Have been having discussions/engaging in incoherent rants with local Dems about the Democratic Party getting the lead out and coming up with some riveting demands to rally the troops instead of being smug well-off old boomers pooh-poohing Bernie Sanders, AOC, David Hogg, Zohran Mamdani, etc. Indivisible protests can only go so far, its the Democratic Party that is going to have to field candidates and get them elected to throw sand in the gears of the Republican machine that's pillaging the rest of us.
They talk a good story about concerns for the marginalized (financially, culturally, politically) but don't actually step out in front of the tank because none of that stuff seriously affects their well-off selves and they understandably don't want to be physically injured or die on account of it. But in past struggles, for voting rights, for unions, for taxing the rich, for regulating heedless industries, etc etc etc people got maimed and killed. And now they are again.
"In a sense, Democrats are catering more and more to the people who already have a pretty good position in society. Therefore, it is complicated and difficult for them to actually tackle the problem at root, which would not just involve them pushing back against the scams, but also opening up the broader space of opportunities so that people don't feel drawn into these various hustles and con-jobs."
Brilliant, sir. Just brilliant. These little men you describe, little men of flinted hearts, are the images of the very striving-ness toward putting the most of us into a world that is 'Poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short' as a life-goal. Where's the collective responsibility?
Oh, right - we don't do 'collective' any more, do we. We are all supposed to be the highest man (gender-select irony intended), capable of striving to our 'highest human potential'. But what does that mean? The most capable of harvesting the planet for resources to turn into Money? Getting a stranglehold on the very ether of our modern existence, in the form of capital moved and manipulated on a screen? Or harvesting each other for clicks, and follows, and likes, for a stream of the 'most desirable' consumables delivered in two days? And what's next? Kidneys at gunpoint, or more insidious, organs in exchange for cash to try to liquidate unmanageable debts? However;
They are dependent, and creating deeper dependencies. Dependency on a steady, reliable supply of electricity. They are dependent upon our complicity. They are dependent upon an endless stream of raw material dug up by desperate people. Dependent upon the processing power to convert it to stuff. We, the most of us, can stop clicking. We can stop shrugging in consumerist compliance. We can can get, in a word, sober. We could all consider increasing our core resiliency and finding a reflective quiet in our lives. We can just say no.
And, If you've never seen what happens when there's a significant grounding-out of the mains at an electric substation, which doesn't take all that much of a fault, I'd suggest that the utopianist future they envision comes to a flashover ending in a matter of minutes. And what's the lead time on getting a replacement transmission transformer and related switchgear? It ain't two-day delivery. Try to get your server farm running solely on your selfish intentions, and there's the limits of your utopian futurism. It smells like burning conductors and electricity running free. You tell me of your utopia, and I'll go looking for the mass graves.
Me? I have an improved woodshed to finish, and two cords of free-fall hardwood to cut, split and rick up. The little woodstove to re-black and polish. Winter's coming.
“But it is also an indirect result of how the upper middle classes - people like me - have succeeded in occupying the niches that will allow them and their kids to succeed. There aren't many ways for other people to actually get ahead, ex luck. “. I don’t really understand this. Do you mean as gate keepers? Terrific article. Thank you.
Great overview of the current mess and its many parts. One addition might be the role of China in all this, or specifically, China's emergence as global leader in green energy technologies over just the last fifteen years. What gives the Big Tech move to capture the state in the '24 election, heading off democratic moves made by the Biden admin (antitrust, union support, regulating crypto, etc), what gives this frantic activity that special whiff of desperation (DOGE, etc) is China's state-directed growth in technological innovations in solar, batteries, and EVs. Just when Silicon Valley is feeling its ascendant glory, Billionaires, world builders, online economic scales never seen before, it appears as though in terms of practical technological innovations crucial to economic development in the 21st century free market Big Tech has been humiliatingly outflanked by state directed tech development in China. This fuels, I think, some of the more hysterical claims for AGI. Yeah, who needs alternative energy technologies when AI will take over and run everything with unimaginable efficiencies? All the noise about free markets and the independence of big business, techno-optimism, whatever, increasingly rings hollow and just like more scammy corporate hype. And the responses to China increasingly defensive, militaristic, and repressive.
Have been having discussions/engaging in incoherent rants with local Dems about the Democratic Party getting the lead out and coming up with some riveting demands to rally the troops instead of being smug well-off old boomers pooh-poohing Bernie Sanders, AOC, David Hogg, Zohran Mamdani, etc. Indivisible protests can only go so far, its the Democratic Party that is going to have to field candidates and get them elected to throw sand in the gears of the Republican machine that's pillaging the rest of us.
They talk a good story about concerns for the marginalized (financially, culturally, politically) but don't actually step out in front of the tank because none of that stuff seriously affects their well-off selves and they understandably don't want to be physically injured or die on account of it. But in past struggles, for voting rights, for unions, for taxing the rich, for regulating heedless industries, etc etc etc people got maimed and killed. And now they are again.
"In a sense, Democrats are catering more and more to the people who already have a pretty good position in society. Therefore, it is complicated and difficult for them to actually tackle the problem at root, which would not just involve them pushing back against the scams, but also opening up the broader space of opportunities so that people don't feel drawn into these various hustles and con-jobs."
The scam economy is a direct result of the excessive deregulation incurred since 1980.
Brilliant, sir. Just brilliant. These little men you describe, little men of flinted hearts, are the images of the very striving-ness toward putting the most of us into a world that is 'Poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short' as a life-goal. Where's the collective responsibility?
Oh, right - we don't do 'collective' any more, do we. We are all supposed to be the highest man (gender-select irony intended), capable of striving to our 'highest human potential'. But what does that mean? The most capable of harvesting the planet for resources to turn into Money? Getting a stranglehold on the very ether of our modern existence, in the form of capital moved and manipulated on a screen? Or harvesting each other for clicks, and follows, and likes, for a stream of the 'most desirable' consumables delivered in two days? And what's next? Kidneys at gunpoint, or more insidious, organs in exchange for cash to try to liquidate unmanageable debts? However;
They are dependent, and creating deeper dependencies. Dependency on a steady, reliable supply of electricity. They are dependent upon our complicity. They are dependent upon an endless stream of raw material dug up by desperate people. Dependent upon the processing power to convert it to stuff. We, the most of us, can stop clicking. We can stop shrugging in consumerist compliance. We can can get, in a word, sober. We could all consider increasing our core resiliency and finding a reflective quiet in our lives. We can just say no.
And, If you've never seen what happens when there's a significant grounding-out of the mains at an electric substation, which doesn't take all that much of a fault, I'd suggest that the utopianist future they envision comes to a flashover ending in a matter of minutes. And what's the lead time on getting a replacement transmission transformer and related switchgear? It ain't two-day delivery. Try to get your server farm running solely on your selfish intentions, and there's the limits of your utopian futurism. It smells like burning conductors and electricity running free. You tell me of your utopia, and I'll go looking for the mass graves.
Me? I have an improved woodshed to finish, and two cords of free-fall hardwood to cut, split and rick up. The little woodstove to re-black and polish. Winter's coming.
Tim Long, Just up the Hill from Lock 15
All of the above.
Great column! Solid insights and clear perspectives on the state of our current national politics. Well done!
❤️
“But it is also an indirect result of how the upper middle classes - people like me - have succeeded in occupying the niches that will allow them and their kids to succeed. There aren't many ways for other people to actually get ahead, ex luck. “. I don’t really understand this. Do you mean as gate keepers? Terrific article. Thank you.
Great overview of the current mess and its many parts. One addition might be the role of China in all this, or specifically, China's emergence as global leader in green energy technologies over just the last fifteen years. What gives the Big Tech move to capture the state in the '24 election, heading off democratic moves made by the Biden admin (antitrust, union support, regulating crypto, etc), what gives this frantic activity that special whiff of desperation (DOGE, etc) is China's state-directed growth in technological innovations in solar, batteries, and EVs. Just when Silicon Valley is feeling its ascendant glory, Billionaires, world builders, online economic scales never seen before, it appears as though in terms of practical technological innovations crucial to economic development in the 21st century free market Big Tech has been humiliatingly outflanked by state directed tech development in China. This fuels, I think, some of the more hysterical claims for AGI. Yeah, who needs alternative energy technologies when AI will take over and run everything with unimaginable efficiencies? All the noise about free markets and the independence of big business, techno-optimism, whatever, increasingly rings hollow and just like more scammy corporate hype. And the responses to China increasingly defensive, militaristic, and repressive.
The reactionary hydra grows some ugly new heads in its perennial pursuit of no taxes, no regulations, no worker rights/unions.
Where's our Hercules?