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Spouting Thomas's avatar

On the idea that rightist objections to Woke are driving the recruiting crisis, I recall that some data-minded individual on the right (Lyman Stone?) presented some pretty persuasive evidence that it's not really true, that a much greater driver is decline of patriotism and trust in the military on the left. I just took a look for that argument, can't seem to find it, but would recommend taking it seriously.

IIRC the idea is that increasing distrust in the military on the right is "very online" and concentrated among the sort of people who are unlikely to join the military or encourage their kids to do so in the first place. Which, to be sure, is a group that includes myself. Meanwhile the decline among Democrat-leaning young people is extremely broad-based.

The collapse of Afghanistan was a disaster that I can't stop thinking about in terms of the corruption and incompetence it revealed about everyone involved in the US nation-building apparatus, including the military's top brass. My already-low opinion of them sunk further than I thought imaginable. But apparently I'm weird, everyone else has moved on, no one cares, no one involved was ever really even rebuked for it, so I don't know that it has damaged recruiting.

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Barnard's avatar

Regarding the adult bounce house article. When I was looking for spots to visit on our summer vacation I found a park geared towards preschoolers with nursery rhyme characters, etc. I noticed they were closing early one night during our trip to setup for a "party" night geared towards young adults. The lack of maturity in that generation is something I cannot understand.

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