What Was the Endgame?

My mother and I had a very complicated relationship stemming from her need to control and an inability to relinquish that control even as the relationship deteriorated. Ironically, one of the only topics we could discuss was politics, and we often discussed how the cost of living was outstripping the salaries in Austin. During her 30s and 40s, she participated in the extracurricular policy activities, and found the opportunities just as draining as I had when I participated in my 30s and 40s. Eventually, we had been discussing particularly heinous policies when she suddenly said, “What is the endgame of all this nonsense? What is the point of squeezing everyone to the point of no return when most people have no money?”

To that sentiment, I am in complete agreement because there is nothing left to say. So many authors have already written about inequality, movies have been made, and entire genres of music discussed discomfort with deprivation. Universities have published study after study saying that societies stabilize when everyone has enough, and those studies have won awards that people supposedly value. However, not only are things not getting any better for people within the empire, but things are getting collectively worse around the globe. Most people do not have the resources to be insulated from all the socioeconomic bigotry we are forced to endure, but everyone keeps telling us that we just need to stop thinking negatively to achieve all of our desires. To that end, my question is the same as hers: what is the endgame?

Now, AI is taking so many people’s jobs so that more people experience economy insecurity and the environment becomes irreparably damaged due to the resources required to keep up the infrastructure. Countries are dealing with even more violence, and have yet to offer solutions other than “vibes” for the majority of their populations, but “vibes” do not stop international violence. What is the point of all this inequality? How is anyone supposed to feel confident stepping into the future, and why are so many people still defending the institutions that have more than failed everyone? My mother died not having an answer to this question, and I remain feeling that there is no point other than abject, interminable cruelty.