Read this book. It posits the theory that our entire culture, much like every other culture which has followed the same predictable path (consider the days when the height of entertainment in the great Roman culture was to see prisoners get eaten by lions in the Colosseum as one example), is in decline and that it’s only a matter of time before destiny smacks us upside the head (the current economy is illustrative of this). This book (or it’s main idea) was even indirectly referenced in this past week’s episode of the Simpsons, where Lenny and Carl are leaving the Ultimate Punch Kick and Choke Championship fight (UPKCC).
Lenny, “3 hours of half naked guys, fighting like animals!”
Carl, “Just like the Ancient Romans.”
Lenny, “Yeah, except their empire was falling apart.”
<high five>
Carl, “Ha ha ha, stupid Romans”
You basically asked this question with the underlying assumption that there was some sort of ultimate point, some ultimate payoff to this type of behavior which favors fear over ideas, and unfortunately there isn’t. What it’s about is that money and power can buy you more money and more power, and the haves have perfected ways to make the funnel larger at the top and smaller at the bottom. They’ve left a growing lower class, squeezed out the middle class and are swimming in excess at the top, and their sole purpose is to make the excess greater and greater. It was just a couple years ago for example that for the first time, every single person on the Forbes list of the 400 richest people in the world was worth at least 1 billion dollars. Most recently the poorest person on that list was worth over 1.4 billion. The rich are getting richer, yet poverty in the US, the richest country in the history of the planet has one out of ever six people living under the poverty line.
But by distracting the have nots with visceral entertainment that lacks any sense of humanity, dignity or compassion, it allows the haves to channel the anger that the unwashed masses SHOULD be pointing at the wealthy towards other things. One political party in particular in this country has made itself what it is by mostly opposing what the other party has to say and by constantly demonizing its people and pet causes. How for example would you incite anger against an organization whose core mission was to help poor and homeless people lift themselves out of poverty (which is something the haves absolutely DO NOT WANT to happen because it would empower them to stand up and channel their anger against their actual oppressors)? Well, if they register people to vote, even when they identify invalid registrations before sending them in so the state doesn’t waste their time on them, they affect laws that say all collected registration cards HAVE to be turned in, and then when they turn in a batch that is clearly labeled as no good, the opposition goes and says, “look, they’re turning in phony registrations, they must be trying to steal the election.” Then they can fight for laws that make it harder and harder to register to vote if you’re poor (like requiring a driver’s license or other state issued ID which you can’t get or can’t afford if you’re homeless). And then activists will send undercover spies around the country with hidden cameras to find one or two employees out of tens of thousands who are morally bankrupt, and use the highly edited and selectively chosen footage to “prove” that this organization really is evil, so then Congress can block their funding, making all the harder to get these poor people to a decent standard of living, much less giving them a vote or any voice in governance.
Our country is by and large run by foolish, short sighted, greedy people who don’t give one flying fuck about anyone but themselves at worst, and at best people who had once had good intentions but who have been so corrupted by the culture of pay for play that they’ve lost their way, and is supported by people who are willfully ignorant, apathetic and distracted by forces they can’t begin to contemplate, who know well how to manipulate their fear.
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Composing members:
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