kestrel

kestrel
2018-12-23 03:26:38 (UTC)

Prompt 012: Present Distinctions

12. What are three things that distinguish the present day from the past and future? How may people look at those aspects of today differently 20 years from now?

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I do think the world at large is in transition at the moment, but I feel it most acutely from the USA, as I'm a resident. This country is a hot mess, and its priorities are a scatterbrained melange of bullshit. The planet itself and its capacity to support biological life as we know it is being destroyed.

There, I've said it.

Here are three things I think will be resolved for the most part within 20 years, though I haven't the foggiest idea of the outcomes themselves.

TRANS ACTIVIST AGENDA
First, some background. So there are men who say they are women, due to their claims that they "feel" or "know" they are a woman. This is delusional. Normally it wouldn't be so bad, but unfortunately there are men who believe so strongly that they are women, that they want access to women-only spaces: restrooms, meetings and groups, women's shelters, sports teams and competitions, women's prisons, etc. These men are imposing their delusion on the rest of the world with their activism, in many cases by force.

Activists themselves may not intend to victimize women specifically or even in general, but these activists simply cannot speak for everyone who shares their delusion. Some men may not be delusional at all, but may want to claim they are women so they can continue (or begin to) abuse, attack, dominate, or even murder women. This cannot, unfortunately, be disputed, as there have been a number of cases of women being assaulted, intimidated and bullied, and attacked by these men-who-claim-they-are-women in said restrooms, prisons, and other women-only spaces.

It's my belief that this disagreement will come to a conclusion within 20 years. I see two possible outcomes:
1. the trans-activist lobby wins their struggle. Adult human females no longer have a voice, and men who say they are women define the word and the criteria for womanhood.
2. trans-activists are called out for the bullshit artists they are, and the trans activist lobby is diffused.

Which one would I support? I support women. I do not think men should define women, particularly as a "feeling" or a "sense" of womanhood. Personally, I would prefer option 2, with ultimately the result being that women-only spaces are preserved. There is too much male-pattern violence against women (even that perpetrated by men who say they are women) for me to consider option 1 as desirable.

ECONOMIC STRUGGLE/STRATIFICATION
This country is in the throes of what has been identified as "late stage capitalism." What's going on is that there is a gradual (sometimes swiftly, sometimes slowly, but always constant) shift of wealth away from those who produce to those who manage. Wealth, purchasing power, and property are being stripped away from those who cannot afford it. What's worse, this wealth, purchasing power, and property is being consolidated within a drastically reduced minority of privileged individuals (known as the one-percenters, as in the top 1% of the US economy, or even the top 1% of the top 1%).

I think within 20 years this will be resolved. I think indentured servitude and debtor's prisons will re-emerge within the next couple decades. The radical left - socialist and otherwise - simply lacks the capital and exposure to avoid it. Those in power will stay in power, and the vast majority of the US population will be known as the "lower class." They will have no mobility or opportunity to join the elite "ruling class."

If I'm alive, I doubt I would be for very long. I wouldn't put up with it, generally speaking, and would plan to escape to nomadic life, expatriation, or suicide.

SOCIAL MEDIA AS NEWS AUTHORITY
I can't stand this trend, personally. It hurts my head to think that people depend on sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter as a source of legitimate news. At this point in time, the US government is entangled in an investigation into whether or not a Russian propaganda firm was distributing its viewpoint via Facebook and other social media outlets. Well, rather it's not under dispute (it's pretty much substantiated that they did, from what I understand), but the current President, a dipshit demagogue named Donald Trump, has been accused of paying them to do it during the last election - the one he won in 2016.

My point of view is that these social media sites are not news sites. They are propaganda sites. This was their role prior to the 2016 election, so why the uproar? Why are people surprised? Do they think this doesn't occur already? Do they think that something from within the US wouldn't be just as insidious? What's the difference made by the country of origin? It's a "global economy," after all.

Regardless of this, my personal opinion is that social media sites will be considered legitimate by the general public - much like they are now. But the difference between now and 20 years from now will be that there will be no debate about it. Television news will simply direct viewers to their "news app" or Facebook page or whatever for the "latest updates" on the flavour of the month.

Meanwhile, the ruling class will keep those sites running, and legitimate debate out of the heads of the general public.

...1937, Aldous Huxley. The notion of a "pleasureable servitude" emerges. Huxley details it in his book -Brave New World-. The crux of the book is that those in charge will have so elegantly streamlined the "bread and circuses" of the general public that their slavery and servitude will be welcomed. Recreational drug use, orgies, and all manner of hedonistic activity will be required (between shifts of back-breaking manual labor, that is). The result is a dumbed-down, stultified, overstimulated populace that has no idea what the unseen hand of the ruling class is doing to maintain its grip.

This world is fucked. Humanity is past its prime. Even when I teach in the classroom, it's difficult to keep a positive outlook. Humanity today horrifies me until I separate myself from it. But I can't run off to the woods forever.




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