I feel sad reading this because it is filled with the millennial optimism that DID improve the world in the early 10s in the wake of the financial crisis. We are in a different time, I think.
The core issues are that voting, donating, and protesting, do not "work" in effecting meaningful change for the average American on a timescale that is useful.
No amount of donating, voting, or protesting, or xyz will change this political vibe until there are real consequences for bad actors. Without this, this creates the dichotomy of "winners" and "suckers". When you are a sucker enough times, you don't want to play anymore. Noblesse obligee is for suckers. Voting is for suckers. Policy making? Suckers. Donating is for suckers. Working is for suckers.
When faced with extractionists, there is no building.
My savings is a megacorp's uncaptured/unallocated value. That is my only defense against the dark arts of our system, and it is at risk every day I am alive.
For my peers, they feel advancing their life goals (school, house, kids) has a non-zero possibility of blowing them up. This persistent insecurity is the result of decades of the American System. We can all look back at the last decades and see what outcomes look like for the average.
You see it and feel it at all levels, from local politics, to national politics.
You see it in tech, lord of the flies style corporatism is in vogue. It is expressed in people chasing promos, doing small scale company politics against their rivals, and doing absolutely unethical things while getting away with it. I have seen people who I thought were good people suddenly say and do ethically radioactive things to get ahead in their career. The trick is never getting caught, and always getting ahead.
If you raise your voice, everything you have worked for is at risk, if you're lucky, you're fired, if you're not, you're exiled from the industry.
I have optimism for America on the long term, but currently we have too many exploiters, a system that reacts too slowly / not effectively to those inputs, and seemingly no recourse due to the legal system not cleaning up. Note, normal is the guy at your coffee shop making you coffee, the person stocking shelves at your grocery, and the guy who fixes your car, not the "I sold my startup for 1B and I can't figure out my own life." guy.
As for me, early on my small surplus was blasted by one hospital bill due to flu (20k), and getting millstoned by college debt while working in academia. I recovered by going full megacorper, much to the chagrin of my old lab. No PhD meant always a pet and never a peer.
I feel sad reading this because it is filled with the millennial optimism that DID improve the world in the early 10s in the wake of the financial crisis. We are in a different time, I think.
The core issues are that voting, donating, and protesting, do not "work" in effecting meaningful change for the average American on a timescale that is useful.
No amount of donating, voting, or protesting, or xyz will change this political vibe until there are real consequences for bad actors. Without this, this creates the dichotomy of "winners" and "suckers". When you are a sucker enough times, you don't want to play anymore. Noblesse obligee is for suckers. Voting is for suckers. Policy making? Suckers. Donating is for suckers. Working is for suckers.
When faced with extractionists, there is no building.
My savings is a megacorp's uncaptured/unallocated value. That is my only defense against the dark arts of our system, and it is at risk every day I am alive.
For my peers, they feel advancing their life goals (school, house, kids) has a non-zero possibility of blowing them up. This persistent insecurity is the result of decades of the American System. We can all look back at the last decades and see what outcomes look like for the average.
You see it and feel it at all levels, from local politics, to national politics.
You see it in tech, lord of the flies style corporatism is in vogue. It is expressed in people chasing promos, doing small scale company politics against their rivals, and doing absolutely unethical things while getting away with it. I have seen people who I thought were good people suddenly say and do ethically radioactive things to get ahead in their career. The trick is never getting caught, and always getting ahead.
If you raise your voice, everything you have worked for is at risk, if you're lucky, you're fired, if you're not, you're exiled from the industry.
I have optimism for America on the long term, but currently we have too many exploiters, a system that reacts too slowly / not effectively to those inputs, and seemingly no recourse due to the legal system not cleaning up. Note, normal is the guy at your coffee shop making you coffee, the person stocking shelves at your grocery, and the guy who fixes your car, not the "I sold my startup for 1B and I can't figure out my own life." guy.
As for me, early on my small surplus was blasted by one hospital bill due to flu (20k), and getting millstoned by college debt while working in academia. I recovered by going full megacorper, much to the chagrin of my old lab. No PhD meant always a pet and never a peer.
May the odds be ever in your favor.