The Mandarin Class are self-purifying, losing diversity of life experience

"Today, it is very rare to find an individual — whether they’re hugely successful or just an average joe — who has even a modestly interesting background...expectations have changed; the 'normal,' accepted thing for a young adult to do is to play it safe" https://t.co/IqvOjOrrqr

— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) July 6, 2021

The link is to The Least Interesting Generation by Brett and Kate McKay.  

Before Steve McQueen’s 18th birthday, he had worked on a farm, joined a circus, sold pens at a traveling carnival, hitchhiked and rode the rails across the country, worked as a lumberjack in Canada, labored on a chain gang in the Deep South (punishment for the crime of vagrancy), served a short (and illegal — he was underage) stint in the Merchant Marine, and joined the Marine Corps for a three-year enlistment. After getting out of the service, the newly-minted veteran moved to New York City, where, as reported in Steve McQueen: In His Own Words, “He handcrafted sandals, lugged radiators out of condemned buildings, loaded bags in a post office, ran errands for a local bookie, recapped tires in a garage, sold encyclopedias door-to-door, made artificial flowers in a musty basement, sold pottery in a large department store, and repaired television sets.” Before he finally found success as an actor, McQueen would also drive and repair taxi cabs, sling drinks as a bartender, and try his hand at laying tile. 

While the sheer breadth and adventurousness of Steve McQueen’s resume was unique, having an interesting and varied background was actually quite common amongst actors of his generation. 

 

There follow many other examples which sustain their arguments.

These kind of glorifying blurbs used to bother me.  It felt cheap with a dose of one-upmanship, garnished with improbability.  

But Henderson and the McKays are right.  In recent years the exaggeration and boasting have declined, or, at least, I don't see as much of it.  I hadn't really focused on the decline, but I realize that it is not because of better manners but because there is just less variety and interesting experience to relate.  They are not boasting because there isn't much to boast about.  

"The bio of a modern writer generally reads something like this: 'So-and-so grew up in the suburbs of ____ city. He went to ____ liberal arts college and got a degree in English. Then he wrote a bestselling book.'" pic.twitter.com/EjaeevdBJO

— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) July 6, 2021

Yes.  And by best-selling, we mean a book which managed to sell perhaps 10-20,000 copies across this nation of 330.000,000.

This insight suggests a corollary.  We already know that the university-educated, particularly at formerly reputable universities are receiving more ideological and less fact-based education than they used to do.  We also know that the Mandarin Class have very thick bubbles - they cluster with like-minded ideologues, substantially reducing their exposure to empirical realities which are inconsistent with how they might wish the world to be.  

Henderson's observation has an implication.  If the members of the Mandarin Class are both undereducated (and over-credentialed) and are under-exposed to a variety of life experiences, then they are far less likely to self-correct assumptions and presumptions than in the past.  If you make it through university and never know someone who can fire a rifle or someone who can drive a big-rig truck, whatever predicate assumptions and presumptions you carry as a member of the Mandarin Class are never going to get tested.  Without testing, you fall deeper into ideological presumption and error.