But to speak to the condescension: only a lazy, entitled, pathetically obtuse Westerner would have the gall to say everything is okay while your people’s institutions kill the Earth. Hopefully enough of you will die without children and we can rebuild the world without the toxicity of Western Christians.

I don’t think you realize that I am agreeing with you.

“the alternative is primitive tribal life” is classic Capitalist propaganda.

You’re absolutely right though, we have progressed incredibly far. It’s almost as if we have all the knowledge and tools to build a truly inclusive society that provides a dignified standard of living for all people, yet there are stubborn and powerful groups interested in maintaining economic heirarchies and exploiting biases for political gain…

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I understand. FWIW, I’m American and I think it’s a valid criticism. Tipping culture is just a smoke show to distract from wage suppression and exploitative labor practices. I say this as someone who also worked in fine dining for a decade before switching careers.

By and large, restaurant culture in the US is disgustingly oppressive and completely reliant on immigrant labor, hence the lack of any meaningful headway in legislating protections for said laborers. However, the trick in America is to push the middle class just to the edge of their means so they punch down on service workers, but not enough for them to develop class consciousness.

It’s a natural consequence of decoupling value from productivity; and instead relying on data harvesting for predictive analytics as an alternative for anything truly valuable.

We’re living in a world in which the wealthy keep coming up with ways to hand money back and forth, while creatinf new schemes to cut out the working class from any resulting ‘value’ creation.

AI will fuck over workers just like every other technological marvel that preceded it.

“should” is really pulling all of the weight here.

It’s mostly scooters and e-bikes.

Yeah this article rightly points out Eisenhower’s foresight and the ways intelligent leaders saw the writing on the wall throughout the last century. 2016 was certainly an inflection point, but in hindsight 2020 seemed to be the tipping point.

American voters in both major parties consistently vote against their own collective interests in order to maximize individual gain. It’s irrational, but also so essentially American.

For example, consider that the historical self-narrative and cultural lexicon for young American students is essentially:

“We are the greatest country on Earth. Our ideals are universal and should be impressed upon all of Earth’s peoples. We deserve all the wealth we have, but are not responsible for the consequences. Any criticism against us is a direct attack on our way of life.”

It should be no shock that without intentional efforts to maintain civic society, integraye immigrants and other minorities, and foster social cohesion through rural-urban exchange; this type of culture quickly erodes into the ‘fuck you, got mine’ mentality rampant on social media, perpetuated by corporate interests, and exploited by malicious political agents.

They’re evil; not biologically different. You too could be an evil rich fuck, but instead you’re just a stupid poor fuck.

Bring back the Commons; fertilize with rich bodies.

Actually the report that came out recently (the one that found institutional real estate investors buying something like 27% of all available homes) made an important note: most of the companies buying these homes are so-called “mom n pop” landlords who own < 5 houses

So it’s actually corporations AND fucking boomers.

Honestly, better than being rich. I mean it.

when rates go down

My sweet summer child, how dense and naive you are.

Don’t make your bed then? I hope you’re being facetious, cuz all I’m getting from this is two things:

You are obsessively preoccupied with other people

You are irrationally critical of people’s behavior that has literally nothing to do with you.

Truthfully; no one gives a fuck about you or your bed. Go outside

Dunkin can suck my left nut. Those donuts are pure ass.

I also agree with you that it’s unraveling. But that’s why’d I’d rather try to adapt now and face the reality than pretend I can have Amazon Prime and not participate in killing life on Earth.

I think your argument is sound if the goal is to sustain current living standards in developed nations

But perhaps we should be evaluating whether, if those living standards require such an oppressive system, it may be better for us in these wealthy nations to learn how to do without

Not easy, not even likely, but necessary if we want to have a planet for future generations

Propping up an unsustainable system through resource extraction and technological innovation without contextual relativism doesn’t just magically make it sustainable.

It comes down to climate resilience, deglobalization of produce markets, and creating the political will to build localized, worker-owned food production and distribution systems. Yes that will mean paying out the ass for bananas, but it’s better than watching children choke on smoke while they ask you why it has to be like this.

Lot of assumptions there.