...we are now living in the logical and predictable consequences of 50 years, non-stop, of "I'm OK, you're OK."? I mean, at least in western industrialized nations?
Hah! That's a variation on my take, which is: "I'm OK, but not so sure about you." Probably inflated self-esteem on my part...
The status quo of today stands at I’m okay and you’re okay as long as you do not offend me or I can’t get into my safe space. In the case of the latter, if no other safe space is provided, I can go onTikTok and cry.
Hah! But you know, I think it got that way by 50 years of "I'm OK, you're OK.". Only in the last 6-8 years has individualism come round full circle enough to now find it valid to criticize others again--but for all the wrong reasons. I mean that formerly the criticisms were from a POV of social conformance to certain generally accepted standards, whereas now the criticisms are from the POV of "you're bumming my trip, man...", as we would have phrased it 50 years ago. Hah! Back then everyone saw it for what it was--an only marginally reasonable request. Laughable, really. Now it has evolved into an ironclad demand with the full expectancy of the demand being both reasonable and righteous. Man. Navel-gazing to the extreme, huh?
I recall D.W. Dyer's book. Perhaps much of this naval gazing is the result of the affluence of modern society. Too much time on our hands and all that. Or perhaps it's part of the scheme to separate us from ourselves. Growth comes from introspection and the desire/willingness to change. "I'm okay/You're okay" pretty much says "We're as complete as we're gonna get." Regarding "healthy societal judgement"...lack of taking in well-intended feedback from external observers is an act of unhealthy defiance. You don't have to comply (I don't), but you should at least listen.
This might go fairly well here….. Personally, I want to meet this guy! It’s just a less than one minute blurb by a homeless guy and I just thought it would add a little flavor to the thread. https://youtube.com/shorts/Tet0Omi8cgY?feature=share
I had to take a course in that, using the Thomas A. Harris book, by that title, as a text, in order to volunteer at a crisis center hotline when I was fourteen or fifteen. I thought it was fruitcake stuff at the time, and I haven't re-read the book since then, but I'd probably agree with my much younger self. I told the story of my experiences there in this thread, and in this post, so I won't repeat it here.