“Iowa in January is always... cold, but yesterday’s deep freeze went a step beyond that. The people least deterred by such weather are presumably zealots with poor planning skills, which happens to be Trump’s main constituency.”
“Now, when a young person from similarly unpromising circumstances asks me about my experience with social mobility, one thing I’ll tell them is to be ready. You’ll never be fully accepted. The luxury belief class will hate you for where you came from. They’ll hate you even more if you’re honest about what it takes to climb out of it. They’ll hate you if you befriend people who are similarly honest.
The irony of my situation is palpable: as someone who has overcome formidable obstacles and achieved a platform to voice the often-unheard stories of kids with deprived and dysfunctional upbringings, I’m now excluded by places that profess inclusivity and diversity. This is the reality.”
“On October 7, Agam’s father and sister were murdered by Hamas terrorists at the family’s home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Then Agam, her mother, and two young brothers were taken to Gaza. In the tunnels there, she met other young female hostages who told her about the sexual abuse they had suffered. Writing in The Free Press, Agam states: “I cannot breathe freely knowing that they are still there.”
“[E]ven if most of the parents of kids at a middle school want to delay the age at which their kids get smartphones and social media, they find it really hard to act on their wishes because once some kids get these things, anyone who doesn’t have them feels excluded, and no parent wants that for their child…”
-Jon Haidt
I’m not a parent but is not wanting your kids to feel excluded really that much more weighty than the massive and growing concerns about bullying and suicide and anxiety and body dysmorphias? Could it be that some of these parents are ignorant, some are too deferential to their kids’ wishes because they are coddling them (including concerns about 24/7 contact and emergencies, etc.-which don’t necessitate a smart phone)… and some are just lazy and tend to indulge their kids because it’s easier? Maybe they haven’t read the data I have but if they have… what in the hell is going on?
