Like, read this. Like, okay?

[Kyle Desmond]

LIKERS: An Unsustainable Generation of Parapersonas

Part 1

by Dr. Donald L. Mabbott

My life experiences and those of my colleagues, friends and family in other industries, seem to suggest that the more closely one’s chosen vocation is examined, the more visible it’s flaws become. When I decided to extrapolate on my educational leadership dissertation, The Cathartic Writer’s Voice and Self-Efficacy: an Exploration, I mistakenly focused on what frustrated me most about our country’s educational system and little else. My first efforts proved too dour for publication and offered few solutions. Initially, I sought to understand how the founding fathers balanced things like war, criminal justice, and commerce with education, in relationship to how America prioritizes them in the 21st Century. In essence, how we got into this mess. Frankly, I had a difficult time finding hope—what I deem a high-priority leadership trait—and practical solutions—what I sense our agents of change in education truly need.

As I did my research, I tried to avoid some of the sordid realities and generalities regarding the current condition of American education. In the end, however, it became impossible to avoid the truth. Inequitable federal budgets, antiquated policies, and gap-widening high-stakes testing are at the core of America’s educational effort, and has historically focused on creating three types of citizens: soldiers, criminals, and consumers. The majority of our younger citizens are still being conditioned to kill, buy, or commit crime, in a deliberate system bent solely on this purpose. Like the parents that show up to the soccer game but not the science fair, our new generation of “Likers” has not only learned what’s important to their folks, they have also learned what’s important to their country. Essentially, America wants only three things from them:

…how much they are willing to kill  — in our approach to imperialism;

…how much they are willing to buy —   in our neo-capitalist approach to democracy, and

…how often they are willing to re-offend — in our 146 billion dollar prison industry.

To distance themselves from this trifecta of oppression, a generation of Likers has been forced back into Plato’s Cave and made to embrace the fabricated shadows on the wall. To them, everything is just a copy, a substandard version, a mirror or faded image, a substitute, an apprentice to, or a facsimile of, something real. Literally, the next generation of Americans has been given no reason to seek a real identity. They may be part of the “Millenials” or “Generation Tech,” but as a whole, if born anytime after the Gen Xers, life is full of a growing intolerance for authenticity, and mired with a purposeful, systematic movement to make them accept a world of vapidity, tributes and second best. Moreover, they have learned to question the real, the original, and the best of almost everything. So, they preface or qualify practically everything with the word, like. From a 2010 dictionary:

like1 (lik) adj 1 having almost or exactly the qualities, characteristics, etc.

like1 (lik) –interj. [Informal] inserted into spoken sentences before or after a word, phrase, or clause, apparently without meaning or syntactic function, but possibly for emphasis

[it’s, like, hot] –be like [Slang] to say think, or feel

[so, I’m like, “We have to be there on time,” and he’s like, “Well, duh—so what else is new?” (Agnes 830-831).

The spark for this exploration, however, did not originate because of the increased usage of “like” as an interjection by young people in the U.S. Instead, it came to me when I started to notice new cars with subordinate names. For example, while the sound of models like Aspire, Protégé, and Eclipse may evoke a positive consumer lifestyle image, they are, in fact, words that depict a subset or something that is inferior, or merely “like” something else.

This realization drew me into a world of other qualifiers, hybrids, abstractions, and all things half-hearted, including products, people, language, professions, and attitudes. The danger in things that are simply “like” other things, designed and touted as the real deal, is compounded by the equally empty threats and promises from parents bent on overcompensating for missed “quality time” in lieu of actual parenting.

This has systematically transformed Likers into a citizenry of the walking unfulfilled. Each is content with a parapersona, an unfinished identity bereft of original personality or sense of humanness. It is important to note here that this not a conscious choice, because a true persona was never an option. If post Gen Xers appear to be play the victim card occasionally —even if it’s for the wrong reason—it might be because at nearly every turn of their lives, they’ve been asked to accept a false reality. Most of the things they’ve been called upon to believe in, to stand behind and to support, are actually pale replacements of what previous generations enjoyed in their original, true from.     

“Likers:” An Unsustainable Generation of Parapersonas, is an attempt to pinpoint how traditional educational practices and applications have fostered the creation of this generation, and how we might systematically draw our youth back to the realm of the real, and to a new and uncompromising level of authenticity, identity and service. People Essentially, Likers need to go back to the cave: And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:

• --Behold! human beings living in a underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets (Jowett 253). Benjamin Jowett translation (Vintage, 1991), pp. 253-261

When Plato wrote this classic dialogue, it is remarkable to imagine that he would have fathomed its pertinence 2,500 years later. Moreover, that a civilization would have both the courage to escape the cave, only to intentionally escort a generation of its citizens back down to the chains, the fire, and the shadows. Although the implied metaphor may be directed at our approach to education in the U.S., some of the chains are very real for the Americans caught in the vicious undereducated crime-punishment-re-offend-punish-re-offend, circle. We will address the American prison industrial complex in greater detail a little later.

If the concepts of liberty and free speech are at the heart of our cultural identity, then each voice, of every citizen, regardless of their individual identity, has the right, moreover, the duty to actively participate in the policies, procedures and governance of our society—and that includes our system of education. The beginning of a pluralistic (some may even say “radical”) educational movement must start below the “grassroots” as anything that threatens to replace other well-lobbied, profit-addicted, union-infused machines in corporate complex, must be ready to face a bank of lawyers and political opponents. To create a viable, more positive alternative to American educational homogeneity, reformers must be armed with pedagogies ripe with individual stories, social justice successes and pluralism.

• They (micro-level social justice projects) must be surfaced via radical and relentless pedagogies of resistance; they must be surfaced in the stories, the narratives, of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience; they must be surfaced through writing, and teaching of those whom Mumia Abu-Jamal called “radical intellectuals” and ultimately, through freedoms of coalitions between the two that bridge the lines of difference between freedom and incarceration, as well as those of class, race, and gender (Brewer and Heitzeg, 2005, p. 639).

Perhaps, the lawmakers, landowners and citizens during abolition suffered the same “confusion” and “separation” when dealing with human beings of difference, and perhaps there were prisoners of conscience and radical intellectuals who tried to bridge these lines of difference. I imagine that their efforts would be met with, at best, disbelief and more likely, hostility and violence.

The Likers must be exposed to a new set of stories, perhaps from those who, at one time or another, also felt like prisoners, of conscience or an unfair system. This is the only way these stories will appear authentic to Likers. As their education about education has increased, their level of trust, belief and support of the unhealthy existing system has proportionately decreased. Certainly, they have proven to be people who strive to bridge the lines between cultures and have a radical side to their intellectual curiosity and scholarship. They also have a unique desire to be a member of a community and collective vision greater than their own—greater than themselves.

• Most, (comparative people) when they were children, made an unconscious choice to pursue comparative advantage and admiration as the major ground of their identity. As they got older, it became an almost exclusive ground of identity. By the time they reached their early twenties, they found themselves quite adept at playing the comparison game, though the ramifications of it kept haunting them. Eventually, for lack of any other identity, they decided it was worth the pain to themselves, colleagues, family, friends, and culture to put on a good front and continue the game in “earnest”  (Spitzer, 2005, pps. 76, 77).

Likers’ homogenous parapersonas are forged by these “unconscious choices,” present in an upbringing and educational environment mired with constant comparisons, empty competitiveness, and an addiction to endless self-absorbed forms of entertainment.

For Likers, the transformation from what Spitzer calls a comparative identity to a contributive identity must first include a willingness on the part of teachers, students and educational administrators to recognize the benefits of such a transformation—and to recognize that “the comparison game” is a game, and not real life. Likers have been conditioned to take the form of something less original than themselves; therefore, they need a clear path, guidance and motivation to make this transformation.

The American “Home”  

The American home once held sacrosanct in our country has also become a commodity in the eyes of our Likers. Norman Rockwell’s vision of the familial nest has irreversibly transmogrified and earned a new name, the “flip.” This is a piece of property, in the right neighborhood, at the right time, which can be identified as a thing to be used to turn a quick dollar. This, in turn, has created a new breed of Americans. People who have no interest in owning a home other than how it can serve them in their vocation are a new demographic. Countless television and retail outlets are designed specifically to help “flippers” assess value, refurbish (as inexpensively as possible) and resell home and hearth for more than the cost and remodel combined. “Flippers” and their families sometimes move from property to property with one thing in mind, eventually selling it to the highest bidder.

Cutting corners, amateurish “innovation,” and “shabby-chic,” lured more homebuyers, realtors, and lenders to the trough than at any other time in our history. Unfortunately, flippers had a system that fed into the hysteria in such a way that impacted the national economy. In order for flippers to maximize profit, they often demanded Option Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM)s for their purchases, even if their income supported fixed mortgage options. This would minimize their payments for as long as it took appreciation to occur. At this point, many ARMs, however, were being sold to flippers and other families, without owner equity cushions, scrutiny of their debt-to-income ratios, or verification of their ability to pay the debt back. Additionally, families were willing to pay top dollar for homes, only because ARMs lowered their initial monthly payments and made it possible for them to purchase a home above their means. This, in turn, inflated home prices across the country, and created “The Bubble.” The thin skin of the housing bubble stretched and stretched until a giant needle in the form of sub-prime hedge funds, seller financed down-payment assistance programs, (DAP)s, and the sale and resale of these toxic debts pierced its circumference.

POP!

Almost three million foreclosures were initiated in 2009.

Likers watched as their homes were foreclosed upon, and watched as other families in some of the “fastest-growing” American cities faced eviction. A recent CBS News reported that while parents might often shield their kids from financial trauma, “[W]hen things fall apart, like in a foreclosure, it comes as a shock.”  Not just individual family foreclosures, but national financial downturns have affected the Likers as well. “Some psychologists worry that for teens, who are still developing their very identity, the financial and social strains of the recession could lead to a lifelong sense of insecurity.” According to the National Association of School Psychologists, fallout from these traumas can include but are not limited to, “sleeping and eating disturbances, agitation, increase in conflicts, physical complaints, delinquent behavior and poor concentration.” All too often, parents have used Likers as confidants for their own comfort and understanding, financial and otherwise.

George Carlin once said that a “home” is an abstraction, a state of mind. He contended that “homeless” people were not in fact, homeless, but houseless. Many Likers have not been afforded the serene, domestic luxury of such a state of mind and burdened with constant media and adult exposition on how bad things are and who in the neighborhood maybe “losing their house.” To Likers, the more succinct, “house,” especially among shared-custody families has, irreversibly replaced the ethereal concept of “home.” Home became, “My dad’s house,” or “My mom’s house,” and confusion of their situation arose when they ran up against axioms and traditional sayings of other generations like, “There’s no place like home,” “Home for the holidays,” and “Home is where the heart is.” Denied Maslow’s first two needs, Basic Survival and Safety, is it any wonder that Likers have a difficult time reaching the top tier, Self Actualization?

Transportation    

Teens of the 50s and 60s would have never imagined the meltdown of the Big Three that Likers have witnessed. Cars were made with steel, rubber, glass and American sweat back then. Imports were rare and usually German, British or Italian. When the first Honda showed up on American shores in the 70s, it was laughable. It looked like a wind up toy, the Japanese version of the Mini-Cooper. While Detroit was still making, bulky, gas-guzzling land yachts, Japanese automakers were building a slow and steady stream of small, well-built, fuel-efficient vehicles. It is an understatement to say that they had a completely different business model and espoused a different relationship between worker and product. Toyota even brought factories to the U.S. and made workers a successful part of their philosophy. American carmakers responded with two small cars, The Pinto, in 1970, and The Chevette, in ’75. The suffix “ette” is used to create a diminutive, female, or imitation of something real; in this case, a Chevrolet. A Pinto is a pony, a smaller, and weaker version of big, powerful horses like Ford Mustangs and Chargers. As reputation, quality, and overall efficiency of Japanese cars increased—as did their size—the Pinto was discovered to be a Molotov Cocktail on wheels, and The Chevette? Well, The Chevette was just ugly, unsafe, and trouble-ridden.

This was the beginning of the end.

Fast forward to 2008, when U.S. Autoworkers earned an average of $73 an hour, and many “laid off” workers were drawing 95 percent of their pay for extended periods. Toyota employees averaged almost half that. Other than their 2009 accelerator vs. floor mat, issue, Toyota, who also started with a small car, The Corona, has continued to make quality, affordable, and fuel-efficient cars. The U.S. bailout of the auto industry not only taught the Likers that American carmakers were, irresponsible and unorganized, but that the names of their products—their paravehicles—were a running commentary on the semi-real products and performance they could expect.

For example, The Ford Aspire, wants to be something real but hasn’t quite got there yet; The Olds Bravada, is prideful but in reality, quite empty; The Plymouth Breeze, is not even a real wind—just something to rustle the leaves a little; The GMC Envoy, is something between two real things; The Olds Intrigue, is a little mystery behind something real; The Mercury Mystique, a vague sensation surrounding something real; The Mazda Oasis, is just a figment of one’s imagination; The Mercury Bobcat, is not nearly as ferocious as a real Cougar, The Mazda Protégé, is merely an understudy of something real; The Buick Rendezvous, is a meeting of two things real; The Dodge Shadow, is a dark silhouette of something real; The (Suzuki) Sidekick, is a semi-super hero whose role is to get in trouble so that he can be rescued by something real; The Dodge Spirit, is the enthusiasm about something real; and lastly, The Mazda Tribute, is merely an homage to something real. Americans love their cars, and have often prescribed to the notion, “You are what you drive.”     

After the 2010 bailout, the future of U.S. carmakers held as much promise as the resale value of a Yugo.

The technology to make hybrid vehicles was available and ignored in America as our long-avoided environmental awareness kicked into high gear. The Honda Insight with its streamlined look and 60 MPG, was followed by the more stylish and thoughtfully-designed Toyota Prius. At the time of Chris Paine’s documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car, Roland Hwang, Vehicles Policy Director, from the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, “GM killed off its own electric car, but it can’t kill the huge demand for cleaner cars that don’t leave us dependent on Middle East oil. Unfortunately, it's GM workers who are now paying for management’s shortsightedness with their jobs” It is now the American taxpayers and their children paying for that shortsightedness.

Heroes     

Most Likers are too young to remember O.J. Simpson, the trial, and the media blitz that surrounded it. They were also too young to experience the riots that happened after the Rodney King verdict. Boomers and Jonsers had The Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Viet Nam, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Watergate, and Natalie Wood, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Sharon Tate, and Charles Manson, Gary Gilmore and The Green River Killer. We lost faith in some of our heroes, or we lost them altogether through assassination and drug overdose, or their particular vocation lost them due to criminal activity.

The people Likers look up to today, on the other hand, are assassins, criminals and drug users. From video game killers, to dead rappers, to billion-dollar athletes, Likers see greater celebrity power and more intrigue with those who behave outside of the law and outside the rules. Why? …because society puts its stamp of approval on it every day. Rock stars, Actors, Olympic athletes, Major League Football, Baseball and Basketball players, Cyclists and UFC fighters, intentionally fly outside the law in order to get fans, not to lose them. Likers have learned that even if their heroes have been banned by their respective organizations, they can still find endorsement money, appearance money, and yes, even continue to work in their field. Of the athletes on testcountry.org’s top-ten list of athletes busted for steroid use in 2009, only two earned a lifetime ban from their sport. Although it may be safe to say that most Boomers and Jonsers agreed with the late Bill Hicks on the subject of endorsements:

• You do a commercial, you're off the artistic roll call for ever, end of story. You're another corporate fucking shill, another whore at the capitalist gang-bang, if you do a commercial everything you say is suspect and every word that comes out of your mouth is now like a turd falling into my drink.

Likers recognize and delight in this relationship as part of the package. They may even have friends or relatives that have endorsements due to an individual athletic or artistic prowess. Not only can Likers favorite artists and athletes have criminal records or be known drug users, they don’t even have to be particularly good at what they do. Nitro Circus, a television show that features extreme sports competitors, has countless endorsements despite the fact that many of the cast members no longer compete and that many of the stunts they attempt end up in injury. Bam Margera has not competed as a professional skateboarder for years, but he maintains several sponsorships due to a reality television show in which his parents are often the brunt of cruel and disrespectful pranks. American Idol losers such as Sanjaya Malakar and William Hung went on to get recording contracts, tours and shots on the late night television circuit. Sometimes it is difficult to assess just why some of Likers’ heroes are heroes at all. Perhaps, it is the inability of these celebrities to fit into any category—singer, dancer, actress, designer, artist—that’s what makes them appealing. This would also explain the appeal of Reality Shows that actually turn people into a singer, dancer, actress, designer, or artist.     

Is it any wonder, that the sports Likers have an earnest sense of fairness about them? Long to embrace futbol here in the states, soccer, as we call it, has surged in popularity since the Likers joined our ranks. It takes a severe degree of stamina, teamwork and communication to put that little ball into that big net. Unlike other popular professional sports here in the States, if a player fouls somebody, she either has to sit in the “sin bin” for ten minutes and/or is excluded from the next game of a tournament. If a player fouls somebody bad enough he is immediately ejected for the remainder of the current game.

However, there is also a penalty for pretending to be hurt. “Diving” has become a sneaky tactical maneuver to try and get key players of the other team ejected or sidelined. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), however was not having it, and instituted penalties for blatant attempts to feign injury, and called it “simulation.” This differs greatly from how our kids have been coached for years in basketball and in American Football. It isn’t whether you foul someone or commit a penalty in either sport; it’s whether the referee catches you committing such an offense.

If a player doesn’t commit fouls in a game of basketball, it’s quite possible her coach will accuse her of not trying hard enough. If a lineman illegally holds an opponent and gets away with it, he has successfully guarded his quarterback from the defensive rush. In soccer, penalties happen away from the ball, too; in basketball and football infractions happening all over the court and gridiron, respectively. Likers, however, like to be called on their attempts to pull the wool over the eyes of those paying attention. They like to be identified, to be real in the eyes of authority figures, parents, coaches, and yes, in that of referees, umpires and judges.

They seem to like it even more when they are empowered to call penalties on themselves. Enter Ultimate Frisbee, or just Ultimate. It is,

• …aptly named, combining the best in athleticism — the quick lateral movement and passing of basketball, the conditioning and field awareness of soccer, and the long bombs and great catching reminiscent of football — with a fundamental code of honor that puts good sportsmanship and community ahead of a win-at-all-costs mentality (Thompson, 2010).

Because Ultimate is mostly a nonprofit sport, teams often fund themselves through annual dues to cover tournament fees and practice fields, and use fundraisers and clinics to pick up the balance. Sponsorships are almost unheard of, if at all. If lucky, teams might find enough to cover the cost of uniforms.

• [G]ood sportsmanship is an official tenet of ultimate. Unlike other competitive sports, ultimate does not use referees, relying instead on a sacred honor system called Spirit of the Game, which trusts each player to call her own fouls and mediate any conflicts on the field … pure joy of the game and mutual respect between players is valued above all else (Thompson, 2010).

If Ultimate is the ultimate sport and its players are the ultimate in sportsmanship, then what does that make Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, Mike McGwire, Alex Rodriguez, Tyler Hamilton, and so on, and so on… Conversely, how does that explain the popularity of “ultimate” fighting?

Television: The Lie of Reality TV, Institutional Emasculation, and Infomercials     

Although reality TV is not really new—Boomers and Jonesers enjoyed Art Linkletter’s Kids Say the Darndest Things, and Allen Funt’s Candid Camera in the 50s and late 60s, respectively—there was a definite shift during Likers’ prime viewing years, from programs of genuine spontaneity to those of staged reality. Neither of these great old shows would have ever even thought of showing, for example, men repeatedly being hit in the groin. Yet for 21 seasons, Likers watched America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFHV), whose bread and butter is repeated scenes of a man, young or old, being kicked, butted, bitten, kneed, struck, or pounded squarely between the legs.

While slapstick has certainly been around for ages, Buster Keaton, The Marx Brothers, and The Three Stooges simply did not go there. AFHV was the introduction, at least for Likers, to the concept of “As long as it happens to someone else, it’s funny.” Many shows that followed elaborated further on this concept, and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) began to allow more and more of this emasculating practice on network television. It also became a mainstay for laughs in most children’s films (including Disney’s), starting in the early 70s and continuing to this day. Additionally, Likers are the first generation to live entirely under the influence of Cable television, which enjoyed even less FCC control than the networks.

Likers’ attitudes about gender identification, emasculation, and misogyny were formed, in part, by the ubiquitous presence of cable television’s approach to these dynamics, and by the prevalent attitudes in rap and hip-hop music. (Rap and hip-hop will be addressed in the Music section of this chapter.) Pain—emotional or physical—injury, sexuality, addiction and other psychological disorders, drunkenness, promiscuity and parental relationships of the rich, poor and everything in between were fodder for “Reality TV.” Boomers and Jonesers for the most part understood the psychology and dynamic differences between Robert Young on Father Knows Best and Blondie’s Dagwood Bumstead. Some of us took the time to read Robert Bly’s, Iron John: A Book About Men, and Susan Faludi’s, Stiffed, but those two books are not on most Likers’ reading lists.

NEXT: Part 2