We are just finding out about a child sex trafficking ring involving politicians and billionaires, the world’s richest man does a Nazi salute at a political rally, and the President being an adjudicated sex criminal is probably not the worst thing he has done…
Meanwhile I’m standing here in the checkout line feeling guilty about whether or not I should tip a barista
Something is wrong with our collective notion of morality, and my individual understanding (Oh well, here we are)
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And make sure to turn off all the lights and appliances you’re not using to save power for the AI. This future is trash.
And reduce your water usage because it’s a drought. While we grow water heavy crops like almonds in those drought stricken regions and foreign investors from arid countries grow water heavy crops like alfalfa solely for export back home.
Just finding out? Haha, no, we’ve known about this ring for the better part of a decade now. The wealthy and powerful probably a lot longer than that.
Even the next part:
world’s richest man does a Nazi salute at a political rally,
Don’t get me wrong, horrible and completely unacceptable.
But sure as shit is nowhere near the line of what’s happened with the last 100 years:
The Business Plot, also called the Wall Street Putsch[1] and the White House Putsch, was a political conspiracy in 1933 in the United States to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Smedley Butler as dictator.[2][3] Butler, a retired Marine Corps major general, testified under oath that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans’ organization with him as its leader and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow Roosevelt. In 1934, Butler testified under oath before the United States House of Representatives Special Committee on Un-American Activities (the “McCormack–Dickstein Committee”) on these revelations.[4] Although no one was prosecuted, the congressional committee final report said, “there is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
In case anyone’s eyes glazed over instead of reading, two key points:
wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans’ organization with him as its leader and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow Roosevelt.
And even more importantly:
Although no one was prosecuted, the congressional committee final report said, “there is no question that these attempts were discussed, were planned, and might have been placed in execution when and if the financial backers deemed it expedient.”
Shit didn’t just get bad, it’s been bad.
And the way to fight it is an opposition party like FDR.
A fairly wide range of problems in modern society can be traced to the judiciary’s reluctance to both prosecute and sentence the rich with the same rigor they apply to the poor.
Everyone acting like these are the worst times ever, makes me wonder about their history education. Yeah, America’s taken a steep dive this century. Yeah, that’s normal for empires to fall. Usually to greed.
I’m hoping we crash hard, Great Depression hard. That clusterfuck ushered in liberal politics dominating until the 90s. We had conservatives, Reagan comes to mind, but they didn’t have unchecked power like today.
Only exception I got is global warming. We’ve never played this particular game before.
False premise. I never said it was the worst time ever, or even that I was surprised.
This is just about the relativity of my morality and what society is willing to tolerate
(this to the above two smart comments as well - although I don’t fundamentally disagree)
Only exception I got is global warming. We’ve never played this particular game before
I mean…
Anatomically modern humans have been around, what, 300k years?
Like you could grab someone from back then as an infant, raise them today, and they’d just be a regular dude.
The last ice age ended about 50k years ago, and that’s why we say civilization was finally able to start. But that ignores that humans went thru the same ice age cycle 4-5 times in those 300k years.
If all it took was “no ice age” then logically the chances of the first civilization being 50k years ago is pretty much zero.
Climate change is like the inevitable reset for humanity. We’re making it happen fast this time, but we can’t really be sure that’s unique either. It doesn’t even take us, just a supervolcanoe or asteroid.
Bright side is it makes it more likely humanity as a species makes it thru the next one. I think evidence shows we’ve been down to like 1,000 humans world wide 70k years ago? Maybe as little as 50 adults of reproductive age?
But we’re 8 something billion now.
Only exception I got is global warming. We’ve never played this particular game before.
We also never had nukes before.
The conditions have been worse in the past, but the risks are so much worse these days.
Oh yeah Musks grandparents were part of that
The Business Plot never ended, they just regrouped. All those fuckers involved should have been hung.
The way to fight it isn’t a FDR-style party that will just give concessions to staunch the momentum of the working class, which was rallying behind communist ideology through unionization efforts, that was threatening the capitalist status quo at the time. That status quo is the entire root of the problem. The only way to fight it is to dismantle the system that gives them their power and build something new, not to continue enabling the very systems that keep us on our knees.
Actually over 2 decades, now. Epstein’s plea deal was in 2008 under Bush.
When did I get old?
Given this past decade, I’d say I we’ve known about it for the worst part of the decade.
Reminds me of something. Martin Luther’s own writings dating from 1531, in which he stated that Pope Leo X:
Vetoed a measure that cardinals should restrict the number of boys they kept for their pleasure, otherwise it would have been spread throughout the world how openly and shamelessly the Pope and the cardinals in Rome practice sodomy.
Our tech changes but we don’t.
Capitalism rewards the most heartless greedy pieces of shit. Simple as. It is, in fact, not the best type of economy for any kind of moral society.
No, your notion of morality is accurate, there’s no reason to race to the bottom because someone else sucks more.
No one suggested that we need to do worse than the billionaires.
Still we must refrain from doing worse than ourselves
Are you really feeling guilty about not tipping because of the moral implications, or do you just feel socially shamed? Important distinction.
Considering the idea of shame is society’s way to enforce it’s version of morality, I would argue no it is not a distinction.
Considering that drinking coffee is my prefered kind of laxative, i would argue theres actually no distinction between coffee and shit.
Huh. I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation, but I just realized I started experiencing constipation after I stopped drinking coffee. I think I should start doing that again. Thanks homie!
Or just hydrate more—its better for you and your shit.
Oh, ya boi hydrates! I drink so much water that I don’t flush after using a stall just to flex on the next motherfucker.
I had a feeling my comment had a noble purpose :)
Fuck yeah!
Like you said, society’s version of morality. So it can be a very important distinction because your own version of morality might differ. Not being aware of this distinction is dangerous because it stops people from developing their own moral compass. This own morality is more firm and can be relied on in the absence of shame, or even when society encourages behavior one finds immoral.
I’m even gonna go on a wilder speculation here and claim that one of the driving factors behind humanity’s worst atrocities was that large portions of society who had the potential in them for a firm morality rooted in empathy and love never developed this potential.
On a less import note, not being aware of this distinction can breed a lot of resentment and unhappiness, if someone is constantly compelled to follow rules that they, deep down, consider to be bullshit.
Of course that doesn’t mean I encourage people to just disregard society’s version of morality and lightly assume that they know better.
Edit: just noticed your username, I hope that furriosa is doing well <3
*Furryosa is doing well and thank you for acknowledging me.
But fuck you anyways!
Not OP, but both.
For me it’s the empathy of knowing that that person won’t have enough money because I know they don’t get a living wage.
I feel guilty because I’m conflicted about what the right thing to do is, the cost, and care about fellow workers.
You probably understand why I would have a moral question (alongside some guilt of doing the wrong thing) after reading through the entire thread engaging your comment.
Meanwhile Epstein, Elon, and Trump don’t seem to have these hang-up’s and are rewarded handsomely by society…
One of the best distinctions!
Our leaders are so disconnected from the average person only them being forced to confront their own mortality can snap them out of it.
We could really use some phantom thieves to steal the hearts of these leaders with distorted desires.
Good reminder to play Persona 5 again.
By morality you mean our collective fork and knife?
mortality
Granted
Maxwell’s father worked for various intelligence agencies. This appears to be a blackmail operation by the Mossad and/or the CIA. The former Israeli Prime Minister visited Epstein’s home several times.
You know I didn’t really think about that.
I know of the connection between Maxwell and Mossad.
Obviously Mossad needs a way to influence billionaires more than just money. The AIPAC (or whatever) has no real ability to sway them.
The sudden acceptance by western countries acknowledging Gaza a state? Could be that Mossad and AIPAC lost their influence.
The billionaires want Maxwell free because she gets them things they cant normally buy, plus other kickbacks from Israel I presume.
I don’t think it’s blackmailing the billionaires, it’s just out right not giving them what they want.
There’s a book about it.
Trump wouldn’t act that guilty if it was.
Why would he not act guilty? He was, at the very least, an unwitting asset.
we known it since 2019, when he epsteined himself. and it went back decades, the MSM did thier best to not report it for the last 4 years. because too many politicians, both US and the world leaders, plus many donors. just like with the panama papers.
While people in power are absolute evil most of the time, this is not an excuse to change your own morals for the worse.
Small acts of kindness, when taken in decent quantity, change the world no less than massive fraud and sex trafficking.
That said, one of the most moral things to do is to be on the lookout for powerful people doing nasty things and do everything in your capacity to prevent or at least retaliate. This makes abuse less common, and goes a long way to restore democracy and responsibility for everyone.
It’s like that with most big ticket items, we run about worrying about recycling while the big polluters continue as usual. Not to say we shouldn’t recycle or not take action if we can but finding ways to make the billionaires pull their heads in would be better.
Don’t expect the world to reward your good behavior. You will find your own internal motivation, or maybe not. But judging others never ends well. Just focus on your own actions. Nobody says being a good human being is easy…
Just finding out? Hasn’t all of this been known for almost a decade now?
Epstein prosecutions started in 2006. https://apnews.com/article/trump-epstein-investigation-records-timeline-545c371ee3dd3142355a26d27829c188
You’re just finding out maybe.
Don’t forget, while the Qanon BS is flourishing, a former Speaker of the House (3rd in line to the presidecy) gets imprisoned for molesting at least four teenage boys.
It’s a tough go for the people who believe in pacifism or nonviolent change.
Dual Power means you can have a pacifist stance and still support the radicals in your lane.
Not everyone needs to be a gunslinger for a resistance to succeed. Just do what you can when you have the chance.
I never meant to imply a pacifist would be required to engage in violence, only that they would have to indirectly support it at the very least, lest their own principles be engulfed by those who would see to their extinction.
