satellite pop out of his ass and the Douche and Turd episode highlights the shift in mainstream thought. I'm not saying South Park is the cause of today's social malaise, just that I think the shift in the show's content runs parallel with the broader American culture adopting the cynical worldview that is seemingly everywhere these days (and an incredibly boring form of entertainment, imo).
Cynicism can be a useful rhetorical tool for understanding the surface level of a lot of how our society is and has been structured and functions, but it very easily can become a rhetorical trap that leads to broader inaction if a worldview is adopted through a cynical lens. Trump (and Putin for that matter) uses weaponized cynicism because he understands that on some level people want to be cynical as it confers a sense of superiority, like they're in on some understanding of how the world works that normies just couldn't even begin to fathom. "All politicians are craven, why bother voting when it's a choice between a Douche and a Turd sandwich?" is a lasting meme because it has the qualities of a cynical worldview that makes people think they've stumbled upon something profound even though it's a pretty lazy worldview that excuses ignorance.
Check out Jean Baudrillard and his writings on Hyperreality, defined as: an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies. I think it can be a useful framework for understanding how today's social malaise is generated and perpetuated through the use of technology.
I agree the social malaise in pop culture has existed since at least the 2010s when shows like Walking Dead and Breaking Bad were popular, but I think it could be argued that it really got injected into the mainstream a few years earlier once South Park moved away from the content the show originally had, i.e. the difference between the episode when Cartman had an alien satellite pop out of his ass and the Douche and Turd episode highlights the shift in mainstream thought. I'm not saying South Park is the cause of today's social malaise, just that I think the shift in the show's content runs parallel with the broader American culture adopting the cynical worldview that is seemingly everywhere these days (and an incredibly boring form of entertainment, imo).
Cynicism can be a useful rhetorical tool for understanding the surface level of a lot of how our society is and has been structured and functions, but it very easily can become a rhetorical trap that leads to broader inaction if a worldview is adopted through a cynical lens. Trump (and Putin for that matter) uses weaponized cynicism because he understands that on some level people want to be cynical as it confers a sense of superiority, like they're in on some understanding of how the world works that normies just couldn't even begin to fathom. "All politicians are craven, why bother voting when it's a choice between a Douche and a Turd sandwich?" is a lasting meme because it has the qualities of a cynical worldview that makes people think they've stumbled upon something profound even though it's a pretty lazy worldview that excuses ignorance.
Check out Jean Baudrillard and his writings on Hyperreality, defined as: an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies. I think it can be a useful framework for understanding how today's social malaise is generated and perpetuated through the use of technology.