4 ms·
Not just the US but a lot of right wing or authoritarian govt in general. The problem with this zero sum thinking is there is another player outside of the cou
by rdedev 2y ago
Not just the US but a lot of right wing or authoritarian govt in general.
The problem with this zero sum thinking is there is another player outside of the countries if the world; nature itself. Think natural disasters, climate change, diseases. No one can negotiate with it or form alliances. It does not care about our survival. The only choice we have is to come together to make sure we don't get screwed over.
- cmrdporcupine 2y agoOr... here's another strategy collect as much money as you can for yourself, and maybe your family... making hay while the sun shines... drilling and selling oil and gas... Demolish sanctions, play the stock market, kill off carbon taxes and environmental measures... Sprinkle a little cryptocurrency backed money laundering here... some tax cuts there... Make sure your closest friends are well taken care of... Then hole up in armed compounds with plenty of fresh water and air conditioning ... and say "f you" to everyone else. Now you understand the rationale of America's new ruling class.
- wombatpm 2y agoThose same people could hold up in a compound today. But they like the nice things, restaurants, social events, football games etc. They better start liking the locked down life now, because if things go bad their 20 security detail won’t protect them later.
- masklinn 2y ago> Those same people could hold up in a compound today. If they did that, you'd be outside being happy or something happy-adjacent. > if things go bad their 20 security detail won’t protect them later. That's... very optimistic, to say the least. Historically it's not been the case.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago20 armed men vs. their beach houses sinking into the ocean, forest fires burning heir land, hurricanes throwing everything every which way, and potentially nuclear hellfire... IDK, I'm betting on Nature (and man's folly wielding nature) on this round.
- masklinn 2y agoWhich is why they build massive compounds both onshore and on various islands, and acquire the means to move between them unimpeded. I don’t know if they’ve considered all the logistics but they do rather seem to be at the point where society’s ability to either ignore or impede them is to be done away with.
- 15155 2y ago> means to move between them unimpeded Which means are these?
- blibble 2y ago> That's... very optimistic, to say the least. Historically it's not been the case. if things go bad, what is the dork zuckerberg going to pay his burly security force in? facebook stock? dollars? not exactly useful
- masklinn 2y ago> if things go bad, what is the dork zuckerberg going to pay his burly security force in? Same as every other autocrat: food, housing, not getting shot yourself. > not exactly useful And yet it usually works.
- dh2022 2y agoZuckerberg will pay his burly security force by providing a better future for the security force’s family. Like fresh water and golf courses. Security forces will not leave the compound at the end of their shift-they will live there with their families. (Edit fixed a typo in a word. Sorry I am on mobile)
- Qwertious 2y agoBillionaire bunkers are just billionaire tombs - the only reason billionaires are in charge is the very society they plan to hide from in their bunkers. They have plans for bomb collars, but someone has to maintain them and they could deactivate them, and if your bodyguards want you dead then you're dead.
- cmrdporcupine 2y agoIt doesn't have to be literal bunkers. Just look at the structure of your average "third world" city -- glass towers and luxury condos ringed by miles of shanty towns and slums -- and then a barrier and villas and luxury estates out in the countryside. This is, in fact, how the end of the western Roman empire looked. No bang, just a long series of whimpers as the elite retreated to armed estates with private armies, taxes stopped being collected, overall trade declined, cities declined, and the agrarian peasantry became bound to lords and estates out of need of protection, etc. etc. When civic institutions and the taxes that support them are openly attacked and predated upon, weakened and then combined with environmental, disease, or security crisis, one needn't think hard to picture the kind of eventual world that results.
- aparticulate 2y agoCome together as what? What does this Beatles-era sentiment entail specifically?