...just overly optimistic in my admittedly dark and desperate world view...
But good luck getting traction on morality issues OR national security in America circa 2024.
This shit hole nation we are imprisoned in has no morals and collectively is as bad as the leaders we worship (by 51% and overwhelming control of governance)... there is almost no sense of real or true patriotism - only a bastardized and abused false notion of "strength" and a misunderstanding of what it means to sacrifice for the good of one's nation. Those concepts are as dead as our leadership is vapid and insipid.
Government is broken here, so too are the military, industry and education systems too. The only things seen as positives are graft, theft, domination and hate. Not even close to concepts a sane and secure society can thrive on.
We have been collectively anesthetized by more than a century on non-stop advertising and propaganda - intensely so since 1980 on (the last 45 years); and the results are readily apparent to anyone willing to look at them and face the truth. We have sown the seeds of our own destruction, we have created a culture of wealth-worshipping morons and sycophants - all convinced that their bitcoin hustle is going to zoom any second, and if not their TikTok influencer windfall or podcast megadeal are imminent - and we are really no different than any other failed empire in human history. Where we were once asked to ask what we could do for our country, we have resoundingly said "fuck you" to each other and invited a disgusting mob to violate others in the hopes that the carnage will be some how miraculously contained to hurting only "them". Stupid games have been played and the predictable prizes are en route.
Greed, debauchery, loss of value for intelligence, expertise and inquisitiveness in science and industry beyond the next exploitative buck, and a near total lack of empathy for the plight of 'others' are the hallmarks of a civilization in decline and ours is officially in the gutter at present. The only question remaining is just how far is this going to go before it finishes? Nuclear holocaust, once believed to be no longer possible, is now once again ascendent and on the table as a potential endgame. We are well and truly fucked because exactly as this happens, America had the flow of oxygen cut to its national brain and sent the worst of the worst to positions of power in time to accelerate the bad and prevent the possibility of good outcomes.
Its NOT just the focus on profits, but also the de-emphasis of empathy.
Its NOT just the lawlessness and criminality being celebrated, but also the loss of any sense of propriety or shame about it.
Its NOT just the greedy decisions, but also the normalization of it via brain-washing technology.
Its NOT just the lack of respect for education and expertise, but also the inane glorification of the exact opposites.
Its NOT just the adherence to anti-rational views, but also the inane defense of religious nonsense in secular settings.
Its NOT just the bigotry and hate, but also the glee with which these things animate and amuse the young males of the nation.
Its NOT just the finance and dude bros, but also a cultural pass for gross misrepresentation of masculinity and femininity as well.
Its NOT just that fucking thing in the Oval Office in a mere 6 weeks time, but also his minions and rapacious fiends in all levels of public life chomping at the bit to destroy everything for the LOLs and personal gains/thefts.
In short, we have hit a critical mass, and the detonation appears all but iminent at this point. There is a crash incoming and a massive loss of life and misery to accompany it. There will be blood and tears to drown us all or there will be a correction made with a softer landing.
I have lost all hope of a positive, non-violent and beneficial to mankind solution. I fully expect there will be nothing short or real horror and deprivation to accompany it. I fear that if you are over 50, the best days of the human race are in your rearview mirror and if you are under 50, the history you will live and write is going to be more akin to the Dark Ages than the Enlightenment.
Honestly, I am 53 and expect that the twilight years of my life will be cut short by all of this, that among the billions who die, nearly none will have "net worth" greater than a few hundred dollars and the "winners" will be awarded a medieval feudal state system and reintroduction of all that entails. That the nation of the United States will break apart in self-recrimination, finger pointing, scape-goating and foolishness; and that the world will descend into chaos because there is nothing short of a broken system at the core of all human activity right now - unregulated capitalism and fascism ascendent. At the end of the Guilded Age, the world spasmed and begat the Great Depression and WWII and what to then was the peak of human suffering and hatred laid bare. What is coming head long down the tracks now is far, far worse. The weapons more terrifying, the willingness to use them despite the KNOWN consequences too played down and the "leadership" willing to throw themselves into the gears as human sabots all but extinct.
At the last, as New Year's Eve 2024 approaches, I would not so much recommend celebrations as I would remembrance and preparation for he disasters on the horizon. We have lost. The only question is if that defeat is permanent, temporary or somewhere in-between. I have a hard time seeing a viable path to recovery on a timeline that matters to me and the time I have left on this planet. Bon chance, mon amis and vaya con dios.
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