Thank you for sharing! This article is a clarifying vehicle of potential unity, solidarity and motivation. So many people are deadened in mind and compassion beyond self and need to be far in peril with no way to turn before they help others. Still better late than never because together is the only hope we have at this point.
Thanks for reading my work, Andre! I agree that it's better late than never to come together to create a system, a world where all can live together in peace and cooperation rather than hate and competition. We owe it to future generations (if there are to be any) to get working on building this world of solidarity.
great choice of graphics as well as writing... goes to show how fruitful collaborative efforts can be and are.
the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. the whole can be shared by and benefit all, not split into pieces or stolen by the one most willing to be violent.
How true! Collaboration and cooperation can make this world a safer, saner and happier place for all. We have to stop thinking that relentless competition and division are the only ways to progress. They're not. (If you happen to know the artist of the round peg meme, let me know so I can credit them. I can't recall where I found it.)
Thank you for this article! I think you do have a point that “The System” can and should be changed. I think that socialism is a much better alternative to capitalism, and it can help to alleviate the evils of this current wretched system in place that’s making the working class suffer. I loved the peg analogy by the way!
You're welcome, Poonam. Sometimes a simple analogy reveals some pretty deep thoughts that more people need to consider. We can't keep maintaining the same corrupt system and expecting things to get better. That way lies madness!
I like this peg analogy. It's a good way to explain the evils of capitalism to those who can't quite understand why they're struggling in this society. It will open their minds to better options. Share this widely!
Open minds that consider better options is a good thing, but you'd be surprised how many seem to keep their minds closed. Is it fear? Perhaps. We have to reach them where we find them, and a simple analogy like the pegs and their systems could be one way to open them up.
Why should we change "The System" the majority are not demanding a change, in fact most are not pegs, their pawns, their place on the board of life constrained, , their movements limited, seldom have any real role to play except to be a sacrificed or used protect some other higher ranking member. Though we pawns are the largest in number of our class, even if we get to the end we can`t save one of our own.
I think the majority are demanding change, but they're confused about which things should change to create a better world. There is strength in our numbers. Even a lowly "pawn" can take out the queen on a chessboard against a weak-minded opponent. We need to think better of ourselves and our abilities.
Love your optimism. I want to believe it too, but belief doesn’t make reality.
I concede your point: most people do want change. But they want to change their gender, their job, their partner, their iPhone, not the world. They left our world behind long ago for the safety of their own bubble worlds.
We are a generation raised on “turn on, tune in, drop out.”
Turned on by alcohol, dopamine, and consumer highs.
Tuned in to Disney, YouTube, MSNBC, and Netflix.
Dropped out of civic life, empathy, and reality itself.
We live in curated silos, never bothering to hold our leaders accountable.
We’re not pawns or pegs, we’re spectators. This is the generation that cancels anything that disrupts its comfort, that denies anything that offends its bubble. Morality and ethics are just background noise. We are the product of three decades of unbridled belligerence, and we called it spreading democracy.
Our idea of diplomacy? Might is right. We ruled by force, surfed the channels, caught glimpses of the nations we destroyed between commercials for Friends and The View.
We are desensitized to the inhumanity of “collateral damage,” to the carnage justified by “self-defense.”
And now?
Now that the bombs have flattened every school, hospital, and home
Now that two million people are homeless, starving, without water, power, or medicine
We debate the definition of genocide?
But now finally some stir from their slumber to whisper of sanctions?
Sanctions, against the very regime they armed, funded, and protected?
Hope is not a strategy, and threats barked by muzzled dogs don’t deter tyrants.
If people are waking up, it’s only after the house has already burned down.
I too was captivated by Hope and Change, what we got was Dope and Pain.
You say the people are ready.
I say most are still asleep inside the system, lulled by spectacle, numbed by comfort, blind to the cost of their indifference.
We’re not preparing for change.
We’re witnessing the slow collapse of conscience.
Ironically, I do see a glimmer of hope, hope that Trump, will continue with his reckless chaos, will continue offend the vassal states and remain oblivious that he is doing what no external force could, destroy the empire from within.
Thank you for sharing! This article is a clarifying vehicle of potential unity, solidarity and motivation. So many people are deadened in mind and compassion beyond self and need to be far in peril with no way to turn before they help others. Still better late than never because together is the only hope we have at this point.
Thanks for reading my work, Andre! I agree that it's better late than never to come together to create a system, a world where all can live together in peace and cooperation rather than hate and competition. We owe it to future generations (if there are to be any) to get working on building this world of solidarity.
great choice of graphics as well as writing... goes to show how fruitful collaborative efforts can be and are.
the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. the whole can be shared by and benefit all, not split into pieces or stolen by the one most willing to be violent.
How true! Collaboration and cooperation can make this world a safer, saner and happier place for all. We have to stop thinking that relentless competition and division are the only ways to progress. They're not. (If you happen to know the artist of the round peg meme, let me know so I can credit them. I can't recall where I found it.)
Thank you for this article! I think you do have a point that “The System” can and should be changed. I think that socialism is a much better alternative to capitalism, and it can help to alleviate the evils of this current wretched system in place that’s making the working class suffer. I loved the peg analogy by the way!
You're welcome, Poonam. Sometimes a simple analogy reveals some pretty deep thoughts that more people need to consider. We can't keep maintaining the same corrupt system and expecting things to get better. That way lies madness!
I like this peg analogy. It's a good way to explain the evils of capitalism to those who can't quite understand why they're struggling in this society. It will open their minds to better options. Share this widely!
Open minds that consider better options is a good thing, but you'd be surprised how many seem to keep their minds closed. Is it fear? Perhaps. We have to reach them where we find them, and a simple analogy like the pegs and their systems could be one way to open them up.
Why should we change "The System" the majority are not demanding a change, in fact most are not pegs, their pawns, their place on the board of life constrained, , their movements limited, seldom have any real role to play except to be a sacrificed or used protect some other higher ranking member. Though we pawns are the largest in number of our class, even if we get to the end we can`t save one of our own.
I think the majority are demanding change, but they're confused about which things should change to create a better world. There is strength in our numbers. Even a lowly "pawn" can take out the queen on a chessboard against a weak-minded opponent. We need to think better of ourselves and our abilities.
Love your optimism. I want to believe it too, but belief doesn’t make reality.
I concede your point: most people do want change. But they want to change their gender, their job, their partner, their iPhone, not the world. They left our world behind long ago for the safety of their own bubble worlds.
We are a generation raised on “turn on, tune in, drop out.”
Turned on by alcohol, dopamine, and consumer highs.
Tuned in to Disney, YouTube, MSNBC, and Netflix.
Dropped out of civic life, empathy, and reality itself.
We live in curated silos, never bothering to hold our leaders accountable.
We’re not pawns or pegs, we’re spectators. This is the generation that cancels anything that disrupts its comfort, that denies anything that offends its bubble. Morality and ethics are just background noise. We are the product of three decades of unbridled belligerence, and we called it spreading democracy.
Our idea of diplomacy? Might is right. We ruled by force, surfed the channels, caught glimpses of the nations we destroyed between commercials for Friends and The View.
We are desensitized to the inhumanity of “collateral damage,” to the carnage justified by “self-defense.”
And now?
Now that the bombs have flattened every school, hospital, and home
Now that two million people are homeless, starving, without water, power, or medicine
We debate the definition of genocide?
But now finally some stir from their slumber to whisper of sanctions?
Sanctions, against the very regime they armed, funded, and protected?
Hope is not a strategy, and threats barked by muzzled dogs don’t deter tyrants.
If people are waking up, it’s only after the house has already burned down.
I too was captivated by Hope and Change, what we got was Dope and Pain.
You say the people are ready.
I say most are still asleep inside the system, lulled by spectacle, numbed by comfort, blind to the cost of their indifference.
We’re not preparing for change.
We’re witnessing the slow collapse of conscience.
Ironically, I do see a glimmer of hope, hope that Trump, will continue with his reckless chaos, will continue offend the vassal states and remain oblivious that he is doing what no external force could, destroy the empire from within.
Thanks for making such an important point.
You're welcome, Diana. I feel it can't be made enough!