Conspiratorial thinking. Not really conspiracy theories per se. But hear me out! I’m Becoming More Worried How Many People Talk and Act Like They Have Nothing to Lose.

Did we actually start the fire? With Billy Joe returning to writing music in 2024, I may have to ask this question

Re-match election year, elder presidential candidates, global conflict multiple fronts, protracted economic enthusiasm with no meaningful correction in recent memory - sing these little ditties to the tune of REMs “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine!)”

A government becomes vulnerable if it’s people start to feel like they don’t have anything to lose and behave in desperate ways in protest.

Let’s count some ways that governments make sure people in all social classes of society feel like have something to lose:

-State lotteries (just feel for a little bit what it would be like to be addicted to scratch-offs, my friends)
-Legalized gambling
-Conspicuously someplaces-legal “illegal” drugs
-Even worse, legal drugs (I know this is gonna be a controversial take, but mood stabilizers, anti anxiety and anti depression drugs might be overprescribed.)
-Television shows / binge watching (again, 100% one of my vices and keeps me from getting too political oftentimes)
-Communities established around social justice causes (education equity, racial equality, police unity, anti-police brutality) / constitutional rights threatened by wedge issue politics (2nd amendment / abortion rights)
-Government subsidies and tax breaks for religious institutions
-Subsidies and tax breaks for entrepreneurs and high income families (making the upper middle class feel like they owe their financial security to the government who helped them achieve it)

I understand why things are this way. I’m one of the people who’s increasingly feeling like our current systems of government and a lot of our society just isn’t working right anymore. Sure I have my really good days where I’m excited to just live. But some days I’m doomscrolling hard, man. Other days I’m a really positive growth mindset, “don’t worry, be happy”, “we’re all in the same boat together”, kind of place. Was it always burning since the world’s been turning?

https://youtu.be/eFTLKWw542g?si=bPkWWOtNYKBvmm0_

Maybe I’m a pessimist but this is going to really resonate with the people who are “looking forward to AI” because they read headlines, but haven’t actually used any LLMs yet because nobody has told them how.

And being marketed as “our first upgrade to PC keyboards in 30 years”. I want to be in the marketing teams conference room when this got pitched.

The Beta Band, Vulfpeck, Khruangbin, Holy Hive, Tame Impala, Hippo Campus, STRFKR, Greta Van Fleet