So now we all get to witness a war in the Middle East, interference in Latin America, and poverty that people refuse to admit in the empire. Honestly, I am not surprised that people talked about the stock market because that is what people are propagandized to believe is important. Dilapidated housing and failing schools for children with special needs should be swept by the wayside, but seriously, who won the Oscars? There is nothing more pathetic than actually seeing what those with control and resources have been prioritizing for their entire lives, and as they get free reign to run amok, we need to start asking ourselves why their opinion ever mattered.
Being told that there are no consequences to actions is the most dangerous lie anyone can be told because that breeds the ground for sociopathy. Will someone definitely become evil without boundaries? Probably not, but it is reckless to refuse adults the chance at finding out how antisocial their behavior can truly be. I was raised among the privileged, and this does not begin at adulthood but in neighborhoods of segregation, both racial and socioeconomic. Kids can be kids, but allowing children to run wild because parents refuse to set responsibilities–but demand the right to sue–just teaches that anyone with enough control and resources can do whatever they want. Look at the coup facilitator set to be a trillionaire because he stole from the government. How did that plan actualize?
Moreover, teaching privileged children that failing is impossible also teaches them not to handle rejection, which is why we keep finding out about rich men who turn out to be serial killers. Hearing the word “No” is a part of life, but when that portion is kept from those who desperately need it, everyone eventually loses. Larry Ellison was sold a Hawaiian island, and now he is working to own the methods of propaganda. Jeff Bezos thought that he should own all the stores in the world, and harassed the Washington Post to spread lies about people in his income bracket. Heck, Oprah gets to exist as a “savior” of the Black community when her show has been off the air for years. Perhaps it would be better for those people to sit down in quiet corners and learn to live without being validated for 5 years, since they already took everything.
Furthermore, it is impossible to aspire to privilege in a world of inequality, and teaching children that “everyone can be rich” is worse than a lie, but a condemnation. As children inevitably fail to acquire even the resources of their parents, they will then internalize that as failure, which all the propaganda will affirm. Teaching children that maybe they could take the place of egomaniacs is why there are so many maladjusted individuals who never thought that there might be a reason to learn how to live on less. Expressing that small lives matter just as much as large lives should have been at the top of all the lesson plans within that racial and socioeconomic segregation earlier mentioned.
Privileged people around the world are now throwing tantrums because instead of mindless adoration, they finally have to endure scrutiny. What would it look like for all those individuals to suddenly adopt a mindset that no one owes them anything, even their current privilege? Folks are quick to tell the “lower rungs” that no one is coming to save us and that we have only ourselves to blame, but what if we said that to the “elites”? What if they learned that no one is coming to save them from their greed, and that they have only themselves to blame for failing to secure lasting, authentic relationships? These are questions.
Chasing A Dying Empire 