by "Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
Published 04/18/2017 at 12:11
by "Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
Published 04/18/2017 at 12:11
No Tags
STARS: 10
Classic onboards to fill the time:
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Found this on Reddit, read the entire thing:
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Then I went back on Reddit to see the takes that arose from the article.
There were many great salient points raised there, but one particular take that got me is this :
Yes, ISIS and illegal immigrants and job outsourcing are problems, but ISIS isn’t taking our jobs, and illegal immigrants aren’t outsourcing our jobs. The root of all of these problems is, quite literally, the super wealthy; ISIS was created by the fallout of the Iraq War, which was a war that the wealthy establishment wanted; illegal immigrants are cheap labor and they dilute the political power of labor as a bloc, which is what the wealthy establishment wanted; outsourcing jobs allows goods to be produced for cheaper, which can then be sold at normal prices for greater profit, despite the American worker losing his job, which is what the wealthy establishment wanted. Then they use our fears of ISIS and illegal immigrants and job outsourcing to make us vote for more tax cuts for the rich, or for “tough-on-crime” politicians who just end up hurting our communities more, or for more wars just so we can feel “safe”.
At every step the wealthy hurt us, the working poor, and make us blame our problems on those even less powerful than us, like dirt-poor immigrants coming from a cartel-exploited shit-hole or illiterate religious zealots in a desert on the other side of the planet. It’s not factual or logical to pretend we are our own enemies. Our enemies are obvious, and they want us to fight each other because then we can’t fight them.
Taken together with the other major comments, I realized something: we’re distracted. We are massively, horribly distracted. We are entertained, buy stuff, and when something goes wrong, we can blame it on someone else weaker or more vulnerable. And the moment we are unable to have fun and buy shit, the moment the basics have been ruined by the greed of the few, you’ll see a world burned by dissatisfaction. We get barely enough; the few get nearly all, but the fact is that we still have something.
This isn’t really a battle of ideology or religion, but a battle between the weak and the weaker, forced by the strongest. We are action figures in a little child’s play mat.
"Krieger (@FSKrieger22)" (Krieger22)
04/18/2017 at 12:18, STARS: 2
I thought you were going to run with the most blatantly racist take for a second there.
And what is “Western civilization” to begin with? On what traditions are it built on? What makes it “Western”? Does cultural exchange with other civilizations make it less “Western”? This isn’t a game of Civ.
"Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
04/18/2017 at 12:19, STARS: 0
Yep. money rules all.
I’d probably do the same if I was at the top though so I can’t really say anything.
"AfromanGTO" (afromangto)
04/18/2017 at 12:20, STARS: 12
Here you go. Look at this.
Western Civ is more like A Brave New World than 1984, but it does have elements of both.
"boredalways" (boredalway666)
04/18/2017 at 12:21, STARS: 5
Welcome to the real world.
TBH, I’m really impressed with what this Reddit commenter posted. I would always find the assholes, bigots, and racists when I would occasionally look at their site so I stop going years ago. Good to know there are some sane individuals there.
"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
04/18/2017 at 12:28, STARS: 2
I don’t feel that this problem is unique to Western (i.e. European/North American) societies, either. We should all be rallying against the current political status quo but we’ve been so effectively turned against each other. The whole liberal vs. conservative narrative really shouldn’t exist since it does nothing other than resulting in both sides spewing pointless vitriol at one another.
The sad thing is, I feel the majority are somewhere in the centre and we’re surrounded by the extremely loud, extremely biased (left or right) people who think their way is the right way.
I have liberal views, and I have conservative views, but instead of taking the best of both worlds we’re all too busy pointing out the deficiencies of each side. We don’t need to be looking at others who are sharing this rung of the ladder, but upwards to those that are trying to keep us all down and push us down even further.
I don’t even know how to begin fixing this fundamental problem. All I try do, and hope that everybody tries to do, is listen to both sides.
"I have another burner, try to guess it!" (ihaveanotherburner)
04/18/2017 at 12:30, STARS: 2
Western Civilization = Europe and NA. With culture/religion/language derived from the ancient Romans and Greeks.
"TorqueToYield" (torquetoyield)
04/18/2017 at 12:31, STARS: 0
Bread and circuses. Been the way to control a population since Roman times. The Romans were kept happy with distribution of free food and entertainment. As long as the masses have bread to eat and circuses to watch they care very little about anything else.
"Viggen" (viggen37)
04/18/2017 at 12:32, STARS: 2
And now that you’ve had the realization, it may take a moment to accept it. But once you do, you’ll go through life a bit more...aware.
"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-)
04/18/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 0
I like to think I’d do something good if I had that kind of obscene wealth, but I’m a very flawed person, too.
"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony)
04/18/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 0
"SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie" (sidewaysondirt)
04/18/2017 at 12:38, STARS: 3
I’m on team Huxley here. Orwell was always annoyed at lazy 1984 comparisons anyway.
"PatBateman" (PatBateman)
04/18/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 2
Narratives and bias are the pipes by which we are unwittingly led to our prearranged conclusions. Shed their influences, and the truth is there for you to see.
The ideologues in power, on BOTH sides of the aisle, spread their one-sided messages to rally the die hards. Dismiss them and read only the facts.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 12:40, STARS: 0
Hard, isn’t it? It takes much power to change this much of the world, but it only changes you and makes you crave for more.
I don’t want people to want to be subjugated and controlled, but that’s the only way I can rally them to even see that The Few is behind all this.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 12:44, STARS: 1
For all the faff, there are still humans who think, who see, who hear and who feel.
That, and I now think that racism and bigotry are distractions to the other, more sinister problem of absolute control by the most powerful.
"AfromanGTO" (afromangto)
04/18/2017 at 12:46, STARS: 2
1984 comparisons have gotten even lazier than ever. It seems that everything mentioning the future points immediately to 1984...
"victor" (victor)
04/18/2017 at 12:46, STARS: 2
The biggest lie perpetuated by libertarians and conservatives is “if you only worked harder”, which is true in some cases, but generally an assignment for explanation for this rich-poor power dynamic.
Do working class people honestly think that they will be openly encouraged by the ruling class to join them? The entire system is literally being designed by those in power to maintain their power at the expense of others. (Most wealthy people literally see it as a zero sum game)
"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
04/18/2017 at 12:49, STARS: 1
I see this going two ways.
#1 Someone triggers WWIII with nuclear weapons being used. We basically kill ourselves off and the Earth recovers in a million years with people no longer here. I take my guns and head for the least populated area with the largest source of freshwater.
2# Autonomy comes and everyone gets a base income because autonomy removes all the jobs. I buy a boat and chill in the Caribbean, island hopping until I kick the bucket.
The question is which one comes first?
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 12:54, STARS: 0
If you watched S24E01 of TopGear, you hear Harris say that the Ferrari FXX K has “sensational...corrupting power”. When Raph reviewed a Rolls-Royce he felt impatient and entitled.
If you think about it, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters has the toughest job in the world: keeping easily-corruptible children wielding corrupting power from being slaves to their own abilities and slaughtering others in the process. Mystique’s powers, weak as it is (doesn’t copy powers or full physiology like Vanessa Carlysle), is the equivalent of the Ring of Gygas.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 13:06, STARS: 1
It’s worse, I reckon. Actual experts, actual people who know their shit, are being dismissed as useless frauds, and instead a majority of the populace turn to demagogues who just have to speak “their language”. Small wonder most of the big educational channels require a facade of entertainment.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 13:09, STARS: 0
“The question is which one comes first?”
McLaren-Honda’s WCC, with Max Verstappen as WDC for McLaren-Honda.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
04/18/2017 at 13:10, STARS: 3
The Romans called it “Bread and Circuses”.
Ultimately, these systems always collapse. Their longevity is a function of complacency in the population (and things like TV have kept it relatively stable much longer than it should have been possible without it) and eventually the drive for profit from the super wealthy (which is not, generally, a unified bloc) always ends up collapsing the empire and/or results in an uprising. The British avoided an outright slaughter of their elite more by luck than by design. The French rolled the guillotines. Chances are that the lower-99% of the US will execute them with bombs, rifles, and poison gas.
At present, the younger generation is so impoverished relative to the older generation that it might be more of a lower-75% executing the grey-/white-haired top-25%. I would also bet on SS and collapsing pensions sparking the collapse.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 13:11, STARS: 0
No need to stoop that low, we’re chest-deep in floodwaters, anyway.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 13:13, STARS: 0
Absurdism. Either you just don the shades and Deal With It or you do not wear a high-visibility jacket as you meet a level crossing driving a 3-star econobox.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 13:15, STARS: 1
Hence my line of not biting the hand that feeds. Or maybe I should, if it’s the only way to see what the other hand is doing.
"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy)
04/18/2017 at 13:21, STARS: 0
Incredible to think that we are, technically, better off than our forebearers, and yet we are simultaneously miserable.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
04/18/2017 at 13:22, STARS: 1
Even those that see themselves as educated are heavily indoctrinated. They’re merely programmed to follow demagogues that they see as like themselves.
There are very few people that can actually see beyond what they’re being fed.
"Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
04/18/2017 at 13:26, STARS: 0
But since the few have a position of wealth and power they will be able to feed the lies that everyone believes and keep us distracted. I’ve thought about this for a while but assumed I was crazy.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
04/18/2017 at 13:30, STARS: 2
I think you mean “automation”. It has already been killing jobs for decades. The only reason people in many poor countries have jobs is due to low tariffs and cheap energy to move goods. If these didn’t exist, those jobs would have been completely automated long ago. They’re merely undercutting robots at this point, but it won’t last forever.
Should we avoid #1 (which was a very real possibility no matter who won this last year), the next big risk is actually artificial intelligence. It’s the singularity. When we finally create true artificial intelligence that can replicate and better itself, we all become obsolete as the AIs construct robots to replace us entirely. The danger is that they’ll realize that we have no value to them...
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
04/19/2017 at 00:21, STARS: 0
option #3: Autonomy with elites in walled off cities.
option #4: google develops AI and china nukes them
Ai scares the crap out of me. the whole idea that by the time we know its too late, its a whole other level.
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"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
04/19/2017 at 00:57, STARS: 1
isis like al quida is mosquito. we need to keep safe. this country has 2 oceans the chance of a suicide bomber showing up in Lincoln Nebraska is 1/100,000,000,000.
Growing up in red town and county. I have mixed feelings on immigration. on one side I have family members whose business was substantially hurt by illegal immigrants lowering wages. On the other hand a major impact to the business was the difficulty in finding people to work.every year the owner would wash out another batch of high school punks after “if you can’t keep up with someone twice your age, we have a problem”. best alternative was 2 legal immigrants from eastern Europe.
On a broader look I think illegal immigration is a case of bootleggers and baptists. poor people want to limit immigration in an attempt to keep wages up, and rich farmers (conglomerates) want to keep it illegal so they don’t have to pay minimum wage.
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at some point the fancy gates isn’t going to top 1%. with automation intensifying I think there will be a lot of people without jobs, with little to no safety net.
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“they don’t want people smart to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting fucked.”
i wish George was still around.