11.02.2004
Wilber on Hierarchies
More from Wilber on the changing face of hierarchies in politics and why it’s needed:
The green meme (egalitarians) – which constitutes approximately 20 percent of adult American population and is the core of Paul Ray’s misnamed “integral culture” – now has a chance to move into second-tier (integrated) and genuinely integral constructions. The green meme has been in charge of academia, the cultural elite, and much of liberal politics for the past three decades, but it is now being challenged on all sides (it internal self-contradictions, its failed political agenda, the harsh intolerance of the politically correct thought police, its claim to be superior in a world where nothing is supposed to be superior, the nihilism and narcissism of extreme postmodernism, an aggressive marginalization of holarchies (holistic hierarchies) and thus it lacks an integral vision). As it happens when any meme begins to lose its hegemony, its Inquisitors begin an often belligerent and reactionary defense – what might be called in this case “the mean green meme” (which is especially the home of bomeritis. And it is boomeritis and MGM that are now some of the primary roadblocks to a truly integral, more inclusive approach.
This is one of my favorite quotes because it hints at the passage of liberal hegemony in society in general. As I watch the next generation coming up, I see a lot of the Gen X and Bridgers (those who span the turn of the century) saying to us Boomers, “OK, people. You’ve made your point. We aren’t living in the sixties any more. Get over it.”
My daughter announced to me that a recent graduate from her high school came out. Shockingly, I wasn’t shocked by revelation. But on reflection, the casual way in which she said it and the addendum that “we were all wondering when he was going to finally face up to it and admit what we all knew already” is pretty surprising. It was no big deal. No shock. No fear. No surprise. It had all the significance of announcing the weather. Her generation has gone from "accepting" gays to whatever is beyond that.
My activist butch lesbian co-worker would make something out of the boy’s coming out as if he had done some heroic thing and in her day and to her it would have been. But the times they are a’changin’. Sure our churches may be behind the times but that is because the old guard holds on for so long. But this is just one example. Multi-ethnic dating and marriages barely get a flicker of attention on campus. Drug use and casual sex are curiously held in low esteem as stupid holdovers from Boomers. That is not to say that they don’t happen but that they are largely regarded as serious moral defects rather than exploring the Brave New World. I hold out a good bit of hope for this next generation for whom many of the things we think of as innovations, they take for granted and wonder why we are such old farts about stuff.
The green meme (egalitarians) – which constitutes approximately 20 percent of adult American population and is the core of Paul Ray’s misnamed “integral culture” – now has a chance to move into second-tier (integrated) and genuinely integral constructions. The green meme has been in charge of academia, the cultural elite, and much of liberal politics for the past three decades, but it is now being challenged on all sides (it internal self-contradictions, its failed political agenda, the harsh intolerance of the politically correct thought police, its claim to be superior in a world where nothing is supposed to be superior, the nihilism and narcissism of extreme postmodernism, an aggressive marginalization of holarchies (holistic hierarchies) and thus it lacks an integral vision). As it happens when any meme begins to lose its hegemony, its Inquisitors begin an often belligerent and reactionary defense – what might be called in this case “the mean green meme” (which is especially the home of bomeritis. And it is boomeritis and MGM that are now some of the primary roadblocks to a truly integral, more inclusive approach.
This is one of my favorite quotes because it hints at the passage of liberal hegemony in society in general. As I watch the next generation coming up, I see a lot of the Gen X and Bridgers (those who span the turn of the century) saying to us Boomers, “OK, people. You’ve made your point. We aren’t living in the sixties any more. Get over it.”
My daughter announced to me that a recent graduate from her high school came out. Shockingly, I wasn’t shocked by revelation. But on reflection, the casual way in which she said it and the addendum that “we were all wondering when he was going to finally face up to it and admit what we all knew already” is pretty surprising. It was no big deal. No shock. No fear. No surprise. It had all the significance of announcing the weather. Her generation has gone from "accepting" gays to whatever is beyond that.
My activist butch lesbian co-worker would make something out of the boy’s coming out as if he had done some heroic thing and in her day and to her it would have been. But the times they are a’changin’. Sure our churches may be behind the times but that is because the old guard holds on for so long. But this is just one example. Multi-ethnic dating and marriages barely get a flicker of attention on campus. Drug use and casual sex are curiously held in low esteem as stupid holdovers from Boomers. That is not to say that they don’t happen but that they are largely regarded as serious moral defects rather than exploring the Brave New World. I hold out a good bit of hope for this next generation for whom many of the things we think of as innovations, they take for granted and wonder why we are such old farts about stuff.
