New Means

New Means

Share this post

New Means
New Means
Why are the vibes so off?
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Why are the vibes so off?

A reflection for supporting readers

J. P. Hill's avatar
J. P. Hill
Mar 10, 2024
∙ Paid
60

Share this post

New Means
New Means
Why are the vibes so off?
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
6
14
Share
teal loveseat
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

If there’s one thing that most people seem to agree on, it’s that something is off. Something doesn’t feel right around here. At the end of 2023, only 23% of Americans polled thought the country was headed in the right direction. But I would argue it’s bigger than that. Countless people are fed up with both parties, fed up with inflation, fed up with the way we’ve organized society.

Rather than clear articulations of the problem, however, so many of us walk around with a vague sense that something is wrong. Of course we want the genocide to be stopped, of course we want life to be less expensive, of course we want to be more connected. But what I see everywhere is a less defined feeling that something’s gotta give. The other day I heard it in a locker room, at the gym, in a small town.

As I changed to work out two men were talking about the State of the Union. One was clearly conservative and just pissed off at Biden, calling him divisive and plenty of other descriptive words. The other was less defined. He said something like “Yeah, you know, you can’t trust the right or the left these days.” But then he got into territory that was a little rockier. He talked, rightly, about how divided we are, before ending along the lines of “I don’t see how we get over this without a civil war.”

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to New Means to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Joshua P. Hill
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More