We are all Slave now.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

This is almost as maddening as, "If you believe in nothing, you'll believe in anything." It's not pithy if it's flatly wrong.

If you just say that "we" are responsible for something, without more, you are not saying that some people are more responsible than others, and you are absolving those people. To point a finger is to direct attention. If you "point a finger" at everyone, you aren't directing attention -- you're diffusing it, uselessly. There are people who are more and less responsible for what has happened in our politics, and if you want to avoid figuring out who they are, say the sort of thing you just said.

Gingrich owns considerable blame. That's a very astute observation.

But I'm citing causes beyond politics. We've adopted a zero sum game mentality about so many things, society looks like a giant chessboard of nihilists. Winning is everything, which explains a lot about why so many people still admire this President.

As Tonto said to the Lone Ranger when all those other Indians rode over the hill, Who do you mean "we," white man?

Get paid, get rich. Fuck what's created, what you do, and what you leave. Get yours, now, and get so much of it you almost choke on it. Sound familiar?

Nope.

From Wall Street to 50 Cent to Mitch McConnell, it's a culture celebrating extraction -- how much can ya get? The blame for that I lay at the feet of the finance industry. When all anyone sees is numbers, they cease to be interesting, to have a soul, and everything becomes a game. Build a pile, then die. Pretty bleak.

Yes, that sounds bleak.