Jonathan V. Last

This is Noah Smith.

I wrote a long essay about this.

We have spent down the inheritance that the World War II generation created for us.

And that's just all gone now.

And we live in a different world, which is going to have like moral and political austerity to it.

And, uh, that is not going to be fun.

And it kind of sucks.

I, I wish that, uh, that it didn't happen, but that's just where it is.

And I, so I don't feel the way you feel.

I feel sort of more hopeful in that.

Like I have made my peace with never getting back there, but if there's a chance that we could just get in shitification instead of authoritarianism,

I will take in shitification over Viktor Orban's Hungary every day of the week.

You know when there's a crisis?

So this is a, I mean, it's not a productive thought, but yes, it is one thing.

If somebody says, I don't believe that driving my car into a wall will hurt my car and they do it.

And then you're like, you fucking idiot.

Look what you did.

You wrecked your car.

This is more like they took our car.

And drove it into a wall.