That the imperial core left is useless and cannot do anything.
That the right will win and continue to win forever.
That mass dissent means nothing because the government can just do anything it wants with no pushback.
That it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. destroys all its opposition and reminds the world why they’re in charge. (extremely doable in the likely event China remains passive and lets them do all of that.) And then they can begin the American century (or millenium… or eternity) for real.
Doesn’t that kinda, you know…
CW: mention suicide
spoiler
leave suicide as the only viable option? As in, the only option that is within anyone’s power.
I mean honestly browsing this site is a good way to fuel my suicidal ideation. I’ve been looking through long enough to cement suicide as an option on the table in the near or distant future. Like, just keeping a knife labeled suicide on the table, and never taking it off or putting it somewhere else. Just leaving it there. Just in case.
I do not think that life will change for the better without an assault on the Establishment, which goes on exploiting the wretched of the earth. This belief lies at the heart of the concept of revolutionary suicide. Thus it is better to oppose the forces that would drive me to self-murder than to endure them. Although I risk the likelihood of death, there is at least the possibility, if not the probability, of changing intolerable conditions. This possibility is important, because much in human existence is based upon hope without any real understanding of the odds. Indeed, we are all—Black and white alike—ill in the same way, mortally ill. But before we die, how shall we live? I say with hope and dignity; and if premature death is the result, that death has a meaning reactionary suicide can never have. It is the price of self-respect.
Revolutionary suicide does not mean that I and my comrades have a death wish; it means just the opposite. We have such a strong desire to live with hope and human dignity that existence without them is impossible. When reactionary forces crush us, we must move against these forces, even at the risk of death. We will have to be driven out with a stick.
That it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. destroys all its opposition and reminds the world why they’re in charge.
Honestly and genuinely believe that this isn’t possible given the incompetence and idiocy on display. It will collapse inwards before it becomes efficacious enough to restore itself as a world power.
That’s the vibe I get sometimes browsing this place, particularly the more doomer (oh wait I’m not allowed to say that word for some reason) posts.
I absolutely believe shit will be bad for us, namely the bottom-rung peons living in the imperial core and those parts of “the West” that it lords over. But for the global south things have nowhere to go but up.
It is really bad but I also just have this feeling that things just aren’t going to turn out the way they want it to. They have this grand plan for total domination but they’re a bunch of clowns and i think it’s gonna be a big fat mess instead. Then, in that chaos, who knows what could happen?
The first 4 assertions are somewhat true but not wholly true.
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Nearly every square kilometer of land on Earth is going to be a different biome in 50-100 years, possible a severely reduced one in terms of biodiversity, unless there’s a strong and aggressive global ecological conservation project.
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Israel has made military gains but it’s not like those are permanent. Their invasion of Lebanon fell on its face, and Israeli cities were hit by mass barrages of missiles with technological parity, for the first time in the settler state’s history. This is not a simply victorious party but a party under immense internal and external strain, pulling out the stops to prove that it can pull off victories. A tiger is most likely to attack when cornered.
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China will not do anything to oppose the US as long as the US is a major trading partner or abstains from starting a major war that draws China in. That’s a big if.
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We have seen lots of cases that haven’t worked, and a few that have made limited progress. The sample size of modern history is not large enough to have any certain conclusions beyond vague trends. No one’s historical model is sophisticated enough to make assertions based on the sample size of the past century or two. I keep having to say things to this effect, and I’ll probably state this thesis many times more.
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Right-wing political parties in the imperial core have been prevailing more and more over liberal and social-democratic parties across the past half century. This is fairly uncontestable, but the full mechanism and trajectory is not clear. Again, the sample is only good enough to make vague conclusions.
In 1946, the USA comprised about 50% of global GDP. With this power, the American Empire was able to inflict its will upon much of the globe, but this was still limited.
Today, the USA comprises maybe 20% of global GDP, a ratio that is falling every year. The industrial supremacy is gone. The cultural supremacy is being diluted. Europe and the Gulf states have gone from trusted subordinates to hesitant semi-subordinates. NATO is fighting a proxy war where it has no conceivable path to victory. Latin America and Africa are in better positions to assert themselves instead of just being extractive neocolonies. The proceeds from imperial exploitation are not going to be enough to sustain exponential economic growth. Even with technology, there are rigid barriers that will be run into.
At some point, the financial gear will spring loose from the material gear, and the treat printer will break down. The best news is that geopolitical benefits are not in exclusion of your personal benefits; you can position yourself for this breakdown while improving your own life and possibly even reducing how much tribute you pay to the empire.
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