What Is Even Happening?

What Is Even Happening?

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What Is Even Happening?
Well Shit, We Really Scaled Peter Pan Syndrome
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Well Shit, We Really Scaled Peter Pan Syndrome

The Puer Aeternus Era.

Ted Bauer's avatar
Ted Bauer
Mar 06, 2025
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What Is Even Happening?
What Is Even Happening?
Well Shit, We Really Scaled Peter Pan Syndrome
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Here is a Maureen Dowd podcast where she is talking about the first few weeks of Trump 2.0, and she mentions this term “puer aeternus,” which is basically some variation on man-child, Peter Pan Syndrome, boys who never grow up but still get power, etc. She talks about it in the context of Silicon Valley “bro-ligarchs” sitting in the first row of Trump’s indoor inaugural, but honestly, I think you could apply the idea of “never growing up” to wide swaths of society beyond simply the rich. Some have called this a “failure to launch” problem.

The term quite literally means “eternal boys,” I believe.

It’s easy to look at a guy like Zuck, who got into wake-boarding and cage-fighting after becoming a girl dad and now looks like he does regional sales for energy drinks, and think,

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