Better "out-of-the-box" readiness

[rene]

I as mentioned do not myself and in this case view this as same-old, same-old, generation-wise; to feel a real trend to exist, one to resist, and one quite likely promoted by/through the (current?) internet, i.e., the "effortless entertainment" bit.

It's likely more easily identified from Europe than the US since that same cultural phenomenon that has the generation I am speaking of submerged in the cultural surroundings of their social networks for some 70% of waking hours also has very essentially introduced/promoted e.g. American puritanism and/or "correctness" --- this while personally wanting to add that the demographic that normally complains about said correctness in the US is not one I would want myself associated with. The cultural influence of the mostly US-based/inspired social networks is enormous; again hardly a surprise, given the amount of time spent on them by many, and seems to match the effortless, spoonfed, quick-entertainment scenario a bit too closely to easily deny as a cause for that same trend appearing in real life. None of those qualifications I would view as positive progression. The internet may work that way, but life does not, in whichever century.

[majpooper]

I find this absolutely fascinating and quite intuitive - I agree and have expressed the same general opinion several times after my assignments in Germany in the 90s and early 2000s. Although I articulate the concept a bit differently - just semantics I suppose. Although some of my family and friends seemed somewhat sceptical it was impossible not to see IMO living in Germany and having German friends who had teenagers.

It's likely more easily identified from Europe than the US since that same cultural phenomenon that has the generation I am speaking of submerged in the cultural surroundings of their social networks for some 70% of waking hours also has very essentially introduced/promoted e.g. American [culture] . . . . The cultural influence of the mostly US-based/inspired social networks is enormous; again hardly a surprise, given the amount of time spent on them by many, and seems to match the effortless, spoonfed, quick-entertainment scenario a bit too closely to easily deny as a cause for that same trend appearing in real life. None of those qualifications I would view as positive progression. The internet may work that way, but life does not, in whichever century.

This part of your explanations is unclear to me only because we most likely have differing connotations of the terms "puritanism" and "correctness" in the context of American culture. And I am at a loss at exactly who is the ". . . .demographic that normally complains about said correctness in the US . . . ." Are you referring to the "pro" or the against camp when it comes to "political correctness?"

. . . . . introduced/promoted e.g. American puritanism and/or "correctness" --- this while personally wanting to add that the demographic that normally complains about said correctness in the US is not one I would want myself associated with.

[rene]

By "puritanism" I would most specifically refer to, I suppose, "prudishness", or more widely to a very deep culturally entrenched definition of "morality" that still closely resembles the once explicitly Protestant values that the US was more or less founded on/by.

I think I can see the whole destiny of America contained in the first Puritan who landed on those shores (Alexis de Tocqueville, ca. 1830)

Of course dependent on the specific part of Europe, the specific country, up until 30 or 20 or 10 years ago American cultural influence was certainly already present but due to a more limited reach of popular media itself still limited. I recall the (public, the at the time only available type in my country) TV back in the eighties once doing a "day of American TV" as an explicit oddity, with all of us marvelling at e.g. the gross stupidity of a gameshow host literally jumping up and down yelling "Joker! Joker! Joker!" while spinning a wheel. Fast-forward a decade or so for the introduction of commercial TV to have made any such unremarkable also for me, and fast forward to today, when I expect that were I to view the same now, I'd consider it par for the YouTube-course.

With the internet, seemingly especially the so-called social networks, moreover more than the direct popular-culture from movies or TV shows is being projected on / incorporated in native cultures. "Millennials" (born 1980-1995 or so) are for example also in what were historically considered progressive, social-liberal countries today significantly more critical of, say, abortion than their parents are. Here once considered the natural evolution of morality we are in that sense explicitly regressing and doing so in the direction of the US --- in my views a full and direct result of the social dialogue happening more and more on American-dominated platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, what have you. I also do not feel it a coincidence that I observe the largest shift in that sense to have taken place in the UK, a country that shares your native language.

With "correctness" I specifically referred to "political correctness" but, while very fundamentally held as a belief in and of itself, have now for the better part of two decades been held back from using that in a negative sense, it as terminology having been hijacked by racists, homophobes, islamophobes and others that I do not care to associate myself with. It was for example also fairly hard for me to refrain from referring to thread-starter here as "a special snowflake" but, you being American you probably have an idea which high-profile American that term is now commonly associated with. As in, thanks, but no thanks. Generally speaking, the exact American-type of correctness in that sense is also spreading like wildfire though among the youthly.

[majpooper]

I agree, we are of like mind although I would only say that Americans seem to be a lot less prudish these days than in the past - which, of course, is a subjective observation I suppose from a European perspective.

This though made my day - priceless.

It was for example also fairly hard for me to refrain from referring to thread-starter here as "a special snowflake" but, you being American you probably have an idea which high-profile American that term is now commonly associated with.

[Pjotr]

the exact American-type of correctness in that sense is also spreading like wildfire though among the youthly.

In my view, the ideological disease that's plaguing the Western world is self-hatred, which is at its most deadly in California's big cities, and is spreading from there throughout Western Europe. Especially Germany is vulnerable for that infection, because of its turbulent and tragic past.

It's ultimately a death cult, of which we can only hope that one day it'll pass, like the Black Death in the Middle Ages....

[Moem]

All of this is fascinating, but if y'all don't mind, can we get back on topic? That was a pretty interesting subject too. And this is not a chat thread.

[rene]

In my view, the ideological disease that's plaguing the Western world is self-hatred [ ... ]

I disagree. In fact, as also mentioned in the "special snowflake" sense, I feel it a hopefully transient result of a generation that, by fault not of their own, was brought up so shielded and so protected in a world so safe, that it lacks realistic outlook at both self and at said world. Which has, even though in reality obtained simply through availability, learned to consider itself entitled, brilliant, creative, etc., and which quickly turns to censorship to protect Obvious Truths, i.e., self-image.

Hopefully transient? Well, a definite part is specifically young women and they have over the last two decades or so found themselves in the unenviable position of being doubly affected by the above. First simply as a child and young adult, second specifically as a girl and woman in the approximately first run of "equal opportunity". That part may supposedly die out as soon as female emancipation is in fact (more) complete rather than just as the make-pretend pipe dream of today.

Yes, I'm also still not quite sure what to make of male millennials but have, given that not even a hipster beard will be able to undo the four billion years of evolution that has decided that, basically, the male goes where ever the female leads on the off-chance of being allowed to procreate, some definite hopes there as well, as soon as the former get there.

I.e., step up your game girls; humanity needs you. The alternative possibility is starting to be WWIII just so as to remind us of the creatures we as a species in fact are...

Sure Moem; I'll shut up

[TheHeadlessHearseman]

In my view, the ideological disease that's plaguing the Western world is self-hatred [ ... ]

I disagree. In fact, as also mentioned in the "special snowflake" sense, I feel it a hopefully transient result of a generation that, by fault not of their own, was brought up so shielded and so protected in a world so safe, that it lacks realistic outlook at both self and at said world. Which has, even though in reality obtained simply through availability, learned to consider itself entitled, brilliant, creative, etc., and which quickly turns to censorship to protect Obvious Truths, i.e., self-image.

Hopefully transient? Well, a definite part is specifically young women and they have over the last two decades or so found themselves in the unenviable position of being doubly affected by the above. First simply as a child and young adult, second specifically as a girl and woman in the approximately first run of "equal opportunity". That part may supposedly die out as soon as female emancipation is in fact (more) complete rather than just as the make-pretend pipe dream of today.

Yes, I'm also still not quite sure what to make of male millennials but have, given that not even a hipster beard will be able to undo the four billion years of evolution that has decided that, basically, the male goes where ever the female leads on the off-chance of being allowed to procreate, some definite hopes there as well, as soon as the former get there.

I.e., step up your game girls; humanity needs you. The alternative possibility is starting to be WWIII just so as to remind us of the creatures we as a species in fact are...

Sure Moem; I'll shut up

ok, boomer

[jjp2145-oldtimer]

Wifi card support is a problem, and I think that it is preventing people without a certain fortitude from adopting Linux. Like the OP, I had a similar experience and fought my way through it. I think telling people about it may put things in perspective.

I don't want to derail the thread, this is not a support question. Last weekend I installed Debian 10.2 on my old windows 7 laptop. After updating the BIOS so I could boot from a USB stick, the WLAN card stopped working in windows. At first I thought this was a good thing, I wanted to duel boot and windows losing internet access is a good thing. But, the net installer did not detect the WLAN card. So, I plugged it into the ethernet port on the router and continued on my merry way. I did the Debian stuff not relevant here, adding non-free repositories to the sources.list, modprobing the correct driver into the kernel, etc. Got the wifi working, well sort of, the card is still an unreliable turd that only works when it feels like it, and when it is right next to the router.

In closing, I have to say that a Linux Distro is just an operating system. Hardware developers who write crappy drivers for windows also write crappy drivers for Linux. This should not be a surprise. That WLAN card has been giving my trouble for years under windows 7. It makes me wish that hardware companies would proudly advertise their products as "Native to the Linux Kernel v. xx.xx.xx and newer," or "Native to the LTS Linux Kernel."

P.S. I installed Debian instead of Mint on the old machine to challenge myself to learn more about computers. I don't actually need the machine, and I wanted to see if I could do it without asking anyone for help. Mint just works too well out of the box to force me to learn things that I don't already know.

[rene]

I don't want to derail the thread [ ... ]

Managing to derail it further than it already has been would be quite a feat anyway.