I think our billionaire overlords and their political serfs know what they're doing.

[defacto7]

They know the earth cannot sustain the human masses that feed on it now or in the future; the breaking point is imminent.
They know humans cannot control greed.
They know humans are gullible.
They know that human caused climate change is unstoppable and its breaking point is imminent because existing industry and ecology are incompatible.
They know that pathogenic environs are ripe for expansion.
They know the industrial complexes of the world are beyond control at all levels.
They know that nations are made and ultimately exist due to war, therefore, there is no will or desire to stop war or dissolve nation states, only the imperative to orchestrate them.
They know humans live in packs; the clan must survive, conquer and destroy all competition, all foreign entities.
They know that empathy, compassion and unity are relatively new to the human species and if unchecked and unfocused, become disruptive to control mechanisms.
They know that the masses are pacified by fantasy, demigods and false hope combined with pain.
Whether their schemes are by design, by circumstance or blind stupidity, they know they must survive, and to them the ends justify the means.

I have no compunction about walking into a destiny I can't change, but I won't go there without a fight or without screaming foul until I can no longer scream.

D7

[yellow dahlia]

1. Screaming with you.

[defacto7]

3. Thanks

It's nice to have company.

[calikid]

2. The Truth shall set us free

Thank you and I'm right there/here with you.

[defacto7]

4. Arguably, I think it is the truth.

We can pretend it's a dream and that they will go away, but facing the truth is harder.
Thanks for being there/here.

[Irish_Dem]

5. 100% correct.

Yes to all your points.

And the schemes are by design.

[defacto7]

25. It makes sense. The map is right there.

Thanks for the reply.

[Irish_Dem]

28. Yes the facts are right in front of us whether we want to see it or not.

Other points to consider:

The greed for power and money are destroying the planet and the humans on it.

The wealthy and powerful have obtained their power and wealthy by destroying the planet
and now are figuring out how to milk it even more in the end game.

They also have plan b. Tricked the taxpayers into funding a possible escape hatch.
Colonize Mars. The next planet they will destroy.

[defacto7]

29. Excellent point.

Dangle an idea that plays on awe and wonder completely disregarding the science that shows how absurd the idea is at this point in our technological capability can make one look like a savior of the world that deserves to plunder it. Distance, gravity, martian climate, cosmic radiation and many more details make it impractical and deadly. In the '60s, the moon project had it's hurdles, but they were minuscule compared to putting a person on Mars. The difference is exponential. And, Yes, if we were capable of actually putting a settlement on Mars in a century or two, human nature would be a virus that would infect it. But, as with earth, Mars would eventually eradicate the intruders and I think it would do it with ease. People just need to remember that Star Trek is fiction and not a vision of the future. Earth is our only hope and I think we blew it.

As wonderful as human awe and wonder is in our eyes, it has always had its terrible destructive and deceptive side. I don't trust us.

[Irish_Dem]

30. More points to consider:

The wealthy and powerful think they are immune from the realities the plebeians face.
They are entitled, privileged, and think they can escape the ravages of war and climate change.

They buy land in remote locations on Earth to build their enclaves.

At some point they own all the money and resources on the planet and no longer need
worker bees who make the junk they sell. They own it all, the planet, the resources, the politicians,
the courts, etc. The general population is then superfluous.

Like Musk they put their sperm and eggs in cold storage to populate a new world once they trash this one.

Yes humans are complex creatures. Capable of the most heinous crimes against humanity.
But also capable of the utmost beauty, art, music, works of literature, love, kindness and sacrifice.

But yes at the end of the day, I would never trust humans.

[defacto7]

36. Thanks for reminding me of the good things.

Once we've made ourselves aware of reality, we have to live for the beautiful.

[Irish_Dem]

37. Humans are capable of the most sublime, exquisite beauty, sacrifice, goodness.

We lose sight of that when the dark underbelly of human nature is the norm.

[Voltaire2]

6. One solution to human associated catastrophic climate change

is a rapid and drastic reduction in the human population. The techbro fascist-libertarian faction is good with that. We are most likely going to have a more widespread global war, and truly shocking assaults on civilian populations, as test cased in Gaza and elsewhere.

[defacto7]

12. You and I are on the same page with that.

Thanks for the comment.

[DENVERPOPS]

15. Or

an increasing number of Pandemics, some of which could be far, far worse than Covid....There are several of those out there currently, but somewhat geographically isolated. And the melting ice is exposing many many more viruses never seen before........

Of course, one moment of ego tripping by Trump or Putin, (ie: I go, You all go), and most forms of life, including all humans will go bye-bye.
The planet will survive, and thousands of years, if not millions of years from now, mother nature will rehabilitate the earth, but this time will not allow humans.....LOL

[defacto7]

21. Absolutely. It isn't the best time for humanity.

But the planet doesn't notice. We're not even noticeable as a species. We're going to be one of the shortest lived relatively successful species that ever lived ... and the planet will erase the evidence that we were ever here.

[spapeggy]

23. Yet the techno bros

Are all going the quiver full way. Maybe they just want to expand their own personal clans?

[Voltaire2]

31. That is the militant nationalist part of fascism.

‘Our’ population, for some restricted definition of ‘our’, will be allowed to enjoy the depopulated world. However other national authoritarian regimes will pursue the same program.

[travelingthrulife]

32. Except that they are promoting population growth. I wonder if Elon expects his own spawn

to be worker bees. Doubt it.

[usonian]

7. I'd keep it simpler. Some just know how to control others by appealing to their base instincts. Sadly, people go along.

There is more than enough on this planet if we didn't have colossal wealth inequality.

Some countries have temporarily taken the rich to task in a way that I don't advise (and is fresh in our minds here) -- Russia, France ...

Now, New York?. So much for American exceptionalism.

But these regimes all follow the same fascist playbook. Too many people let them slide, especially corrupt media without a spine.

I've mentioned causes before:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=19857133

The Founding Fathers: (despite their elitism, misogyny and expediency in not outlawing slavery)

1. Probably would not have allowed "Citizens United" to override "one man one vote".

It is almost entirely a money game. One dollar, one vote. YMMV (Your Millions May Vote)

2. I also think they would not have allowed a Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to happen, allowing almost unlimited hate and lies to pervade public information sources not only unimpeded, but amplified and filtered by media owners.

CAN'T LET THINGS SLIDE

[defacto7]

14. My lack of simplicity is sometimes

a poets way of putting reality into perspectives that may make the truth more visible or that may make people question everything. There's a lot that's straight forward about the mess we're in, but there's a lot to miss if you don't tear the machine down and look for the minutia. AND ... I agree with everything you said.

[usonian]

16. I have always rightly been accused of being verbose.

I've been trying lately to gain some clarity and brevity.

I had one project manager who wanted 20 pages of results summarized in two paragraphs. IN FULL DETAIL

I was ready to create multimedia presentations, but passed on that, and multimedia was not a thing at the time.

I don't have time to tear things down, though I did so in my engineering work --- get down to the nitty gritty or stuff either remains unsolved or is ready to explode at some time later (usually the worst).

Stuff is changing rapidly in ways that we only hoped for, and of course, now it's too late.

I have read a lot about cults and addiction (books by Anne Wilson Schaef pointed me in those directions; they are similar diseases) and one key factor in people breaking out of cults, if they ever do, is a sense of betrayal by their cult leader. (The main one is "hitting rock bottom" )

Lo, and behold, it happened overnight. It's still blowing up.

[defacto7]

20. It happened overnight.

You aren't kidding. Thanks for the reply.

[usonian]

22. I see things building up, and remaining in tension. And then, they come undone.

You couldn't write this stuff, though some saw the contradiction early on.

A very sudden betrayal, like literature or opera.

I was thinking of the opera Don Giovanni, waiting for the ending (spoiler)
The cur and seducer goes to hell in the key of d minor.

So much for writing opera takeoffs. Events beat me to it.

He going to hell in the key of d minor,
He rode that anti-immigrant pony across the finish line, but the magats saw no distinction between legal immigrants and illegal ones.

They were all "not white" or not white enough. And some are the life blood of the tech world. Been there, seen that.

Contradictions can only last so long before they are resolved or dissolved or just "blow up real good"

[defacto7]

24. And the final cadence begins with a g min 6-4 rising, then

the pounding D minor finishes him off to the seventh ring with that satanic amen.
and if trump be the point of this operatic metaphor, if wishes be horses this beggar would ride.
It's late.

[MadameButterfly]

8. They have no clue what they are doing.

They think happiness comes from power and money that is attained by causing other humans to suffer.
They don't know that their inability to understand the suffering of others has to do with some kind of damage that was done to them early in life and unless they address this they will never be happy
They don't know how to put themselves in someone else's shoes or see something from someone else's point of view
They don't know how much this diminishes their ability to make decisions or how much it diminishes their experience of life

They don't know that the hole in their heart needs love, and that they won't get it this way.
Their craving of ever more money is an addiction they can't control and will never satisfy them.
They think their money will insulate them from climate change
or the next pandemic
or the next war

They don't know that even they need to immerse themselves sometimes in the nature they are destroying.
They don't know they are harming the future of their own children, or how rewarding it would be to love their children like the rest of us do.
They don't appreciate the culture, beauty, or landmarks, destroyed forever by their wars because they they think history is for the elites

They live in fear of not being able to control every circumstance.
And in fear of the people they have harmed.
It hasn't even occurred to them how much joy they would receive from helping the people they are stealing money and power away from
They don't know that cooperation can be as powerful as competition
They know some people can be tricked but they don't know there are people a lot smarter who are eager to share their gifts for the common good.
They don't know that people who are truly self-confident don't choose to harm other people.
They don't know that most people don't behave or think like they do.

Humans can control greed. Look at Denmark.
Empathy and compassion have been with us forever. It's why parents raise children and love them more than they love themselves, loving communities exist all over the world, and heros even sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole.
Most people want to live in a world where everyone is happy.
Love is contagious.

I understand your conclusions above based on where politics is taking us right now. But human nature has many sides, and these guys don't deserve to be called smart. We are where we are because of a handful of mentally unbalanced old men have managed to seize the reigns of power for their foolish ends. They can only do it with lies, trickery, and fear. It is a house of cards. Putin seems unstoppable, but he sits at a long table and doesn't let anyone come near his end.

I appreciate and admire your desire to fight. But don't underestimate yourself or overestimate them.

[defacto7]

11. A very appreciated rebuttal.

In a lot of ways I don't think we disagree that much. There is a lot of ignorance, anger and fear in high places. It's too evident to ignore. But I also think we underestimate the intelligence behind some very powerful sociopaths who, as you say, can't put themselves in other people's shoes; they definitely have no intention of doing so. I'm angry and fed up with the BS that's shoveled at us every day. But I refuse to overlook the fact that their actions are not always from stupidity and fear but from an egotistical twist on science that very intelligent people think allows them to cull the masses and take advantage of the damage that industry gone amok has doomed us with. I tend to distance myself from what they want us to see and look for what they don't want us to know. Science, logic: these are the only things I want to see and skepticism is a path. Do I think they're smart? No. Do I think there is intelligence and intent in the madness? Very likely.

[MadameButterfly]

26. I agree that we agree and yes, there is intelligence and intent in the madness

Your post helped me see a contrast in my thinking when I'm usually railing at the latest offense.
I think it's easy to get lost in the depth of what they seem to be willing to tear apart and give in to hopelessness.

We need to take seriously what they intend and are able to do while understanding their limitations as people.
Trump is a master of gaming the system and manipulating media, a student of Roy Cohn and Vladimir PLutin.
Musk is a master of leveraging money, stealing other people's expertise, pretending he's a genius when he's really just good at amassing other people's money (starting with an inheritance, then he didn't invent Tesla, forced the people who did out, started making real money with Tesla when government incentives came along...most of his various companies' profits receive heavy government subsidies, and now in return for a social media company and some campaign donations he holds the purse-strings of the US govt.)

But neither is good at real estate or inventing things, or running governments.
Both are breath-takingly low functioning on a human relationship, emotional, and moral scale.
I think the latter will prove to matter more than we can imagine thus far.
Despots tend to overstep at some point and cause their own downfall. Hitler and Russia for example.
We have to expect that opportunity and be ready, even if we can't see it now. Especially now when we can't imagine how.

[tclambert]

9. It does not require great intelligence to inherit a lot of money.

Nor does inheriting a lot of money automatically confer intelligence. Most billionaires started out with fortunes that came from their parents. Once you have a bargeful of money it is easy for that money to make more money. Many billionaires are surprisingly stupid.

Honestly, I think Trump's stupidity makes up a lot of his appeal to stupid voters.

[defacto7]

17. I guess I used the word billionaire as a general term

for the powerful people who have intent and who use the "Trumps" and other stupid clowns to pursue their goal of dismantling society. Most are billionaires. I'm not referring to the mega-million lottery winners, etc. There's nothing secretive. You know their names and they don't hide their intent although the media glosses over it out of fear.

[Initech]

10. The only thing they know is: steal it all.

And then leave us to our own devices.

[defacto7]

18. Could be. nt

[BradBo]

13. It's simple,it's a race to the bottom for the rich.

For them it's hanging onto filthy wealth and power. We all will pay, some more than others.

[defacto7]

19. We're definitely going to pay.

The planet will pay. I suspect they will too in the end.

[dgauss]

27. That's a tremendous compilation.

And it starts with the acknowledgment that there are smart people who know what they're doing. Billionaires? They are generally not stupid, they got to where they are because they are smart. And I can only believe many of them agree with much of what you pointed out, But their viewpoint is different. They see the same things but they see them as opportunities for wealth and power. It's always been this way.

[defacto7]

34. Greed is the seed.

Somehow over time we've made money an unfettered staircase where every human can climb to wealth and prestige rather than using it to serve the common good. The potential for autocrats, oligarchs and dictators has always been there. It's in our genetic code.

[Kaleva]

33. I'm working on preparing to adapt to what's expected to come

[defacto7]

35. Here's wishing you great success.

[Kaleva]

38. Thank you!