Quote:
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Originally Posted by Nich
more from Chris Hedges: Fascism in the Age of Trump
https://youtu.be/BMYjroVIDLA
So long as we're occupied squabbling over racism, cancel culture, trans rights true power will never be challenged. So long as we're in debt and have zero savings we are slaves and our consent can be bought. Protesting in the streets is predictable, and hurts people like us far more than it hurts the people we are protesting. |
It's connected. This is the sort of rant I usually give after the third bottle on a Friday night but it's Monday and I'm not drinking at the moment so this feels kinda weird, but bear with me.
1. modernity transformed us all into active individuals on our own special journeys. The Protestant Reformation gave me a personal relationship with Jebus based on the penitence in my own heart. The Industrial Revolution made me and my clothing choices a driver of international change. Consumerism of the 20th century was based on convenience and customisation of goods and services based on what I personally want. HOLY SHIT I AM SO FUCKING IMPORTANT.
2. unfettered Friedmanesque neoliberal economics since the 70s has massively decreased social mobility and opportunity and created a new feudalism under which the few get an increasingly large share of the pie and more power in the system. GODDAMMIT I AM INSIGNIFICANT AND LESS INFLUENTIAL BY THE DAY.
3. 1&2 together cause massive anxiety and tension. They can't both be true. I was brought up getting told that I'm a modern autonomous agent, but now that I'm adulting the world treats me like a disposable object and the rich are just getting richer and richer while I can't even afford kids or a house or a job. IT'S NOT FAIR.
4. anxious and tense individuals seek reassurance and protection from their groups. We're social apes. So individuals become hung up on group identity and start focusing on the tribal displays that reinforce tribal status. Showing off in-group membership is the only thing that makes us not terrified that inequality is kicking us in our autonomous individual nuts. Hence why virtue-signalling social justice warriors.
5. Along comes a set of tech designed to amplify the anxiety of social apes, and the tech gets better at the amplification the more anxious the apes get.
armorking