One of my guilty pleasures is listening to stories where bad people get what they deserve, and unfortunately, most of them are AI now. It makes sense, because most writers want their stories to be believable, so that the readers/listeners feel like we are actually part of that world. Most of the protagonists turn out to be more important, and change happens throughout the story world. Even the antagonists learn to be better people and the world keeps spinning. To me, the reason that these stories are so appealing is because it feels as if there is no true justice in the real world, so I am stuck with fantasy to make life make sense.
The justice system itself is hanging on by a thread, and even though there have been some victories, most of the time even wins because the power of the status quo is much more powerful than justice. While people are waiting for judges and juries to be appalled at certain behavior, the empire has allowed and enabled the worst behavior to become normalized and continue. After all, rather than work on gun control, we train people for active shooters–even as federal workers. If violence becomes part of the every day, including the violence of starvation and poverty, then judges will not see it as something to address.
Additionally, some of the worst people in the world have gotten away with playing victims, and no, I do not mean the people who everyone is propagandized to hate, like Black people. I mean billionaires, politicians, and the “elites,” who have caused irreparable harm, but because they own the media, too many people have sycophantically worshipped them instead of holding them accountable. None of the philanthropy they have tossed at our feet will ever equal the harm they have caused, but people still believe that one day, these monsters will divest and go into hiding places away from society.
Things have gotten so bad that there are many imperial residents who have begun to behave like the elites, thinking that normalized evil will be ignored. People who constantly take from others will lament generosity they have shown, and people who rarely help anyone continue to whine about their lives whenever in trouble. So many of the world’s problems are becoming exacerbated by a lack of empathy, but then some idiot billionaire says something stupid, and people forget that their contempt will receive consequences way sooner than the idiot. Nothing is more annoying than people without resources pretending that their poverty is a “state of mind,” and holding everyone else hostage to that ideology.
Believing that anything positive will happen in the imperial system is naive at best and stupid at worst, especially since all these terrible people have shown us who they are and could care less about our feelings. Therefore, the majority of us are forced to escape by pretending that it is possible for those who are evil to receive their just desserts. As for me, I will grieve the world that could have been while living in the world that currently exists.
Chasing A Dying Empire 