One of the most devastating elements of not being chosen after spending decades masquerading as a “Pick Me” is the loneliness. Instead of being comfortable working in jobs, people will cut someone off because a boss makes an offhand comment, or caters to someone’s insecurities. However, most egregious is the fact that money determines how many friends one has and where, and anyone saying otherwise is lying to themselves. Most of the “friendships” I have lost over the last few years is due to the discomfort I have been forced to manage, making easy consumption one of the first things to go.
To be fair, in the empire, there is almost nothing to do but consume. Public spaces are being taken away in favor of shopping centers and the housing market is constantly being disrupted by the short-term rental market as people see housing as an “investment rather than a human right. Even the suppositions around unhoused individuals are judgments about “what people will do with the money,” proof that people who give donations believe that they have the right to control someone else. There is almost no way to exist without being forced to spend money on a regular basis.
People praise folks for being able to make money, but they often believe that others should internalize a lack of wealth as an internal failure. Not enough individuals recognize that income is a result of external validation, something that is never guaranteed. Maybe if people acknowledged that money is the consequence of worshipping capitalism, they would stop basing their treatment of others on whether folks “have it easy.” After all, even those who say nothing and gladly accept the dominant narrative can still be burnt by rejection.
