The central tension of the Jacob Savage essay can be understood as a generation raised to be “Buffered Selves” colliding with institutions that have suddenly become “Porous.”
1. The “Buffered” Expectation (The Millennial White Male)
Charles Taylor defines the Buffered Self as the modern individual who is “insulated” from outside forces. This self is autonomous, possessing a clear boundary between “me” and the “world.” Meaning comes from within (inner thoughts, talents, hard work), and the self is protected from “enchanted” or cosmic forces.
Mapping to the Essay: The “Lost Generation” described by Savage (white male millennials) entered their careers operating as Buffered Selves. They believed in the classic liberal, meritocratic myth: that they were autonomous individuals whose professional fate would be determined by their internal output—their scripts, their articles, their grades.
The Disconnect: They expected a world where their “identity” (race/gender) was irrelevant—a mere biological fact that didn’t breach the buffer of their professional merit. As Savage writes, they had the “naive” idea that “professionally everything would work itself out” based on their work alone. They thought they were “masters of the meanings of things” for themselves.
2. The “Porous” Turn (The New Institutional Reality)
The Porous Self (historically pre-modern) has no hard boundary between self and world. It is open and vulnerable to outside forces (spirits, demons, blessings, curses) that can cross into the person and shape their life. The individual is not an isolated agent but a node in a web of cosmic forces.
Mapping to the Essay: The essay argues that post-2014, institutions (Hollywood, Academia, Media) underwent a “re-enchantment.” They shifted to a worldview where invisible, structural forces (Systemic Racism, Patriarchy, Privilege) are treated as real, causal powers that permeate everyone.
The Loss of the Buffer: In this new “Porous” reality, the “buffer” of individual merit is dissolved. A person is no longer just “Jacob the writer”; they are a vessel for the historical force of “Whiteness” or “Maleness.” The “spirits” of the age (DEI mandates, historical guilt) can now reach inside the individual’s life and dictate their fate, regardless of their personal talent or “inner” worth.
Vulnerability: Just as the pre-modern Porous Self feared curses or malevolent spirits, the subjects in the essay feel “the world is deliberating rooting against you.” They feel vulnerable to forces they cannot control or appease. The “curse” of their demographic category is an external force that has breached their professional defenses.
3. “Liturgies” and “Confession”
Taylor notes that the Porous Self lives in a world of ritual and high stakes, where one must perform correctly to be safe.
Mapping to the Essay: The essay describes the new professional landscape as filled with religious-like rituals that the “Lost Generation” cannot perform authentically. Savage mentions “performative allyship,” “confessing” privilege, and “racial climate assessments.”
The Failure to Adapt: The interviewees (like “Andrew”) fail because they are stuck in the Buffered mode—they just want to be reporters or writers (autonomous agents). They cannot effectively adopt the “Porous” posture of “allyship” where one’s identity bleeds into one’s work. As Savage notes, they are unable to “adopt the performative allyship” required to ward off the “demons” of cancellation or professional exclusion.
The tragedy described in the essay is that these men were socialized as Buffered Selves (believing in individual autonomy and merit) but are forced to inhabit a structurally Porous world (where demographic fate is destiny).
Gen X (The “Superstars”): They remained Buffered. They had enough power to keep their walls up and remain “autonomous” individuals, immune to the new environmental forces.
The Millennial White Men: They became involuntarily Porous. They lacked the power to maintain their buffer, so the “cosmic forces” of identity politics crushed their individual agency.
