With some rare exceptions, like Andrew Daines and Rob Fishman he Sun's opinion section has been mired in mediocrity for the last half decade or so, with tepid over-characterizations of campus life and embarrassing sex columnists, but look now, because Tom Moore has a dandy in today's Sun -- a rather insightful critique on his generation's political apathy: Don't take this as a rant against hipsters, because this is much bigger than whatever caricature you have stored away of those vinyl-loving bohemians. The obsession with irony and satire is pandemic to our generation, and however clever a joke is, at the end of the day it does nothing more than trivialize dire world events and sedate the very people who could be doing something about them. Activism died not the coughing, spluttering death of a passionate crowd submerged in tear gas, but rather the uncomfortable, throat-clearing death of the wrong joke at the wrong cocktail party.Of all my friends who made the trip to celebrate an inside joke with a comedian, I don't think a single one would have taken to the streets to protest against the war in Afghanistan or march for gay rights. We're all just too busy laughing, which, while often justified, isn't tremendously helpful.
And this comes on the heels of last week's thoroughly enjoyable post-modern analysis of Facebook's meanings by Nathan Tailleur.
Whatever they've put in the water down on West State Street, please keep up the good work!