Saturday, November 6, 2010

things to come...

one of the reasons i don't post much here is that i spend a lot of time writing posts on other folks' blogs.

this steaming pile of horseshit is from a blog i visit quite frequently.

A huge power shift is going to come while the economy stabilizes and hopefully begins to come back. Wastefulness will no longer be chic, and creativity and hard work will divide the long term winners from the losers. The geek shall inherit the earth. That's our silver lining, but the journey we take will be a tough one. There is more to this than learning how to clip coupons and recycle leftovers. This is an attitude adjustment, long overdue. With a little humility and eye opening, we will get through.

i responded:

there won't be any winners other than that very small percentage of the population with the disproportionate share of the world's wealth. the "creativity and hard work" folks (a group i assume you consider yourself a part of) that you talk about? in relative terms, they're now earning a lot less than their counterparts in this country 40 years ago and that trend is not going to change. social divisions and the enduring inability of humans to look past cosmetic differences to find obvious commonalities will enable some people to delude themselves into thinking they've won something. what most of you will be winning is more work, longer hours and (again, in relative terms compared to those in similar positions years ago) less money. but you won't be flipping burgers like those dummies at mcdonald's or begging for change like those losers on the corner or sleeping in an old refrigerator box under the bridge, so "whoopee!" you win!

"we'll get through" means nothing. more and more people will sink and those of you/us who don't follow them will find any number of excuses not to give a serious fuck (ie: actually DO something), same as we do now. statistical maps and charts will be trotted out on a regular basis to offer any number of objective explanations why more and more people are going hungry or homeless while the rest of you/us will knuckle under and accept less money for the work we do in the desperate hope of avoiding a slot on one of those charts. america is no longer a first world country and it never will be again. market rules dictate that labor either has to be completely devalued (the way it is in much of the service sector) or cowed/conned into accepting considerably less than what it deserves (the way things are for most of the rest). do you see america moving away from a "market rules" economy anytime soon? really? good luck with that.

our fucked up economy will always be characterized by bubbles. those peaks and yawning valleys keep everybody unsettled and unsure. the folks who keep their heads above water will continue to do only that. they'll never look at those who are failing and see anything other than that failure.

in a few years when things are even worse than now i'll pop in and remind you of this post.

have a good weekend...

signed,
a regular reader who hates libertarians and their repulsive social darwinist bullshit.

4 comments:

  1. The Motherfucking Shore PatrolNovember 6, 2010 at 1:12 PM

    What is your threshold, Teadoust?

    You seem to have acquired a certain vehemence of the spirit; a drastic urgency punctuates your innermost being. I seem to recall (correct me if I'm wrong) that you once responded to my criticisms of President Obama being a sell-out with what I perceived to be facetiousness; just the other day you made a joke about me ranting about the evils of modern society, yet you yourself seem to be at your wit's end with our elected "representatives" continually stabbing us in the back. I'd even go so far as to say the current political situation is akin to politicians selling the souls of voters (to which they have no legal claim) to foreign mortgage companies based in India who then turn around and grind them into dog food while the soulless voters applaud them because any alternative would constitute socialism. So my question is--and this is a serious, honest question--what is your threshold? How long will you permit the vulture to peck at your body before you kindly remind it that you're not dead yet? I've asked the following question of some of my environmentalist friends: Is it not enough that BP has poisoned the Gulf of Mexico and the fishermen who live and work there? Or does Tony Hayward have to pull you into an alley and physically pour motor oil down your throat? Buying from a different oil company won't solve the problem. Voting for a different party won't solve the problem. We reside within a culture that has a "run-the-machine-till-it-breaks-down" philosophy; there will be no repairs, no more amendments, no more reformations, no more Renaissance. The fate of intelligent life on the planet hangs in the balance. I've seen the Arctic coast of Canada; I've spoken to the Inuit and heard them explain that sea levels have never risen like this before. You're not supposed to be able to sail across the North Pole, yet there it is, open water on the summer solstice. Fifty degrees in Chicago during January. There's 8 million square miles of permafrost on this planet; most in Siberia. When that thaws, it'll release enough gas to warm the globe enough to topple civilization. This will happen sometime between 50 and 100 years from now. Once that frost is gone, it's gone for good. This is it. So what's your threshold? How long before you quit voting for Democrats and just, well, quit voting for good (there is, after all, no better way to express your support for Obama's Wars than to vote). How long before you go completely batshit and sever yourself from an unsustainable--and therefore criminal--existence?

    Nothing sarcastic or satirical intended in this question. I'm just curious.

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  2. i've read enough of your posts over at the av club to know that there is a pretty serious thinker behind your confrontational sarcasm, so you didn't need the little disclaimer there.

    i probably am more frustrated than usual lately. i certainly don't disagree with much of what you've said here. yet i voted this past week. maybe i'm an even bigger idiot than the people i spend so much time insulting/criticizing.

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  3. Spend less time on the internet, the both of you. You will be happier!

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  4. and this is the only site you're going to visit today? the only comment you're going to post? got it.

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say whatever you'd like, any reasonable criticism will be read and (eventually) responded to. unless you're an idiot, in which case i'll delete your post and it will never get published.