this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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I’m not op, but this might help
Tho the end bit is too pro-capitalism/anti-communism for my tastes…
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/late-stage-capitalism-definition-why-it-s-trending-4172369
About five years ago, I tried to make my way through One Pixel Wealth. It was so disheartening that it took me several months to get to the end. My mind and emotions were so taxed by the experience.
I believe that J.R.R. Tolkien warned us, through his books, about 'diseased dragons laying on mountains of gold'. The, roughly, 400 Americans (representing the '1%') aren't human.
I don't know where America is headed, but this country I live in is in despair and need of great reform.
I’ve seen that before, years ago. It’s intensely depressing.
Especially when you’ve never even made as much as the far left median income blob. I’ve maxed out at roughly half that amount over my years of employment (I’m mid 30s and never stably employed), and have never yet gotten above 45k in wages (one job had a profit share that brought me just shy of 50k, pre-tax ofc).
I agree that we are in need of reform but frankly I don’t see that happening before revolt does. Too many people with too much of a vested interest are in charge for that to be realistic. Maybe a few “make an example” cases and that fixes things, but… realistically that’s not going to happen… a few examples are explainable..
But anyone who might do the right thing is being threatened by those who don’t want the right thing done.. look at the threats to judges for the trump thing.. it’s so volatile.. and who can blame them for getting the hell out before they get killed; judges aren’t soldiers.
And I hate that. I’m tired of living through historically significant events. It’s fucking exhausting.
I don’t really have any help for your or op’s situation directly, but comrade, we are not alone. We are in this shitshow together, and we can only do whatever it takes to survive. We can worry about thriving when we get past surviving.
This has come to my mind many times. I have this gut feeling that a large portion of our population will just come to the end of their rope with nothing to lose. I believe that a massive civilian uprising could begin to dismantle civilization as we know it. It could get ugly here.
I’ve seen the writing on the wall since occupy. I was a relatively young adult with experiences that gave me a far left mindset, so maybe I saw it too early, and was too ready for it.. but I’ve seen where this train is headed and I know that the bridge has been out for years and years. And everyone in charge of the train is adding fuel to increase speed instead of trying to stop.
That was.. fuck over a decade ago? And it’s only been getting worse, at an accelerating rate, since then..
When you strain people to the point they don’t have time to live, you take their ability (through money or pollution) to even live a healthy life, and make sure they can’t openly support what they support… revolt is the only option..
It’s like if you looked through history and cherry picked all the conditions that led to a revolution, and then that was 100% the game plan of the oligarchs…
Yeah...I believe a revolution could, easily, break out in America.
I hope we are both wrong and we stop this train before it goes over.
Russia has a way to stop revolutions: vodka.
The Tsars knew it, Stalin knew it, Putin knows it.
Another powerful way to stop revolutions is: an UBI.
Lenin knew it, Heinlein knew it, the Arabs know it, Norway knows it, Iran forgot it.
Whether it will be vodka, an UBI, or rivers of blood for the US... only time will tell.
Is UBI = Universal Basic Income?
Yup. It's not as morally great as an actual resource redistribution, but seeing how those redistributions have worked historically (as in, not at all), it's the next best thing in order to keep people happy enough to not revolt.
That is, unless religion (see Osama bin Laden: the guy had a $7M/year "stipend", and what did he do? Instead of living his life in luxury, he went and bought himself an army, just to get himself and a lot of others killed 🤦)