Chuunibyou, originally stipulated by Dostoyevsky, recently talked by our Anime Diet philosopher, gendomike. And Eric Hoffer too, an American philosopher, talks about it. Oh yes, “17 forever” by Inoue Kikuko, Tamura Yukari, and Horie Yui is basically the same kind as chuunibyou, puer aeternus. And Hoffer laments the American youth’s immaturity.
According to Hoffer, the youth from the 1960s didn’t have any real world experience, because from the 1960s, high school graduates from middle class families started going to college or becoming hippies instead of going straight into the capitalism world. From Hoffer’s view, college education makes today’s youth immature, because they miss their initiation stage to adulthood. More academically knowledgeable, but socially immature, thus lack of social responsibility. So, what he’s saying is that affluent society made them still keep a minor mentality. Only halfway responsibility like single young people with a lot of part time works and odd jobs. Oh yes, like freeters in Japan. Basically, college kids and freeters have the same lousy mentality.
But, that doesn’t mean all freeters are immature and don’t have a sense of social responsibility. Even for freeters, there are divided into three types: moratorium type, dream-pursuing type, and alternative type. And Eric Hoffer regards moratorium type as such, because this one doesn’t develop a sense of social responsibility, in other words, still a Peter Pan. Yes, motarorium forever is “17 forever.” Therefore, moratorium is chuunibyou or Peter Pan syndrome.
The leftist movement, hippies, flower generation, gay rights, marijuana, drug culture, psychedelic, anti-Vietnam activism, these are all chuunibyou according to Eric Hoffer? But what about the conservative movement then? What about these people who admire the recently deceased Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan? Of course, Chuunibyou is also prevalent in conservatism according to Bill Maher. He says Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are chuunibyou patients. Yes, Chuuni = 8th grader = 14 years old kid. In fact, Bill Maher disdains that all conservatives, including Tea Partiers, are merely chuunibyou patients.
So, what is a cure to Chuunibyou? Hoffer advocates today’s youth to have a real world experience, which would be a initiation ritual into adulthood, like going into military service or becoming a person with a real job. Hoffer himself was a dock worker, so become a stevedore, or longshoreman?
In turn, Maou is an alternative type, not a moratorium one. It’s just a step to become a full time employee. So, he’s temporarily a freeter until he gets a full time position. And how he struggles to make ends meet at McDee, or MagRonald, yes, blue collar experience: low wage, a mac job, six-mat apartment, is completely lumpenproletarian. That is the real world experience that they are going through. So, he’s not an immature freeter, but rather a freeter philosopher, can be qualified for proletarian hero.
Therefore, MagRonald (probably ran by Ronald Reagan as our Ray suggested?) is an ideal work place to cure chuunibyou. Yes, it provides the very authentic real world experience. And what does Maou exactly do at MagRonald? Well, he contributes to MagDonald’s recycling project, in order to make the world more eco-friendly, as a part of the green initiative. Yes, with sponsorship from WTO, he recycles wastes and resells it to consumers as this video presentation shows. Recycling sanctifies excrement. In other words, reclaim trash and make it usable and marketable again instead of sending to landfills. Maou the recycler. If Hoffer was a longshoreman philosopher, then Maou-sama is a recycler philosopher. That’s what Yes Men do. And that is THE real world experience to cure chuunibyou. Indeed, Yes Men is the cure to chuunibyou!
So, if you want to overcome, grow out, and graduate from your own chuunibyou, become a Yes Man like Maou-sama!
It’s interesting in that NEET itself (not in education, employment, or training) is something of a blurry distinction. Society is geared to think around the “having a job = having merit” assumption. A day trader may have no job, but bring in over $100k/year. A business owner has no job, but has a business which fulfills a role in society.
I would argue that hustling for money is what prepares one for success in life, more than any number of classes or internships. (Jay-Z, for instance, was involved in black market activities by the age of 14. He is now a multi-millionaire and will likely be a billionaire in the next few decades. Horiemon was more traditional, but still pushed the envelope with corporate takeovers and unconventional thinking in a culture where everything is typically decided behind closed doors before the deal is inked.) That is truly getting deep into capitalism.
Mori, yup, I know you’re expert on this subject. Kami-sama No Memo-chou was about Neo-NEET. And day trader too, Neo-NEET or NEET with unearned income, income without labor. Mitt Romney said, “I’m also unemployed.” He has income without labor. As long as financially independent, who would care about NEET? That’s my dream, so I can have the right to be lazy.
Right, for business, I don’t think you need school. Bill Gates didn’t even finish college. Thomas Edison didn’t even finish elementary school. Abe Lincoln didn’t go to any school, not even law school, but passed the bar exam. So, question is do we really need school? I think school is mainly for networking, which has become facebook. I read Horiemon’s book and he said he went to Tokyo University for networking. School just produces book smart, and Jay-Z has more business experience than any ordinary college kids do, he’s doing business since 14, while new college graduates start at 21 or 22, their work experience already so behind Jay-Z. So, I think apprenticeship, schooling from meister is better, education through work.
School refusal is a big social problem in Japan, but if we have so many free online schools, why do we need go to school physically then? Online school would be true home school. I think just local club activities like Meetup will do good for networking and making friends.