Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 1)

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-anti-social-century-the-atlantic.1083552/#post-134417520

While I'm deeply uncomfortable with laying all of the blame on economic factors--especially since if it was purely due to economic factors, we wouldn't be seeing this trend among even wealthy people and it's genuinely an excuse without anyone working towards a solution--there is a factor that goes unspoken about imo.

The economic factors are the root of the problem. We live within a system where selling your labor is the manner of livng in which 99% of people must abide by at risk of death. That system also strictly organizes, specializes, and thus ranks labor which physically, socially, and culturally isolates the workers from one another. That system also undermines valuable labor- the labor that actually produces goods and services that society relies upon and wants- and overrates mere ownership, such that the people who provide the least amount of actual value to society are likely to be some the wealthiest.

These fundamental contradictions inherently incentivize the wealthy to isolate themselves from the masses (we had a thread about how wealthy people are just oh-so lonely too), because being wealthy in a system where money is the sole barrier between you and death, a system where most people will never be wealthy, and a system where slowly people are waking up to the fact that it is inherently unjust, means you would be stupid to be a billionaire and live amongst a crowd of folks who cheered on Luigi Mangione.

No, you park your ass in your gated mansion and pray to your god(s) of choice that the plebs continue fighting amongst each other for scraps instead of coming after you for all the wealth you've stolen. But this in turn means you are also isolated and susceptible to the anti-social consequences of this system that you maintain, because how many people can you realistically have meaningful relationships with? Even if you're palling around with other wealthy people, can you ever be sure that they're not buddying up to you, or even secretly praying for your downfall, because you might still be richer than them? What about if they're richer than you? Can they ever trust you?

Economics isn't really just about how much money you have, but about how land and labor are used and owned, and thus how humans physically and culturally organize themselves amongst the world and amongst themselves. Currently, the way we have organized society is a veritable breeding ground for anti-social, anti-human, and anti-life behaviors and beliefs.

We should probably get rid of it.

Eh, but what do I know?