" it is a big club and you ain't in it" G. Carlin....
Yes, we live in a 'classless' society in which goods, define which class one is in automatically..... yet people due to lack of practice of this analysis, are often unfit to recognize the levels of class..... oligarchs, stooges, compradors, pooliticians, asswipes, and 'pretend coopted left' askissers.... and bootlickers....
Bingo! Chomsky (in the days before he become a pro-vax fascist) used to talk about how "class" was a forbidden word. As you state, Debora, if we don't even mention class, how can we have any kind of analysis about it?
My former partner worked for an organic farm with signs that read Farmers Against Fascism, Black Lives Matter, blah, blah, blah. The owner is an obvious trust-funder who surrounds herself with the sort of thirty-somethings who believe people are born into the wrong bodies and who reject any mention of the existence of war. I finally summarized what I have believed all my life: You are not a socialist, you are not a communist, if you live on unearned income. Apparently this is okay if you call yourself an anarchist. I still believe in anarchist principles but I finally understand why so many leftists have been disgusted by anarchists. Edward Curtin wrote a superb essay about Chomsky and Hedges and their ilk.
The mercs will have a fine old time with their quondam bosses once it becomes clear that the old order no longer applies. What good is Gates without his vast and entirely situational wealth? He has nothing else to offer and unleashed mercs can be very nasty. Their record is horrific, e.g. DynCorp and Blackwater. Not the people you want in your bunker. Not at all. If he figured out some way to get a hold on them, they'd torture him as soon as it became expedient. The people who build the bunkers also have no reason to maintain loyalty, and every reason to share the blueprints with rival oligarchs—or with jacqueries.
Thanks, James. Your blunt analysis illustrates how clueless the "elites" can be. It should give all of us hope that their very public plans for virtual enslavement cannot withstand the pushback we will provide.
"The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers" WTF?
"What will save us is what always saves us: community, resilience, compassion, open-mindedness, innovation, and imagination." Yes!
it's such a good premise for a movie, i know there are similar iterations, but a billionaire trying to figure out how to control the mean protecting him in his bunker, perfect haha.
why does money do all the above? It breaks down interconnected interdependence between people, the rich prioritize themselves and those who are also rich, as they want to accumulate more, material defines themselves and those around them, what will they do when the refrigerator and air-conditioning unit breaks down? how will they raise or look after and keep their family safe, statistically how long does a small group of navy seals stay alive, when everyone is trying to kill them and plunder resources? what are the chances of going insane in the bunker if stuck for a prolonged period of time?how about this -- the strange thing about the wealthy, they actually build their own prisons around them. Give a person enough money, they will feel persecuted and lock themselves away from those who they suspect of wanting to take their money and resources from them -- I think this is summed up in the figure of Gollum. Massive power is like massive wealth, it corrupts one's brain and soul. It is a poison that perverts the implicit nature of humans. Christ had no wealth, and he is often regarded as the exemplar of human potential, same as the Buddha. A bunker is a sign of a persecution mentality/paranoia -- Post Malone's song sums this up perfectly -- a paranoid man -- love that song, I think it is a clear articulation of the pitfalls of wealth. The squirrel of the ice age comes to mind, too. Also, the underground man by Dostoyevsky.
And don't forgot about love - the greatest of the virtues. Love others because He first lived us enough to save us from ourselves. Without mercy, we would be just selfish pricks like those brain-damaged billionaires.
"What will save us is what always saves us: community, resilience, compassion, open-mindedness, innovation, and imagination." Amen - & thanks for this post!!
I was thinking similarly when I read recently about this $270 million bunker Zuckerberg is building in Hawaii. Honestly, it is sad and pathetic. People with that wealth don’t know how to do anything for themselves, have no hard skill sets- what are they going to do when these people who do have such skills (farming, carpentry, plumbing, mechanics, etc) no longer want to work with them? And why would they? Trying to ensure one’s own survival above all others is never going to work in the end. Humans will always need community to survive, especially these days when skillsets are so compartmentalized.
Zuckerberg and these others are literally digging their own graves- they can pretend they participate in society by donating money (which Z is doing to keep people from complaining too much on the island), but in the end without real connection and community he will be just a sad little boy sitting with his wife underground, surrounded by all his expensive tech and gadgets and canned food and have missed out on a huge part of living on this planet trying to protect himself and his money (what will become useless money if society goes the way it would to need such a bunker).
So it seems the more these people have wealth, the more paranoid and like hungry ghosts they become. What a depressing and heartless life. Let them create their own personal hell as a result of manipulating the world to get so much wealth.
I concur, TL. It's disheartening to see so many embrace Trump and/or Musk as "different."
" it is a big club and you ain't in it" G. Carlin....
Yes, we live in a 'classless' society in which goods, define which class one is in automatically..... yet people due to lack of practice of this analysis, are often unfit to recognize the levels of class..... oligarchs, stooges, compradors, pooliticians, asswipes, and 'pretend coopted left' askissers.... and bootlickers....
Bingo! Chomsky (in the days before he become a pro-vax fascist) used to talk about how "class" was a forbidden word. As you state, Debora, if we don't even mention class, how can we have any kind of analysis about it?
Parenti Snr. and junior are way better than Chomsky..... any given day.
My former partner worked for an organic farm with signs that read Farmers Against Fascism, Black Lives Matter, blah, blah, blah. The owner is an obvious trust-funder who surrounds herself with the sort of thirty-somethings who believe people are born into the wrong bodies and who reject any mention of the existence of war. I finally summarized what I have believed all my life: You are not a socialist, you are not a communist, if you live on unearned income. Apparently this is okay if you call yourself an anarchist. I still believe in anarchist principles but I finally understand why so many leftists have been disgusted by anarchists. Edward Curtin wrote a superb essay about Chomsky and Hedges and their ilk.
The mercs will have a fine old time with their quondam bosses once it becomes clear that the old order no longer applies. What good is Gates without his vast and entirely situational wealth? He has nothing else to offer and unleashed mercs can be very nasty. Their record is horrific, e.g. DynCorp and Blackwater. Not the people you want in your bunker. Not at all. If he figured out some way to get a hold on them, they'd torture him as soon as it became expedient. The people who build the bunkers also have no reason to maintain loyalty, and every reason to share the blueprints with rival oligarchs—or with jacqueries.
Thanks, James. Your blunt analysis illustrates how clueless the "elites" can be. It should give all of us hope that their very public plans for virtual enslavement cannot withstand the pushback we will provide.
"The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers" WTF?
"What will save us is what always saves us: community, resilience, compassion, open-mindedness, innovation, and imagination." Yes!
Are the rich brain damaged? YES.
Cory Doctorow has a short story along these post-apocalypse line... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41447687-radicalized
Thanks, Chris!
it's such a good premise for a movie, i know there are similar iterations, but a billionaire trying to figure out how to control the mean protecting him in his bunker, perfect haha.
why does money do all the above? It breaks down interconnected interdependence between people, the rich prioritize themselves and those who are also rich, as they want to accumulate more, material defines themselves and those around them, what will they do when the refrigerator and air-conditioning unit breaks down? how will they raise or look after and keep their family safe, statistically how long does a small group of navy seals stay alive, when everyone is trying to kill them and plunder resources? what are the chances of going insane in the bunker if stuck for a prolonged period of time?how about this -- the strange thing about the wealthy, they actually build their own prisons around them. Give a person enough money, they will feel persecuted and lock themselves away from those who they suspect of wanting to take their money and resources from them -- I think this is summed up in the figure of Gollum. Massive power is like massive wealth, it corrupts one's brain and soul. It is a poison that perverts the implicit nature of humans. Christ had no wealth, and he is often regarded as the exemplar of human potential, same as the Buddha. A bunker is a sign of a persecution mentality/paranoia -- Post Malone's song sums this up perfectly -- a paranoid man -- love that song, I think it is a clear articulation of the pitfalls of wealth. The squirrel of the ice age comes to mind, too. Also, the underground man by Dostoyevsky.
Thanks, Moss! Btw, I notice this older post is suddenly getting attention. Can you tell me where you encountered it?
Hi Mickey. Matthew Crawford, article -- A Grand Unified Theory of the FTX Disaster (I think).
https://substack.com/profile/3589582-mathew-crawford
Thank you!
Hey Mickey, do you know if you? Or anyone can answer my question that you know?
Where #Pfizers gene-edting shots, actually ...
#EUGENICS shots?
It's not a big stretch of the imagination. Were the shots covertly designed to target persons carrying gene mutations in the heart muscle?
Were serious cardiac adverse reactions truly random?
Need ANSWERS!
And don't forgot about love - the greatest of the virtues. Love others because He first lived us enough to save us from ourselves. Without mercy, we would be just selfish pricks like those brain-damaged billionaires.
Yes! 🙏
And what might feel like the hardest part is trusting that redemption is possible for the "selfish pricks," too.
"What will save us is what always saves us: community, resilience, compassion, open-mindedness, innovation, and imagination." Amen - & thanks for this post!!
🙏
I think the South Island probably has considerably more than our share of bunkers.
And a population that is very experienced in getting rabbits out of holes.
🐰
I was thinking similarly when I read recently about this $270 million bunker Zuckerberg is building in Hawaii. Honestly, it is sad and pathetic. People with that wealth don’t know how to do anything for themselves, have no hard skill sets- what are they going to do when these people who do have such skills (farming, carpentry, plumbing, mechanics, etc) no longer want to work with them? And why would they? Trying to ensure one’s own survival above all others is never going to work in the end. Humans will always need community to survive, especially these days when skillsets are so compartmentalized.
Zuckerberg and these others are literally digging their own graves- they can pretend they participate in society by donating money (which Z is doing to keep people from complaining too much on the island), but in the end without real connection and community he will be just a sad little boy sitting with his wife underground, surrounded by all his expensive tech and gadgets and canned food and have missed out on a huge part of living on this planet trying to protect himself and his money (what will become useless money if society goes the way it would to need such a bunker).
So it seems the more these people have wealth, the more paranoid and like hungry ghosts they become. What a depressing and heartless life. Let them create their own personal hell as a result of manipulating the world to get so much wealth.
Thanks, DiKa...well said and this sums it up well: What a depressing and heartless life.