The Status Quo
✍️ The Power of Words
I remember watching Jerry Maguire years ago and being captivated. Not just by the story, but by the idea of his memo – that moment where someone gets so fed up with the status quo, they put it all on paper. I don't even know what was in that memo, but I've always been fascinated by how a simple memo, or a pamphlet like Thomas Paine's Common Sense, could ignite such dramatic action in others.
It's like a powder keg event, a canon event in the lore of human progress. The thought that words alone could spur people to action was amazing to me, because that's the ultimate display – the purest execution – of logic. And that's what I want to attempt here. 👇
🤯 The Modern Dystopia Is Here
The world feels absolutely crazy right now, and I'm not talking about politics, wars, or the daily headlines. I'm talking about where we stand as human beings.
Those dystopian visions we've seen countless times in movies and novels, the ones that feel alarmingly close? They're not just close; they're already here.
In developed countries not directly engaged in conflict, many believe we've got it pretty good. But that's often because the darkest realities are kept conveniently out of sight, perhaps even on the other side of the globe. The dystopia is, in fact, already here.
Think of George Orwell's 1984, with its rigid hierarchy of proles, the Outer Party, and the Inner Party. We have a similar structure, but with a fascinating and terrifying addition: the middle class. Historically, when the wealthy pushed too far, the people brought out the guillotines. Now, the middle class serves as a vital buffer – a perpetually dangling carrot for those striving for upward mobility, and an essential consumer base keeping the elite thriving.
💔 The Hidden Costs & Modern Sweatshops
And that buffer extends further than we often realize. Sweatshops exist, providing goods for consumers at pennies on the dollar, regardless of the human or environmental cost. The corporations benefiting from those gains then use them to lobby politicians, twisting policies in their favor. The rich stand on the backs of the poor, leveraging those gains to further their own goals.
The middle class gives us something to shoot for, an aspirational dream so the daily grind doesn't feel entirely meaningless. But in reality, what are the cubicles, the on-call schedules, the 8 AM daily stand-up meetings, the strict overtime rules, that unwavering dedication to your job and being the "best"? They're all just another damn sweatshop.
The worst of it is... we don't even see the worst of it. The clothes you're wearing, the car you drive, the phone in your hand, the plastic in your water bottle – they all share one grim commonality. Somewhere in that supply chain, people are being exploited for someone else's gain. We all stand on the backs of others, whether we realize it or not.
Orwell truly hit the nail on the head with books we should have all read in middle school or high school, and yet, we still don't see it. Animal Farm said it best: "All animals are equal! But some animals are more equal than others!" That's a wild, unsettling sentiment, but it perfectly captures our reality.
🎭 Engineered Distraction
I'm not bringing these points up because I believe any meaningful change can be made about this self-imposed global caste system we've inherited and allowed ourselves to be bound to. I'm bringing them up because I want to talk about something else entirely: the very thing that distracts us from all the BS I've just described.
And those distractions? Holy crap, the divides! Republican vs. Democrat, Pro-Choice vs. Anti-Abortion, UGA vs. Alabama, racism, sexism – all this noise. The only thing these petty squabbles are truly good for is keeping us from focusing on the bigger issues.
🤔 Why We Can't Just "Go Back"
A couple of nights ago, a really intelligent young man suggested we go back to a barter system. My mind really churned on that one. We couldn't do it now, could we? How many chickens is a Kia Soul worth? How many woven rugs for an iPhone 16?
I quickly dismissed the idea because the way the world currently operates doesn't allow for bartering at its highest levels. Resources are turned into materials, which become products, then shipped to warehouses, distribution centers, and stores, only to be bought by you! Most of that is automated. How would a barter system even function in that scenario? It wouldn't. Computers don't understand the correlations between the values of chickens and cars unless explicitly programmed to.
The idea kept bothering me though, not so much the bartering itself, but the underlying realization that something truly needs to change.
🤯 The System Is Broken, But We Have Agency
I've experienced being low-income and middle class, and now I don't "need" for things in the way I used to. With fewer immediate worries, I have more time to think. As most of you know, I've had some extra time since I went on sabbatical, or whatever this is, and that time to think has been incredibly interesting.
What I've really been pondering is how do you fix where we are now, when so many institutions are broken or barely hanging on? When the rich can pretty much do whatever they want, and the poor are often destined to stay where they are if they can't break out of the patterns they know?
There is no single cure-all for this. No silver bullet that can punch the free market in the face and make it behave. Instead, we can all individually start making better choices for ourselves, and redefine what our lives can and should look like.
⏰ Reclaiming Our Time & Value
Eighty-hour work weeks? What are you working that hard for, just to pay your medical bills later? Screw the overtime that made you miss your kid's event. That 401k seems like a great investment, but it won't take care of you the way family will when you truly need them.
Instead of "requesting time off," simply alert your colleagues that you won't be there. Because, the last time I checked, we all have free will, and our time is not owned by a corporate entity or a middle manager who got a little whiff of power, like it was white-out, and decided to act like they put their big boy pants on that day.
Buck the norm. Normalize people respecting your time. Time is literally all we have – our own time, and the precious time we decide to share with others.
😤 The Harsh Reality of "Hustle Culture"
This all sounds great, right? This sounds like the panacea we need. Here's the rub, though: telling your boss to go take a flying leap off a gangplank only works if you know you have enough money to make it, say, the next six months. What if you don't? What if you're two predatory payday loans ahead of your next paycheck and the power bill is due?
Then, I guess you go get another job, or two (this was me at one point). That's how you make those ends meet while people are moving them further and further apart.
If you manage to do this long enough, and you get ahead enough to get past the setbacks, then you might make it. If you do, hell yeah. But if you don't... the deck was stacked against you to begin with, and the horrible part is you probably don't even realize that.
However, if you do make it, and you get comfortable, don't get too comfortable. And whatever you do, don't tell folks they have to "hustle" just because it's what you did. No, come to the realization that you shouldn't have had to hustle in the first place. What a broken-ass system.
🙏 A Call for Understanding & Hope
We literally just replaced fiefdoms and slavery with economics and the free market, so now money spells out your contract terms, or it puts you above others.
Anyway, I've just complained for X amount of minutes and offered no real solutions. I'm simply outlining the problem, because the first step to solving any problem is understanding there is one and stating it as plainly as possible.
Hopefully, future generations, smarter and more enabled than us, can solve this. Because, God damn it, I just want us all to be people, and live good, happy lives where we don't have to have a prole class enabling the happiness of some of us.