Taco2112

Late Night With the Devil. Typically I don’t like the devil/possession sub genre but the setting and tone made this one much different and way better.

What MutilationWave said is probably the best description of what “liking things ironically” was and the thought process behind it. “I like this thing but I can let other people know so I wear it but pretend to dislike it.”

My opinion is, prevalence of that attitude in the late 2000s/early 2010s was a culmination point of a cultural cynicism that was prevalent in the US during the 90s. That cynicism started in popular culture but filtered into politics and the capitalist system as the status quo got worse. The popularity of Donald Trump or the person that shot that health insurance CEO is because they are seen as authentic even if they might not be, as a the case with Trump.

Some people just don’t want to listen. I’m with you, the system is broken and we need to fix it. There’s also opportunity and sometimes you have to put in work to reach it.

No, pyramid schemes work by selling the end products to recruits with the hope of those customer/recruits being able to recruit more customer/recruits.

That’s the wonderful thing about trade work, you can just become an owner. Then you train young people, they beat up their bodies for a bit and then they become an owner. That is the idea behind apprenticeships. Or you join a Union who will protect you and make sure the owner of the company does the bare minimum and take care of the health and safety of their employees. Or you go a different route and consult. Or find a niche and start selling products that were hard for you to find but are needed in your industry.

People who boo hoo on trade work are in the same vein as the ones who say you need a college degree to be successful. A lot of people have made a really good living out of trade work and they don’t have to “destroy their bodies”

Or you transition to an owner/management role so that you can stop punishing your body in your 40s

The trades: carpentry, plumbing, roofing, etc. Plus side, it doesn’t require a degree.

I don’t think we’re going to see a loss of celebrity like this author is talking about. The Taylor Swifts of the world will survive, I think the growing trend is authenticity, and maybe not even that exactly but more a willingness to believe in your convictions. As someone who was a child at the time, I feel like the late 80s through the early 2000s was time of cynicism aimed at the world and could be seen in popular entertainment through things like the Grunge movement and TV shows like South Park gaining popularity. A lot of that culminated about 10/15 years ago in the “I like this thing ironically” mindset that was popular on the internet at that time. That cynicism bled into politics because the status quo never changed but things kept getting worse for a majority of the working class.

My opinion is that Trump and Luigi Mangione are symptoms of that cynicism. While I believe Trump is a con man, to his supporters, he is “authentic” because Trump believes or at least, attempts to stand behind what he says. Contrast that with top Democrats, I don’t believe a word out of Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer’s mouths. I forced myself to believe in Kamala Harris but I never actually believed she would do anything progressive. She was another Neoliberal, there to make sure Our Oligarchs continue to be the only truly protected group/class. She wasn’t authentic. If Luigi Mangione is the shooter, he let his actions talk and that is authenticity. Mangione is also speaking truth to power that hasn’t truly been checked in decades. The ACA was nice but it allowed the Health Insurance industry to continue to profit off of other people’s illnesses and in the end didn’t have enough teeth to truly take them on. Another bandage and only breeds more cynicism.

Broccoli was one of the few vegetables I liked as a child. It’s tasted the same for the last 30+ years as far as I can tell.

The police in the US are there to protect and serve the 1%, AKA the Oligarchs. It’s be wonderful if they actually wanted to serve and provide safety for their communities. I’m sure there are a few in every city that actually want to do the right thing but as a whole, police are basically only around to protect property and harass anyone they think might be a threat to said property, especially when said property is owned by one of the Oligarchs.

Good point, climate change is one reason I decided not to have children. But, I have young nieces and nephews and I’d like for them to have a wonderful world to inherit.

Our current way of living definitely is doomed and maybe humanity is too but I take solace in the fact that Mother Nature has bounced back after some pretty bad catastrophes. It’s cliche but “life finds a way”.

That said, I wish we could get our collective head out of our ass and work towards solutions rather than relying on that hope.