That paragraph consists of clutter and useless jargon, not meaningful language. I would assume that Swofford has never read Orwell’s Politics and the English Language .

So, I’m just checking: is it ok not to have a clue what he’s talking about here?

One could say, at the least, that you’d be right on Swofford’s wavelength.

That hurts, Matt. That really hurts.

So, I’m just checking: is it ok not to have a clue what he’s talking about here?

Yeah, that was the option I would have picked. I’m not sure if he’s saying liberals are bad, or rich Baby Boomer sellouts are bad.

Slightly off-topic:

I must say I find the popular skewering of the post-hippy baby-boomers somewhat… troublesome. Not because they didn’t sell out their own ideals and become exactly what they railed against, because, of course, en mass, they did, but rather because, statistically speaking, that seems to be what every generation does. Youth is youth and age is age in any generation.

The reason then that the Boomers get SO mercilessly prodded and poked about it is that they were SO visible and vocal in their youthful rebellion.

Following this logic the only way to avoid becoming a sad, pathetic, hypocritical shadow of your young idealistic self is to never bother trying in the first place; that way when you turn out to be a selfish ol’ coot with your head lodged dangerously deep in your own ass, no one can call foul.

Make sense?

Following this logic the only way to avoid becoming a sad, pathetic, hypocritical shadow of your young idealistic self is to never bother trying in the first place; that way when you turn out to be a selfish ol’ coot with your head lodged dangerously deep in your own ass, no one can call foul.

I see you figured out my plan.