In the post Adulting, Responsibility and Collapse, Meta-Nomad takes a stab at ‘adulting’ and what he perceives as the decline of personal responsibility:
I’m getting ever closer to the point wherein my posts no longer need a ‘Why?’ as to their creation, that said, the seed that spawned this apocalyptic assemblage was a piece of terminology: Adulting. A term which repeatedly appears within the feeds and threads of left-wingers and liberals – often quite famous ones. For those that don’t know the meaning of this toxic signifier, here is a description. Inclusive of housework, booking appointments, cooking, cleaning etc., basically, it signifies doing practical jobs needed to survive in a world where survival is secondary. Don’t keep your house tidy? Oh well, untidy house for you. Can’t be bothered to cook? Just head to a take-out. Each and every need is catered for you by a third party, you sold out your nature to the cheapest bidder.
If one is to look for other reasons as to why conservatism and right-wing political thought is gaining traction with youth, they need look no further than what it is the right-wing sells: responsibility. The disrespectful chaos of the left ultimately leads nowhere, and now more than ever the chaos has become physically emboldened by the ‘paradise time-islands’ that are Universities. And so when the young are surrounded by nothing but disenfranchisement, disrespect and blame, those who are sensible look for the groups taking the full force of the burden, those owning up to having to deal with the problem – whatever it may be – themselves. Those saying you can be part of something, as opposed to a free-floating identity in a sporadically pulsating political mess. Those who fully admit that to be part of something one will have to bear some weight, yet the alternative is simply to brush off the slightest piece of liability immediately.c
By ‘conservatism’, maybe he means mainstream conservatism as typified by Sean Hannity, Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh. But such conservatism is in decline relative to the post-2013 rise of the alt-right, NRx, Red Pill, MGTOW, and other forms of conservatism that are becoming increasingly popular among young people, that defy conventional conservative rules and mores.
I see the rise of the ‘adulting’ meme as not exclusively left-wing, but rather it’s symptomatic of the rejection by millennials and other young people, of all political stripes, of politically correct social norms and values held by earlier generations, but also a rejection of boomer and gen-x consumerism.
From my own post on adulting:
On social media, I’m seeing many references to ‘adulting’, and unlike the article above I have more optimistic take on the trend. IMHO, the neologism has less to do with immaturity and more to do with a change in mindset in response to difficult economic and social times, as a way of subtlety protesting how ‘being an adult’ or ‘fulfilling the traditional roles and responsibilities of an adult’ are becoming obsoleted in our ‘new economy’ and the ‘new era‘ of post-2008 society. ‘Anti-adulting’ could also be seen a way of rebelling against the conformity of politically correct norms, where ‘adult social skills’ and taking special care to not ‘offend people’ is more important than the pursuit of truth.
The ‘old line’ of thinking (adulting):
–Not preparing for retirement until it’s too late; expecting a pension and Social Security; hoping and praying
–Consumerism (expensive stereo equipment, RVs, boats, cars, etc.); maxes out credit card; debt slave
–Not noticing (or at least pretending not to notice in order to not offend) gender and race differences; politically correct discourse; blames environment for all social problems
–Consumes mainstream media (Fox News, CNN, etc.)
–Mainstream political parties
–Low-paying, dead-end, or low-status jobs
–Works in order to consume; works until dropping dead or late retirement
–Renting forever or buys a McMansion he cannot afford
–Politically correct discourse
–Is subservient to boss/wife/landlord, etc.
–‘Empty/shallow discourse’
–Follows Sean Hannity, Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, etc.
–Dead-end ‘summer job’; high time preference
–Protestant ‘churchianity’; mega churches
Anti-adulting:
–Personal finance is very important; taking an active/proactive role at a young age in preparing for retirement; not expecting Social Security or any other lifelines; realism and pragmatism instead of hope
–Investing and saving (buying second-hand goods, saving money by using services such as Netflix to stream shows instead of buying everything individually); lives within his means
–Speaks out about such differences; discusses them openly; tacitly understands HBD and how environment alone cannot account for large disparities in individual and group achievement
–Alternative media (such as Reddit’s The_Donald, 4chan, 8chan, alt-right blogs and podcasts, Alex Jones, Unz Review, etc.)
–Alternative/niche ideologies (NRX, alt-right, MGTOW, neo-masculinity, ethno-nationalism, Red Pill, and so on)
–Makes money with Bitcoin, stocks, and other investments; works at his own leisure, self-sufficient; high-paying and high-status jobs such as in STEM
–Works in order to invest; works to live, not not living to work
–Home ownership at an early age (but within one’s means) in order to avoid paying huge sums of money in exorbitant rent costs
–Memes, ‘shit posting’, etc.
–Is a self-made, independent man; lives life on his own terms
–‘Deep discourse’: discussion and debates about philosophy, economics, political science, STEM, sociology, introspection, etc.
–Follows/understands Jordan Peterson, Charles Murray, Steven Pinker, Nick Land, Stefan Molyneux, Roosh, Davis Aurini, etc.
–Learns high-paying skills such as coding instead; defers immediate pay for long-term potential wealth; low time preference
–‘Throne and alter’ Catholicism