It has been a while since I played a paid game, and all I see is that things have gotten worse. No, people should not be spending their money on phone games, but in the era of streaming and subscriptions, it has become apparent that people own nothing, so paying for an experience makes sense. Instead of being able to have an enjoyable time for a small amount of money, people need to spend more than $20 to have a mediocre time that still requires hours of patience. To me, this is all part of an encompassing mentality of “Nobody’s getting anything out of me!”
Yes, this is just a little game, but it reflects an excessive concentration on taking from others while offering little, and nobody enjoys the experience. Many relationships have taken this pattern, and out of the “advice” that I have often received, most people blame the giver for offering, but rarely do people hold the takers accountable. Extraction is the opposite of reciprocity, and while transactions are a part of living, removing resources from others without replenishment takes away from the joy of being in relationship. As has been said before, if one wants to built a village, one needs to be a villager, not a pillager.
As a result of “managing” extraction efforts, the empire and the world in general has held a focus on becoming more self-absorbed and living in delusion rather than absorbing reality. So many keep talking about how people need to “make something of ourselves” without really examining how much approval and positive circumstances are required to make things happen. I equate this to an impetus to get things back to “the way they were” without acknowledging how things actually were, when more people were subtle about how much they took from others. Now, everything is blatant and fewer people have anything.
During this era when organizing with others, I see no possibility of organizing if everyone is busy trying to take from everyone else. Mutual aid and networking are hard in an era of distrust because they are hard even in times when people have more. Basically, there is a certain vulnerability that is required to develop relationship, and that goal is hindered when the majority of the population continues to pontificate on how easy can direct action be so they can get back to “normal.”
Sometimes, when trying to collaborate and help people, some will take advantage of others. Sometimes, things will work out when one will take a chance, and that chance leads to material loss. That is the cost of being human and actually working with other people. Trying to put that burden on everyone but oneself is avoiding being part of a village, and admitting that one is a leech, not a team member or a collaborator. Leeches work alone, and wolves work together. It is up to this empire which identity is chosen to be uplifted rather than extracted.
