I've been in a strange state these last couple of days, where there are so many real world issues going on that I can't really muster up the interest in escaping into fiction... but following the news (and social media) is just depressing, and there's not really much new anyway.
I feel this wish to be able to do something, and if others feel the same way then who knows what it could lead to? Except that we're in a pandemic, going out right now seems like just about the stupidest thing possible, and what else is there to do to express disgruntlement? More posts on social media, which generally either preach to the choir or get ignored?
I don't know, it's a very uncomfortable time to live in. Given some of the comments online I don't think it's very wrong to say that there's a sense of impending doom. I hope it's all overblown, ofc.
Anyways. There's protests, and stupid idiots declaring certain cities 'anarchist', which - what does that even mean?
I'm sure it's not really as stupid as it sounds. Or rather, it is stupid, but I'm sure they've got their reasons for doing it. And it's very concerning that the President of the United States seems to be doing everything in his power to stoke civil unrest. Like a less charming version of Peter Littlefinger, he (and other complete and utter morons) really buy into that whole 'chaos is a ladder' schtick.
Which may be true, in a sense. There are definitely opportunities you don't get when things are stable. But the reason Littlefinger is considered a villain is because that sort of calculation shows complete and utter lack of concern for all the people affected by the chaos you foment.
And that's the problem, and my real concern about these trying times. Chaos tends to hurt the common people the hardest. (That is one thing Game of Thrones showed rather well. The books at least, I only saw a couple episodes of the show. All the high-status people playing their games while the common people suffered and died.)
Also the complete opposite of what Jesus taught, btw. After all, what sort of moronic shepherd would go around trying to chase off half their flock? Or lead them into terrain where there isn't any food and they could easily fall and break a leg?
Not only that, but even if vulnerable people suffer the worst it's hard to truly predict who suffers the effect. The coronavirus is a perfect example of this. Sure, the odds are greater that you'll get it if you decide to go to rallies and refuse to wear masks... but there are all sorts of people who are forced to go out in public for one reason or another, so you can't really predict who will get it or when. (This is the biggest drawback to bioterrorism, btw. It's kind of hard to make sure your own people don't get hurt as well.)
That's honestly one of the reasons I think the Roman empire fell. That is, the rich and powerful got so focused on fighting over the top spot that they forgot about taking care of their people, and things just got worse and worse.
It's also why the Taliban rose to power, and also why they struggled to keep it. Back when they first started gaining support it was because they helped take care of the average Afghan.
I think I remember hearing something similar about the origins of Bank of America. It started out trying to help the average American. It got big and (as happens all too often) seemed to forget its roots. Now it's yet another large corporation that doesn't seem to have any problem fleecing the average American. (I'm referring here to some of the horror stories we heard about mortgages during the financial crisis in 2008).
Over and over again, I think Jesus was on to something when he said you should act like a good shepherd. And yet somehow, over and over again, we keep putting in power people who completely fail to understand that. Maybe it's because the consequences aren't immediate, and responsibility is diffused? They're able to argue it's 'those evil, villianous others' who caused bad things to happen and not their own willingness to justify doing shady things in order to win.
Like losing the war in Vietnam, and how an entire generation in the Army seemed to think it was because of journalists and other scapegoats instead of their own incompetence. That if they had done a better job they wouldn't have lost the faith of the American public.
I know I'm being particularly snarky right now. Some of that is because, well. Current events.
I'm also worrying about.... Idk. I guess you could say it's current events, but a little more of a long term concern? Some years back I got on an organized crime kick, and it's interesting how in Russia you can hardly distinguish between businessmen, politicians, and members of organized crime.
While in Afghanistan I found myself wondering what it would be like to have a nation-state that was run by criminals. Given the lack of cooperation between nation-states, and the ease with which these criminals operate between state borders, it doesn't seem all that unbelievable. (There are parts of Mexico that the national government doesn't really control. Well, I'm not up to date on the current state of affairs there so I don't know how true it is right now. It was definitely true at some point in the recent past.)
And Russia is definitely involved in our current domestic troubles. Truth to tell, although I don't post stuff on social media because I don't have proof and don't want to contribute to the insane amount of conspiracy theories going on right now, some of Trump's real estate deals make me think he was in bed with organized crime in the New York area and it wouldn't surprise me if that carried over to Russia and Putin. Even aside from the nation-state political level.
And Trump is bringing the Russia-style mixing of business, politics and crime to the US.
I had thought we had more safeguards than this. Thought it'd take longer, thought there'd be more pushback. I have been shocked at how quickly and easily so much seems to have gotten so bad - like the fact that the CDC is no longer credible.
I don't like feeling hopeless and depressed, I know a lot of what we see in the news reflects the vocal few rather than the majority. (Trump has not expanded his base at all, and people are more motivated to vote in 2020 then they've been in ages. Barring shenanigans I'm pretty sure Trump is going to lose, but that raises a whole bunch of other questions. Like, what sort of shenanigans are we looking at? The lack of effort taken to secure our elections is disturbing, to say the least. There's also Trump's encouragement of violence... will his supporters accept a loss, or will they claim the election was stolen and get violent? Of course, the same could be said if I'm wrong and Biden loses. Overall I don't think I'll be able to stop worrying until the next inauguration. Hopefully when Trump is defeated by a wide enough margin that he can't argue he won, and no violence breaks out and he actually leaves.)
I forgot. Some of this was also because I picked up a book - Kleptopia - which is good and somehow just as depressing as 2020. So. Much. Corruption.
So many people focused on making money and not caring at all about the crappy world they create in the process. That's part of what got me thinking about organized crime again, and Russia, and money... and the problem just seems so massive that I'm not really sure how to tackle it. Especially as a middle-class American with hardly any resources. I know a little bit about some of what they talk about. I heard about off-shore accounts, and how some of the African rulers exploited their nation's natural resources, and about Russia poisoning Litvinenko. I was less aware of where British and American banks (and other Western European banks) fit into it, though I heard bits and pieces that fit in well.
I'm taking a break to write this because I really can't deal with reading too much more of it right now. Why are so many people so completely and utterly awful, anyway?
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