Two quick notes

 First, a Texas legislator is trying to purge schools of books that address racial issues in ways that might make students "uncomfortable." He's coming at it from a right-wing perspective, but it is very much cancel culture, building on the exact same foundation of "We must drive from the public square anything that might hurt feelings."

Second, a Liberties article by Mark Lilla makes the point that Americans romanticize youth to a greater and longer extent than any other culture, and so we strive mightily to not disabuse people of the delusions that we (rightly) inculcate in youth. I think this helps explain some of the STEM Pipeline mania. Children need to believe that they can do anything if they try. Adults need to cut their losses and focus on what they can realistically do. We refuse to admit that some kids should try something else.

"Indifference" and the restlessness

 An article by Mark Lilla in the new journal Liberties (only available in print, alas) solidified some of my thinking on the restlessness. He talks about the concept of "indifferent" acts in ethics and theology. Do all of our actions carry inevitable moral weight? Is it possible to engage in some small activity without being good or bad, or is even a small act of leisure a sin? What if that act of leisure promotes morality? We see this all the time in modern lefty discourse, with endless articles about how "problematic" something or other is. One needn't be amoral or nihilist to recognize that you'll go crazy if you agonize over the ethics of every small deed. But people do that nonetheless. Just a few hours ago I was scolded over some small joke, because even though the person I told it to totally got it, some outside observer might lack context and think I was doing something bad. Lilla goes through the history of indifference in theology and philosophy, and I won't attempt to rehash it here. But I will note that the modern scolds of political correctness are searching for sin everywhere, and the modern restless educators feel like we must keep trying to further purify everything.