People who say you get more conservative as you get older are just projecting their own personal shittiness onto everyone else. I get more radicalized by the year. It’s not even about older people having more wealth to protect; I’m making more money than ever before and I still want to obliterate capitalism. I AGREE COMPLETELY, AND I WILL TURN 80 NEXT MONTH.
Me too: I have always been left, but have become much more hard line and angry as I get older. I’m in my 60s. What infuriates me is the same mistakes being made over and over again.
Think of it as not the same mistakes being made over and over again, but as the same purposeful calculated decisions and policies. Then target the perpetrators. There is strength in numbers, seek out like-minded individuals to bring about changes.
What is obvious is the need to stop big money influence in our political system, and to bring down the monopoly of the “news” media spewing continuous vile propaganda. We are being fed lies 24 hours a day.
I would not call them “mistakes”. The destructiveness via imperialist violence and ecological despoliation is a result of the accumulative logic of Capitalism.
“Left” as we grow old isn’t nearly good enough, given genocide, starvation, climate change and complicit or fascist leaders and disgusting billionaires all over the planet
Anyone who adheres blindly to any ideology has sold out their critical thinking abilities. Evil people will then use you as useful idiots as you have forgotten how to think critically. Pretty much everybody would have something useful to contribute to humanity if they started thinking independent of the herd. In the end all group movements are easily subverted because people in "the herd" are afraid to stand out as individuals.
>>"if they started thinking independent of the herd."
That's precisely what the "elites" don't want - they are AFRAID of independent, non-conformist, critical thinkers - these independent thinkers pose an existential challenge to the narratives of the Power Elite and their status quo. Hence, history shows that such "power" takes every opportunity to oppress, supress, exploit and destroy such independent thinkers.
Capitalism is you baking bread and selling it to people who need bread. It is a voluntary, mutually beneficial exchange. Your profit represents your efforts, your acumen, and your skills. Both parties benefit. What you see destroying the world is not capitalism. The first step to wisdom is to call things by their right name. The problem is not the system. If humans possessed integrity and honesty any system would work.
What you describe is trade , not capitalism . Trade includes barter and is as old as humankind . Capitalism is about accumulation ie of capital and hence is NOT about exchange .
Shit! We can't even agree that we are all people. This is the very basis of our hatred. Thinking other people are less than us has been drilled into us through our education and media every day of our lives. A few of us wake up most won't.
George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison in The Secret History of Neoliberalism call the explosive accelerant of capitalism in End Stage Capitalism "Neoliberalism." It's a history (and further vision of where it's going) that's worth reading (a succinct and easy read). I agree that it's great, essential really, to be able to think outside the box and it's also important to stay in touch with the institutional reality that's playing itself out on the ground. To break through the current ideologies, one needs to also educate oneself about how Capitalism operates and its endgame.
It's worth saying that Critical thinking is not taught in US schools - if we are lucky we find good critical thinkers, perhaps in higher education or in life itself, able to teach us.
>>"It's worth saying that Critical thinking is not taught in US schools - if we are lucky we find good critical thinkers, perhaps in higher education or in life itself, able to teach us."
👍 So true!
>>"one needs to also educate oneself about how Capitalism operates and its endgame."
👍 Yes, unfortunately VERY FEW PEOPLE understand what Capitalism is. Trade, markets, etc. and most things people attribute to Capitalism are NOT Capitalism - they existed since time immemorial. The FIRST STEP for proponents of Capitalism SHOULD BE to understand what it is (instead of being gaslighted by media and politicians).
I don't think understanding how the world runs and judging it adversely leads to being richer ! Only to understanding . The blindness is due to the relentless propaganda aimed at all of us so that the perpetrators get richer !
Yep, echo that! I’m in my 70’s, still marching, rallying and chanting (started protesting in my early teens - then it was about plight of animals - Save the Whale etc ) - have always been left but much angrier with it now. Yep, I’ve lost friends too. Thankfully we have Substack authors …..but it’s very hard not to lose hope….
I was in front of the South African embassy in my late teens waving my banner. Protesting against apartheid was viewed as a noble thing to be engaged in including our own religious leaders who sadly, with a few exceptions, no longer have the moral courage. Welby with UK chief Rabbi condemning Corbyn and co was the most disgusting hypocritical event of the decade
"You get more conservative and right wing as you get older if you fail to grow as you age." Guess I failed the getting more conservative test. I am losing friends left, right and centre because I am too angry. and "Fighting a war with Russia always seems like a swell idea until you actually try it." I would say that fighting any war might seem to some like a swell idea until they actually try it. Then, if you are lucky and possibly a little bit smart, you might realize that war is a really stupid idea for the planet and for every living creature and plant on the planet.
Bingo, however that doesn't mean to imply that the NeoLiberals receive a free out of jail card - look at the MIC's major shareholders such as Blackrock and Vanguard who serve as a front for the Rothschild cabal and they are just one well known example, there are more all dedicated to keep the racket going.
This is when it becomes interesting to refer to the ideology involved - In the end all Neocons are dedicated to Zionism while the only requirement to be considered Jewish is to follow Judaism.
This Senior isn’t wasting her time on this planet. I’m quite aware of Biden’s evil actions and have been protesting, urging others to protest. Trump will be an utter disaster for America, Gaza, the World. Oh the ignorant fools! You have my contempt!
That Biden would choose this time to escalate a lost war when his successor is only weeks away from assuming office is sick. No doubt it was done in his name by others suffering their despicable perversity and political vindictiveness .
Shall we call it "Blinken's War"? Biden with his cottage cheese (not Swiss cheese?) brain certainly isn't calling the shots here, but no doubt he's enjoying the show.
You’re painting with a broad brush there, Tex. Could we leave the Tribe out of this? I argue there are no malevolent peoples and there are no benevolent governments: no exceptions.
Oddly, with all assessments of past wars—particularly the First World War—the common people take the blame, when they had nothing to do with engineering and starting the wars. It is always the power lurking in the shadows who engineer the wars, and the clowns at the podium who tell us how it is going to be. Yes, people go along with it and do all the suffering and dying, but they never instigate the war.
Yes. And what we are calling "war" in the Ukraine is not war (we need new words), it is, even more so in Gaza, another planned slaughter of innocents, of ordinary people, in the hundreds of thousands, and the destruction and poisoning of their fertile land, for $PROFIT$. The list of billionaires, of every persuasion, is growing exponentially.
Who is authorizing Biden's nuclear brinkmanship? Some psychopath within the Beltway who has heavy investments in the Military-Industrial Complex, and who doesn't mind rendering radioactive much of the most fertile arable land in the world. Hmmm, that's still a very long list, isn't it?
I'm north of 69, and I've never been so full of piss and vinegar in my entire life. I've had it with the Democrats and their rancid neoliberal project. I'm done with their propagandized sycophants as well. I've lost long time friends over this, but I have to accept it's for the better.
I'm getting more radicalized by the DAY this past year. Living in a potential WWIII scenario while livestreaming a genocide on my computer screen is enough to radicalize anyone with half a conscience and an ounce of morals, IMO.
When I turned 50 I stopped caring what other people think. When I turned 60 I stopped believing what other people think and started caring about what they do.
I really agree with your last two sentences. Some people are afraid to grow wiser because they want to pretend that life is simple and everything can be easily classified as right or wrong.
I totally agree with everything you said. I am 29 and I am definitely way more radical than I was at 19, that's because the more I get aware of the world's injustices experiencing them first hand and through you and other great independent journalists writings, the more I want to see radical change and refuse to settle for empty reformism
People who say you get more conservative as you get older are just projecting their own personal shittiness onto everyone else. I get more radicalized by the year. It’s not even about older people having more wealth to protect; I’m making more money than ever before and I still want to obliterate capitalism. I AGREE COMPLETELY, AND I WILL TURN 80 NEXT MONTH.
Me too: I have always been left, but have become much more hard line and angry as I get older. I’m in my 60s. What infuriates me is the same mistakes being made over and over again.
Think of it as not the same mistakes being made over and over again, but as the same purposeful calculated decisions and policies. Then target the perpetrators. There is strength in numbers, seek out like-minded individuals to bring about changes.
What is obvious is the need to stop big money influence in our political system, and to bring down the monopoly of the “news” media spewing continuous vile propaganda. We are being fed lies 24 hours a day.
I would not call them “mistakes”. The destructiveness via imperialist violence and ecological despoliation is a result of the accumulative logic of Capitalism.
Agreed. I've been far left of center since the 1960s, and the needle of my political views hasn't moved since then.
Mine has moved so far of "left" that it no longer has a name for its direction. I just sum up my political views as "Capitalism kills and must die!"
Agreed
Love you and agree entirely that being merely
“Left” as we grow old isn’t nearly good enough, given genocide, starvation, climate change and complicit or fascist leaders and disgusting billionaires all over the planet
Hi TRC, my needle fell off the left side of the charts long ago.
I avoid ideology in general as it shortcircuits critical thinking.
Anyone who adheres blindly to any ideology has sold out their critical thinking abilities. Evil people will then use you as useful idiots as you have forgotten how to think critically. Pretty much everybody would have something useful to contribute to humanity if they started thinking independent of the herd. In the end all group movements are easily subverted because people in "the herd" are afraid to stand out as individuals.
>>"if they started thinking independent of the herd."
That's precisely what the "elites" don't want - they are AFRAID of independent, non-conformist, critical thinkers - these independent thinkers pose an existential challenge to the narratives of the Power Elite and their status quo. Hence, history shows that such "power" takes every opportunity to oppress, supress, exploit and destroy such independent thinkers.
Finally, someone who gets it. Great comment.
Capitalism is you baking bread and selling it to people who need bread. It is a voluntary, mutually beneficial exchange. Your profit represents your efforts, your acumen, and your skills. Both parties benefit. What you see destroying the world is not capitalism. The first step to wisdom is to call things by their right name. The problem is not the system. If humans possessed integrity and honesty any system would work.
What you describe is trade , not capitalism . Trade includes barter and is as old as humankind . Capitalism is about accumulation ie of capital and hence is NOT about exchange .
Thank you.
It might help if we could all agree that we are a destructive and murderous species then try to build better systems keeping that in mind
Shit! We can't even agree that we are all people. This is the very basis of our hatred. Thinking other people are less than us has been drilled into us through our education and media every day of our lives. A few of us wake up most won't.
The same here. All this is happening is the result of End Stage Capitalism.
Solidarity and Community to you.
George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison in The Secret History of Neoliberalism call the explosive accelerant of capitalism in End Stage Capitalism "Neoliberalism." It's a history (and further vision of where it's going) that's worth reading (a succinct and easy read). I agree that it's great, essential really, to be able to think outside the box and it's also important to stay in touch with the institutional reality that's playing itself out on the ground. To break through the current ideologies, one needs to also educate oneself about how Capitalism operates and its endgame.
It's worth saying that Critical thinking is not taught in US schools - if we are lucky we find good critical thinkers, perhaps in higher education or in life itself, able to teach us.
>>"It's worth saying that Critical thinking is not taught in US schools - if we are lucky we find good critical thinkers, perhaps in higher education or in life itself, able to teach us."
👍 So true!
>>"one needs to also educate oneself about how Capitalism operates and its endgame."
👍 Yes, unfortunately VERY FEW PEOPLE understand what Capitalism is. Trade, markets, etc. and most things people attribute to Capitalism are NOT Capitalism - they existed since time immemorial. The FIRST STEP for proponents of Capitalism SHOULD BE to understand what it is (instead of being gaslighted by media and politicians).
Im 72 experiencing the same 😡 radicalization without the getting richer part though 😅 how could I have been so blind about what’s going on!?
I don't think understanding how the world runs and judging it adversely leads to being richer ! Only to understanding . The blindness is due to the relentless propaganda aimed at all of us so that the perpetrators get richer !
I’m now 65 and have never been so radicalised in my whole life!
Yep, echo that! I’m in my 70’s, still marching, rallying and chanting (started protesting in my early teens - then it was about plight of animals - Save the Whale etc ) - have always been left but much angrier with it now. Yep, I’ve lost friends too. Thankfully we have Substack authors …..but it’s very hard not to lose hope….
I was in front of the South African embassy in my late teens waving my banner. Protesting against apartheid was viewed as a noble thing to be engaged in including our own religious leaders who sadly, with a few exceptions, no longer have the moral courage. Welby with UK chief Rabbi condemning Corbyn and co was the most disgusting hypocritical event of the decade
I walk with you my friend. It seems we are on the same path : )
Me too
"You get more conservative and right wing as you get older if you fail to grow as you age." Guess I failed the getting more conservative test. I am losing friends left, right and centre because I am too angry. and "Fighting a war with Russia always seems like a swell idea until you actually try it." I would say that fighting any war might seem to some like a swell idea until they actually try it. Then, if you are lucky and possibly a little bit smart, you might realize that war is a really stupid idea for the planet and for every living creature and plant on the planet.
"Who Is Authorizing Biden's Nuclear Brinkmanship While The President's Brain Is Missing?"
Caitlin, you win 'best question of the day'.
On that note, you could re-ask the question for every day of the last (almost) 4 years, and again, you'd end up being a winner.
Thanks for all you're doing to bring sanity into the 'clown circus'.
Who makes the decisions?
Follow the money, war is a racket to divert public funds to the financial elite but also how they maintain control over political power
Who stands to gain the most in terms of defense contracts power and influence?
The idiot Neocons?
Bingo, however that doesn't mean to imply that the NeoLiberals receive a free out of jail card - look at the MIC's major shareholders such as Blackrock and Vanguard who serve as a front for the Rothschild cabal and they are just one well known example, there are more all dedicated to keep the racket going.
neocons . ."most of whom are Jewish" wrote Ari Shavit on Haaretz
By religion or ethnicity or financial investment in Israeli structures ?
This is when it becomes interesting to refer to the ideology involved - In the end all Neocons are dedicated to Zionism while the only requirement to be considered Jewish is to follow Judaism.
This Senior isn’t wasting her time on this planet. I’m quite aware of Biden’s evil actions and have been protesting, urging others to protest. Trump will be an utter disaster for America, Gaza, the World. Oh the ignorant fools! You have my contempt!
I am definitely getting more and more radicalized as I get older. I know why, too. It is because of the unspeakable evil of the USA and Israel.
That Biden would choose this time to escalate a lost war when his successor is only weeks away from assuming office is sick. No doubt it was done in his name by others suffering their despicable perversity and political vindictiveness .
Shall we call it "Blinken's War"? Biden with his cottage cheese (not Swiss cheese?) brain certainly isn't calling the shots here, but no doubt he's enjoying the show.
LetMs just call it what it is: all wars are jewish wars.
You’re painting with a broad brush there, Tex. Could we leave the Tribe out of this? I argue there are no malevolent peoples and there are no benevolent governments: no exceptions.
Oddly, with all assessments of past wars—particularly the First World War—the common people take the blame, when they had nothing to do with engineering and starting the wars. It is always the power lurking in the shadows who engineer the wars, and the clowns at the podium who tell us how it is going to be. Yes, people go along with it and do all the suffering and dying, but they never instigate the war.
Yes. And what we are calling "war" in the Ukraine is not war (we need new words), it is, even more so in Gaza, another planned slaughter of innocents, of ordinary people, in the hundreds of thousands, and the destruction and poisoning of their fertile land, for $PROFIT$. The list of billionaires, of every persuasion, is growing exponentially.
It'll be easier than you thought. Just get a large net, and a small whip?
Who is authorizing Biden's nuclear brinkmanship? Some psychopath within the Beltway who has heavy investments in the Military-Industrial Complex, and who doesn't mind rendering radioactive much of the most fertile arable land in the world. Hmmm, that's still a very long list, isn't it?
I'm north of 69, and I've never been so full of piss and vinegar in my entire life. I've had it with the Democrats and their rancid neoliberal project. I'm done with their propagandized sycophants as well. I've lost long time friends over this, but I have to accept it's for the better.
"I get more radicalized by the year."
I'm getting more radicalized by the DAY this past year. Living in a potential WWIII scenario while livestreaming a genocide on my computer screen is enough to radicalize anyone with half a conscience and an ounce of morals, IMO.
Not enough for some .
This is why we must build shock collars for politicians and control them better. With decentralized and transparent systems and town halls. And think tanks run by the people. We must regain control of our representatives. Like so: https://open.substack.com/pub/joshketry/p/how-to-fix-corrupt-government-in?r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I bet politicians would be a whole lot less corrupt if they weren't allowed to possess one cent more than their poorest constituent. However--since they seem unlikely to support that idea--we need to shame them into ending the hellhole they've created for 3/4 of us: https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/end-poverty-demand-a-ubi-equal-to-what-congress-pays-itself
Power inevitably ends up in the hands of sociopaths and psychopaths, because they are the ones who will do whatever it takes to get power.
decentralized all systems. make them transparent.
That's the cure
When I turned 50 I stopped caring what other people think. When I turned 60 I stopped believing what other people think and started caring about what they do.
"Who Is Authorizing Biden's Nuclear Brinkmanship While The President's Brain Is Missing?"
The AIPAC handlers would like to have a word.
I really agree with your last two sentences. Some people are afraid to grow wiser because they want to pretend that life is simple and everything can be easily classified as right or wrong.
I totally agree with everything you said. I am 29 and I am definitely way more radical than I was at 19, that's because the more I get aware of the world's injustices experiencing them first hand and through you and other great independent journalists writings, the more I want to see radical change and refuse to settle for empty reformism