Tldr: Capitalism is shit, Politics is malnourished.
We have always imagined a dark dystopian future, our culture is full of disaster movies and books about surveillance states and games featuring post apocalyptic worlds. And we are perminantly living through a series of real catastrophes which seem to validate our worst fears and at worst are almost mass expected.
Most of the public have no idea of the real scope of these disasters, the factors into making them come to be or the long lasting effects of things such as 9/11, the banking crisis of 2008, Trump, Brexit, the current pandemic. We are trying to live through these times and ride them out with 'dead political ideas' (as described by Adam Curtis) We have no good story or goal for where we are going or want to go to rally behind, there isn't a great vision we can all look to, only stumbling somewhat blindly and trepiditiously towards more of the same; capitalism and whatever small changes for good that rich elites will allow.
Nothing is going to happen to address anything if it loses money for the people that make money out of fear and misfortune. Billionaires have profited 8fold from the pandemic, while the most vulnerable have suffered greatly with mental health, debt, homelessness and death. Free market capitalism has it's positives but mostly it creates a very jarring reality that no-one can really be happy with. It does not stoke the flames of community, love, compassion and unity that humans benefit from. It is not in any way fair, and as you learn more about science and human development we can see that we are all a product of our environment and upbringing, and that it's a minimal possibility that we work so hard as to be 'rich' if we were born poor.
Altruism gives us chem hits for a reason, we are designed to care about and need one another and live as a functioning and considerate society, as we can see from how the isolation has hit us all hard this last year. We think too small politically, we think in terms of the economy and not of good and fair treatment. We think in terms of what's 'possible' with power structure how it stands. We think in terms of centrism (as seen by Keir Starmer) because of the polarisation of extremist ideas. Popular politics draws from two stunted pools of limited thought, when really the facilities and the power in numbers is there to do something incredible, for the good of everyone in society.
Capitalism in general is great, if your dreams are to work hard for a short while to the point you generate wealth you don't in any way need by not working at all, live in a box of denial where you think you deserve the money more than people like nurses and carers and doctors who are some of the pillars of modern society, and live in unnecessary luxury watching people die in the streets, usually because of the circumstances they were born into. However, very few people achieve this, most people just fight for the right for a select few to achieve this, while being mocked by the establishment you fight for.
We need a singular vision that is undeniably good, and to throw away the dead ideas. When we get even close to a leader that says anything with conviction and has some great ideas, we tend to ridicule them, for being outside the box. Clearly we are not outside the box enough. I have many examples of how circular arguments are made that scapegoat the wrong issue, when the answers are clearly outside of what we have right now. Politicians are trained to lie to us, and we can see it, and they know we can see it. We are sat here like Seligman's dogs, expecting the trauma, expecting disaster, held down in what is an adult to child relationship between government and it's people. They tell us what we need to know and when we need to know it, they placate us with lies, they do exactly what they wish and we watch and have to laugh or cry as it all unfolds. We are told that we don't understand a lot of the time.
We do. We understand that a group of rich people have got lots of money, they have clubs to talk about our future (Davos) and though they do care about society in their own way, they are so out of touch and so in fear of losing the comforts they have, they will only ever vote and control us all into a future where wealth is held and power is held by the elite. It's not hard to understand rich entitlement! or the fact press is scared to say certain things because their bosses and benefactors want to control the narrative.
Philanthropy is important and has driven some amazing things, but most of the 'philanthropists' I know of don't even pay their employees a living wage and make money off the back of the labour of others who can scarcely afford homes or healthcare. Most philanthropists I know of do a lot more questionable and immoral things than good things. There are those that worry what would happen if we didn't have rich people to give generously.. well we would have that money in taxes and could put it into the same causes if we wanted to. Any argument against taxing is a tad psychopathic to me, its 'every man for himself'. But we all need and long for community, that's how humans have survived, when one person has a broken leg, they are taken care of by the others. We have created a society, and for it to function and be clean and for vulnerable to be protected and to have all the amazing things that a community needs and benefits from, we all have decided to put some of our money towards it, dependent on how much we have, the issue with this system is that middle earners tend to feel it the most. Poorer people pay little to no tax, as they shouldn't, Richer people don't even notice as they still have half the world's wealth, middle earners give a lot and it takes a significant chunk out of their earnings. Conservatives and Republicans always create tax cuts for the rich, it's absurd and selfish. As i said, the facilities, the materials, the money, the ideas and the people are there to create a better environment for everyone. There's just an invisible wall, in our minds.
It is now so stark and apparent that we are stuck in an antiquated and unfair system that doesn't work, and yet so not apparent at all where to start or what to do to get anywhere, as all our lives are so interwoven and connected to this huge dead weight, that untangling seems impossible. We have no time to work on ourselves and educate ourselves and feel connected to our environment and community and IT SHOWS.
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