want so much to be a Martyr but brain cells are shot so avoider here. Thank you for calling out Neoliberalism individualism and all this superfluous bs choice w/no real choices where anything important really counts (like choosing not to support psychopathic genocide in Gaza w/my taxes or even a public option in the ACA for medical coverage let alone medicare for all, or big pharma drug price negotiations across the board etc ..). The neolib/neocon/neofasc tech feudalism gridlock we are stuck in has us all by the nads. our burden of freedom is quickly evaporating and/or confusingly convoluted and nebulous even though we do have at least for the moment way more freedoms than so many in the world and in our own society depending on economic privileges/those doomed to prison economy/those deported detained w/out due process or adequate proof of why for political speech/so called gang involvement etc.
"expressed tartly by conservative UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s pronouncement that “there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first” (Thatcher 1987)." - talk about the banality of evil..
"It is critical, however, that progressives craft responses that speak more directly to the longing itself and are grounded in an alternative vision of the good life that can be lived, at least in part, in the here and now." - Bernie duhhhh but the elites/dems/corp media that conspired to thwart Bernie every time refuse to learn how to speak plain human not be cringe about this stuff like he can. He draws big crowds in swing districts and red states.
definitely in the drop out/rebel dissident mentality.
"Second, manufactured precarity, real and invented threats, and capitalist propaganda have bred fear, insecurity, and a consequent desire for safety " and lets not forget expert or psycho agressive gaslighting...
“Your story is not a dystopian YA novel, a Christian bookstore biography, or a Revolutionary War musical. It’s the accumulation of 1000 tiny habits of goodness building on each other, day by day.” Thank God! So much expected drama may make good story, but in life, it’s exhausting. Step back, look at nature and people you love and the world on mute (no posturing, no politics) and be thankful for the accumulation of the tiny bits that add up to a life. I think we experience freedom as a burden because we somehow think we have to magnify or optimize it instead of holding it lightly and gratefully.
"Growing up Evangelical in the 90s, I was raised on stories of martyrs. From the myths of Cassie Bernall’s death at Columbine to Corrie Ten Boom’s WW2 heroism in The Hiding Place, which I wrote my college admissions essay on. What does it say about our culture that so many teens grew up fantasizing about martyrdom?" A question that needs to be talked about more.
want so much to be a Martyr but brain cells are shot so avoider here. Thank you for calling out Neoliberalism individualism and all this superfluous bs choice w/no real choices where anything important really counts (like choosing not to support psychopathic genocide in Gaza w/my taxes or even a public option in the ACA for medical coverage let alone medicare for all, or big pharma drug price negotiations across the board etc ..). The neolib/neocon/neofasc tech feudalism gridlock we are stuck in has us all by the nads. our burden of freedom is quickly evaporating and/or confusingly convoluted and nebulous even though we do have at least for the moment way more freedoms than so many in the world and in our own society depending on economic privileges/those doomed to prison economy/those deported detained w/out due process or adequate proof of why for political speech/so called gang involvement etc.
a lot of good points here! I'm trying to learn more about Neoliberalism. Currently reading this, which is dense, but has a lot of interesting information: https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/the-cultural-contradictions-of-neoliberalism/?utm_source=pocket_saves
wow that's really good!
"expressed tartly by conservative UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s pronouncement that “there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first” (Thatcher 1987)." - talk about the banality of evil..
"It is critical, however, that progressives craft responses that speak more directly to the longing itself and are grounded in an alternative vision of the good life that can be lived, at least in part, in the here and now." - Bernie duhhhh but the elites/dems/corp media that conspired to thwart Bernie every time refuse to learn how to speak plain human not be cringe about this stuff like he can. He draws big crowds in swing districts and red states.
definitely in the drop out/rebel dissident mentality.
"Second, manufactured precarity, real and invented threats, and capitalist propaganda have bred fear, insecurity, and a consequent desire for safety " and lets not forget expert or psycho agressive gaslighting...
I felt very called out by the "striver" category! But I'm working on cultivating alternate networks/moving into category 2.
“Your story is not a dystopian YA novel, a Christian bookstore biography, or a Revolutionary War musical. It’s the accumulation of 1000 tiny habits of goodness building on each other, day by day.” Thank God! So much expected drama may make good story, but in life, it’s exhausting. Step back, look at nature and people you love and the world on mute (no posturing, no politics) and be thankful for the accumulation of the tiny bits that add up to a life. I think we experience freedom as a burden because we somehow think we have to magnify or optimize it instead of holding it lightly and gratefully.
Yes! Learning to hold things loosely is such an important spiritual lesson. Still a work in progress for me, for sure
"Growing up Evangelical in the 90s, I was raised on stories of martyrs. From the myths of Cassie Bernall’s death at Columbine to Corrie Ten Boom’s WW2 heroism in The Hiding Place, which I wrote my college admissions essay on. What does it say about our culture that so many teens grew up fantasizing about martyrdom?" A question that needs to be talked about more.
Thanks! Yeah, I wonder if this is, in part, what's happening with all this extremism...
I've often thought the same!