Eat the rich.
Here’s my breakdown, numbers from Wikipedia, for estimates and purposes of discussion:
Total population: 340 million Eligible voters: 245 million Turnout: 155 million
Children can’t vote, that’s 70 million. Convicted felons and other non-eligible citizens make up another 20 million.
Are you suggesting that children should vote? (I do believe that convicts should have the right to vote, but that’s only 20 million.)
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We don’t really have castes in the US. But yes, being poor sucks anywhere in the world.
I was speaking more in terms of infrastructure and public assistance. For example, I was able to get a student loan and an education in the States. I have clean, potable tap water. Dependable utilities. Those sorts of things.
despite the downsides which we should be doing a better job of mitigating.
This is the part where I lose faith. We have failed to mitigate the downsides. In fact, we have encouraged the monetization of the downsides.
https://youtu.be/tsAZ0RweVxk?t=22
O Brother Where Art Thou, a movie like none other
It never ends. The injustices pile up faster than they can be addressed. This is a feature, not a flaw of the system, because the system isn’t designed for you and me. It’s designed to make the wealthy comfortable and stable.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to disconnect. Focus on the things in life that propel you forward. Spend time with loved ones. Cultivate a sense of appreciation and gratitude for the things that go right. Exercise and take care of yourself. Don’t let the bastards steal your happiness.
Is it? Why is China “bad”?
Oh…you said “fold”. Core memory triggered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTkPiA9xdiE
Yeah… Grab my terryfold flaps Grab my flappy folds Grab my terryfolds Grab my foldy flaps Hey, touch my foldy flaps Grab my terryfolds Grab my foldy holds Grab my terry flaps In my terryfolds Grab my terry flaps You gotta touch 'em… my terryfolds Grab my terryfolds Touch my holdy flaps Take a big flap Take my foldy flaps (Aaah) My terryfolds (Aaah) My foldy holds (Oooh) And my terry flaps Gotta grab my terry flaps Grab my terry flaps Squeeze my holdy folds Hold my coldy folds Grab my foldy tolds Grab my terry flap holds Grab my terryfolds Hold my foldy folds Hold my terryfolds Hey, did you ever wanna hold a terryfold? I got one right here (here) Grab my terry flap Squeeze it, grab it, squeeze and tug on my terry flap Hey, I wanna take you to the terryfold dance Wanna come with me? You can grab my holdy folds Squeeze them tight, you son of a bitch! Suck my holdy flappy folds Lick my flappy foldy holds My terry flaps in your mouth Suck my flaps you piece of shit! Fuck you (fuck you) You stupid dumb motherfucking bitch (Aaah Aaah) Hey, grab my terry flaps Gonna eat those toldy folds I gotta couple of terryfold flaps I got a flappy foldy flap I’m gonna go take you to food Gonna eat, then we’re going to the terryfold dance (dance) You and me We’re gonna go to the terryfold place It’s gonna be a night out Gonna have a real fancy time Hoo!
Let’s review:
AND yet…it all led to the Civil War. Which was necessary to stop the selling human beings for profit.
So, yes, if you look at the relationship between the two political entities involved, a compromise was reached. But that compromise was worthless in preventing violence.
Violence was always inevitable. It started with violence toward Africans - kidnapping and slavery. The only way to end it was more violence - a bloody, vicious civil war. This is the human condition.
There is no final victory. Ever. Not even an imaginary moral victory.
There is only and has only ever been the fight.
It’s human nature.
Case in point: The tone of your comment above is combative and accusatory, rather than friendly or neutral. Why?
What is the “right” side, in your opinion? What if both sides are wrong? What if there are more than 2 sides?
Human beings have been outputting incorrect information for years. Get a high school textbook in literally any subject (except possibly math) from the 1970s. You’ll be amazed at how much of it is oversimplified or politicized or just plain wrong.
I do agree that AI has compounded the problem. There’s a limit to how much inaccuracy/incompetence a given system can tolerate. An organization that relies on AI for critical processes better have a way to monitor and intervene.
It’s not ready for commercial use by the general public.
We see this ALL the time in America - a new disruptive technology emerges. We jump all over the benefits and the profits without regard to consequences or expense. We suffer.
New cheap pesticide? Hell yeah, spray that DDT everywhere, it’s super effective! (Insert other endless examples here, from microplastics to asbestos.)
AI (and information technology in general) has shown itself to be a danger to human beings. Its effects are not felt so much in the short term (5 or 10 years) but generationally. We’ve seen that information technology has already impacted quality of life. It’s used as spyware, as a tool to collect and correlate massive amounts of data. It’s used to shape our media experience, our purchasing, our social circles. There are great things, like online banking. But they seem more and more to be outweighed by a loss of humanity. So much misinformation that I question my own reality some days.
What we call “AI” is the evolution of these obtrusive, coercive practices. It exists purely to replace human thinking skills. I’ve spent a bit of time in r/teachers over the last 15 years, and the stories keep getting worse. The rise of AI means that detecting plagiarism/cheating is exponentially more difficult. But, more importantly, the kids don’t have any stress when it comes to cheating. They don’t have to find a friend or know the bare minimum. They can just…cheat. And they never learn to problem solve or overcome adversity.
None of this matters, though. Ready or not, here we are. A new kind of slavery for a new world order.
If you want to fight, you have to be prepared to lose.
It was no accident that Rosa Parks chose that particular seat on that particular day. Everyone that came before her had lost that same battle. Black folks (and the white folks who supported them) were thrown in jail for violating segregationist laws. But with each battle, knowledge and support was gained.
There’s a line in the recent Fallout series that really sticks out to me. A “do good” congresswoman is trying to get an audience with the president. She is roughly shoved aside by security. Our hero helps her up and she says to him, “Fighting the good fight is mostly a series of humiliations”.
I think about that a lot. It’s exactly like that, because fighting the good fight mostly happens when you are alone and outnumbered. Otherwise, you’re just in an echo chamber.
(with the one notable exception of physicians)
Not an important job to a functioning society. As evidenced that most Americans can’t afford to see a physician except on rare occasions, yet we are still alive.
Please don’t misunderstand - I think access to healthcare should be emphasized more, and healthcare workers should be fairly compensated. But all the physicians in the world could disappear today and the effect would be minimal compared to all the truck drivers disappearing or all the nurses disappearing.
It hasn’t been for some time.
“Education” is indoctrination. That’s why kids are forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s why I was taught about Columbus. It’s why I believed that “Honest Abe” fought for the rights of slaves.
All bullshit, but each was a small building block to believing that somehow the US was a special place, a blessed nation, where personal expression and equality and opportunity were valued and hard work meant success.
And the sad thing - even at its worst, the US is still a better place to live than 80% of the world.
The answer is always greed.
Teachers tend to like teaching. It’s a rewarding, “feel good” career. You know that you are helping kids, you get to watch them at their best. And, yes, sometimes at their worst, too, but that’s part of the deal - like watching your puppy chew up your couch and shit on the floor. Still worth it.
Since teachers tend to be passionate, they put up with a lot of bullshit admin/management. Moreso than you might at a soulless corporate job. This isn’t limited to teachers, either. Consider other careers where people put up with bullshit, and you’ll see a lot of parallels.
Art is a great parallel example. Everyone loves great art, artists love making art - but many people don’t want to pay for art. That’s why there’s so many passionate actors and musicians, but so few of them manage to eke out a living as a true professional. The passion is there, they are driven by their love of art, not by the material rewards.
The business world loves to take advantage of passion.
You just described everyone in DC
I don’t see anyone cheering. I see people debating the ethics and morality of the situation.
Your feelings about your daughter are valid. You are more than welcome to use every tool at your disposal to ensure that she doesn’t date older men. This is expected; you are there to protect her. But don’t expect everyone to feel the same way. Many younger women look for an older, financially stable man. Many older men are willing to enter long-term committed relationships and financially provide for a younger woman.
If you want your daughter to avoid this situation, make sure she’s well-educated and independent. Instead of coddling her, challenge her to achieve her goals and excel in her field.
I love that you took the time to make this analogy. I’d like to share another example, and then explain why I think the above analogy maybe won’t appeal to working class folks. First, a bit of history:
Years ago, I was broke and jobless. My neighbor needed an odd job or two done. So, I tightened a few screws and painted her kitchen. She loved my work. I loved working for myself. I started painting houses. Interior only, because all I needed was a tarp and a paint brush. The customer was responsible for buying the paint up front.
Eventually, I worked my way into buying a really shitty truck and a ladder and it kept snowballing. My equipment got better. The jobs kept rolling in. I had more work than I could handle.
Now…what should I do? Should I hire someone? Try to find an equal partner? Or just turn down the work? I talked it through with several friends, and decided to hire a friend of a friend. I didn’t know the guy, so it didn’t make sense to immediately offer him a partnership. The guy didn’t know me, and wasn’t about to commit to a partnership.
So, at this point, I’m the same as “Fred”, right? I’m the owner, I’m looking for an hourly employee. Why am I the bad guy? I’m just working hard. If business is good and I can pay someone who wants the money, isn’t that a good thing?
Let’s skip ahead in your story. Fred retires. Fred Jr. inherits the business and continues to make money for doing nothing. And that’s a very valid objection to the way things work - inherited wealth is poison to a fair system. Nepotism is poison to a fair system.
On the other hand, Fred built a business. Yes, he had someone else running his backhoe. Fred was responsible for other aspects of the business, though. Admin tasks, sales, etc. He worked, there’s no shame that his was a desk job instead of a field job.
The wrap up your analogy is this:
“This is the way we decide who gets the rewards of all the work humanity collectively does (under capitalist systems) and it’s resulted in a hundred or so people so insanely wealthy we can’t even conceptualize how much money they have and everyone else scraping by.”
Let’s break down that statement, there’s a lot going on.
“This is the way we decide who gets the rewards…” Sorry, but the system we use is SO much worse than your analogy. I buy a share of stock in the company. I never meet an employee. I never meet a customer. I never even see the business. I just get paid when the company profits. The company itself is too big to fail. The government will loan them low or no interest money to ensure that it doesn’t go under. In 30 years, I can sell my stock, or I can pass it to my children. I can take loans against the unrealized value of that stock.
“it’s resulted in a hundred or so people so insanely wealthy we can’t even conceptualize how much money they have…” Again, it’s SO much worse than that. The poorest person on Forbes 400 list is worth almost $4 billion. (That list is USA citizens only, btw.) A billion dollars is inconceivable wealth to most people. At a 10% return rate, that’s $400 million per year accumulated by doing nothing but investing in the Dow. Imagine that. Enough money to give 50 of your family and friends $4 million per year AND still have $100 million income for yourself AND still have $100 million to reinvest every year. Imagine how much political influence that amount of money buys.
So, yeah. I think using a small business as an analogy for capitalism - especially a single proprietor working-class business - distracts from just how bad things really are. Thanks for reading, and hope that I didn’t offend you by jumping into the comments with this rant. :)