As Our Pendulum Swings
Welcome to the age of pendulums swinging wildly through the volitatility of collapse. We walk through our days now holding the truth that at any moment, the pendlulums in our lives and our collective society could swing in our favor. Or not.
Many of us GenXrs have crafted the ability to hold cognitive dissonance in the extreme as we’ve careened through perpetual cycles of collapse and rebirth in our adult lives, at least four and for some, five! Economic collapse is the invisible adult friend we never wanted but are stuck with as that prickly asshole surfaces every decade or so.
Sneaking up on us just as we’ve recovered from the chaos of some casino game perpetuated at scale by bankers and oligarchs. We grew up in the golden narrative of trickle down economics and now, well, everything has just trickled to the bottom and we’re realizing that our invisible little fucking friend is back.
Only this time, the Spector of late stage whateverism added a plot twist to spice things up a bit. Gone are the bridge jobs. Gone are any semblance of safety nets or backup plans. AI is replacing almost every possible job that doesn’t reside in the executive suite. And those service industry jobs which used to be our beautiful fall back? You need at least 3 of them, at the same time, just to pay all the bills.
Rent far exceeds a normal mortgage in most cities and towns. Electricity is skyrocketing because AI is being jammed down everyone’s throats and sucking the power grid dry. Should my electricity increase 25% because Bob in accounting wants to send a passive aggressive email to Karen about the leftovers in the office fridge? No. Absolutely fucking not.
Private equity has bought everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, from our neighborhood starter homes, to the local sub-shop, to the community hospital, to the corner vet office pricing us out of the tiny slivers of joy we cling too-- like sandwiches with more ingredients than bread and not having to declare bankruptcy to cure our dog’s ear infections, or our own.
And Goddess forbid we get sick, a simple case of strep throat could cost thousands as health insurance companies reap record profits and we fight to pay for the subscription to LIVE, which oh, by the way, still won’t cover the cough syrup for that sore throat. Got something serious? Good fucking luck with that one.
All the while, our communities are falling victim to the weaponized algorithms that consume our human connections and feed them back to us as ads or polarizing political content, decimating the very fabrics of our Third Places. Those community spaces provide a vital avenue of connection as we commune within their walls to find connection with our neighbors and ground ourselves in empathy and kindness for the strangers that live three blocks over.
We allowed broligarchs to force us all into the most dystopian version of surveillance capitalism imaginable and now we must watch in horror as a country built on freedom, liberty and justice for some commits suicide in broad daylight because the racists voted against their own self-interest, at scale.
The destruction happening now is undeniable and relentless. It is fast, painful and destabilizing on every level; destroying the very essence of what made this country a fascinating melting pot of opportunity for many. We were never perfect. As a country, we never moved past the colonization that founded America. The patriarchy is still in control and winning. But, the people within this country are fascinating, for all our flaws, and at times, fearless.
Will we stand up?
After watching last week’s South Park episode and the blowback from the canceling of Stephen Colbert, I’m beginning to believe we will. But the billion dollar question remains-- will the resistance happen soon enough?
Or will we all be forced to cling to the pendulum seeking an anchor as we careen wildly from the devastation wrought by those who lack basic human decency, any hint of empathy and harbor egos that rival a petulant and spoiled five year old.
Or, and this is the prospect that fascinates me the most, will many of us both resist and exit at the same time? Will our resistance BE our exit?
An exit from participating in the systems designed to destroy us slowly as the vampires steal all of our wealth and resources and give it, unearned, to the top 1% of the 1%.
So, again I ask, will our resistance BE our exit? Or are we too far through the looking glass for an exit at now?
