By Jim Heffernan
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the threats facing younger generations of Americans. I am among the oldest of the “boomers” so I perhaps grew up in the very best times to be an American.
My father was intensely proud that I had things much better than he. I always expected that I would be able to pass the progress on, but somehow, we “boomers” failed. I would like to be wrong, but it sure seems to me that for each succeeding generation the barriers are greater, and the slice of the pie is smaller.
I see inequality and climate change as our major problems. We should be dealing with them, but we seem to be gridlocked in pointless bickering that serves no useful purpose.
I believe there are two destructive ways of thinking that are holding us back. One is relying on “bespoke realities” and the other is resorting to “zero sum thinking”.
I wished I’d come up with these terms all by myself, but I got them from columns from a pair of conservative columnists — David French1 and Albert Brooks2.
“Bespoke” is what the British say in place of our term “custom made”. I truly believe each of us has our own “bespoke reality”. Some of us use the Bible, some of us use Fox news, some of us have a favorite facebook page or YouTube channel. There was a time when I used MSNBC and OPB to construct my “bespoke reality”. Now I read certain books and newspaper columns, and pick and choose what I see as gems of truth. I found I was too easily seduced by a pleasant face and a smooth delivery telling me what I wanted to hear.
Naturally, I believe my “bespoke reality” is totally accurate. It could be I’m right, but it also could be I’m wrong. Above all, I feel I must not use my “bespoke reality” as a tool to make myself feel superior. Intellectual honesty demands we always entertain the possibility of being wrong.
“Zero sum” thinking is a little harder for my mind to grasp. The way I’m getting it, it means that everything I gain is something that you lose. It’s true for poker but should not be for politics. Zero sum thinking lends itself to a culture where winning is everything. Zero sum thinking tells us money given to Ukraine is subtracted from our own common good. It’s zero sum thinking that has transformed America from a nation of “we” to a nation of “me”.
1 “Welcome to Our New ‘Bespoke Realities’” New York Times on November 30, 2023. Here’s a link to it. (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/opinion/political-reality-algorithms.html?searchResultPosition=1) If the link does not work for you, contact me at codger817@gmail.com and I can send you a PDF file.
2 “What Biden Needs to Tell Us” New York Times on January 4, 2024 Here’s a link to it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/opinion/populism-trump-liberalism.html If the link does not work for you, contact me at codger817@gmail.com and I can send you a PDF file.
As always, discussion welcome at codger817@gmail.com