Yesterday, I came across an interesting article which attempts to explain why many Republican voters seem to consistently vote against their own interests, thereby supporting a political party which works exclusively for the rich and throws everybody else under the bus, including these voters. For an example the article points at Trump’s war on our healthcare coupled with continuing loyalty to him.
In a recent article, Umair Haque explained pretty well why the spreading attitude of me-me-me and to hell with society and the related phenomenon of splintering into tribes are so damaging for all of us, including for those who live this attitude. You may know people who need this explained to them. I sure do. Hence this article.
Salient Quotes:
“What’s a place where there’s no trust? A jungle. Maybe a prison. … Without trust, a society can’t be a society. It becomes something else entirely: a place where predators rule. … There must be some level of trust that binds people together, or else a society will almost inevitably decay into demagoguery, collapse, and ruin.”
“Americans can’t have what the rest of the rich world takes for granted: public healthcare, education, finance. They live profoundly crippled lives: precarious, anxious, afraid. They will never retire, can’t afford to educate their kids, and their incomes have been stagnant for decades. No wonder there is widespread rage.”
“First, trust is lost. Then, society loses the ability to function. Then, public goods are lost. Without public goods, people’s lives shatter. The rage that results from broken dreams produces demagoguery. Today’s gilded demagogue, then, isn’t the issue: the loss of trust is.”
Here is the link to the full article: The Five Letter Word That Spells the End of Societies
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Another worthwhile Chris Hedges clip about how we got to our current state of affairs:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Chris Hedges Brace Yourself! The American Empire Is Over”)
For a list of key points, Continue reading
Our society = a pyramid scheme!
Quote: “Our competition and internal strife weaken us and prevent us from facing the universe’s tough challenges like disease; the ravages of aging and a short life-span; as well as natural disasters like earthquakes; tsunamis; pandemics; global climate change, with its ever increasing hurricanes; and giant meteorite impacts, such as the one that killed off the dinosaurs…”
Example: France, so very different from the U.S. … Not all is perfect there. They make mistakes. Yet, a 35 hour work week, long paid vacations, and the best healthcare in the world (at half the price of U.S. healthcare)… in THIS universe??? An entirely different way is apparently possible. Watch and be amazed.
Conclusion: All these things are easily possible when we don’t shunt the lion’s share of our mutually generated wealth to the 1%. It’s the robbery by the 1% which is preventing us from having a good life.
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Does Socialism Work In France?”)
Please comment below.
In other words: participate! 😉
I am shocked! Someone, and a young one, apparently… made this amazing 8+ minute video which summarizes much of what I keep wanting to write a book about, much of what life has taught me. You have to watch this! (in case the link is deleted again, the title to search for is: “The Lie We Live“)
Webb’s takeaway: you can’t blame the algorithms. But people do lie when they answer questions put to them by online dating services.
