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Ever felt like something is very wrong with the world but can't put it into words? Here are those words. (henryfudgeofficial.substack.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/longreads@sh.itjust.works
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Degeneracy is a Symptom: On Conspicuous Despair, the Ponzi stage of being alive, and why your grandparents are wrong about you.

tl;dr: Wealth consolidation and oligopolies have stagnated economic growth. This you probably know, but the author amazingly shows that the rise of "social degeneracy" is merely a symptom of this problem. He tracks this phenomenon around the world and throughout history. We either tackle the problem early and directly or--my words, not his--the rivers will flow with blood.

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[–] [S] 1 point 1 month ago (3 children)

I liked the article, so I shared it.

I think what he did, which I haven't read before, is globalize the phenomenon, which I appreciate, because I find the national boundaries we draw around our problems something a distraction.

I'd also add that if you think writers in published magazines aren't self-promoters, you aren't a very careful reader. Most think pieces are an appeal to some group. For me, the most obvious are the right wing "independent" thinkers whose opinions always seem to line up with capital. Ezra Klein recently gave the game away when Israeli's unpopularity forced him to abandon his pro-Israel stance for reasons that have been obvious for since 1948.

But appealing to audiences is part of the game across the political spectrum, it's not something "this generation" inventeed and therefore you do not need to weep for them.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (2 children)

    I'd also add that if you think writers in published magazines aren't self-promoters, you aren't a very careful reader.

    all my friends are skeletons
    and beat the rhythm with their bones

    i mostly read people who were long dead before the internets and probably majority of those ghosts haven't even seen screens 🤷

    But appealing to audiences is part of the game across the political spectrum, it's not something "this generation" inventeed and therefore you do not need to weep for them

    i can't help it. I prefer books written after ideas to ideas gathered to sell books or to promote "self"

    i was reading Peter Singer, for example, just before … this. He is still alive 😅 his writing is clear and as the books title (Animal Liberation) suggests, it has more to claim than "me, me, me!

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    i mostly read people who were long dead before the internets and probably majority of those ghosts haven’t even seen screens

    That means you are less likely to understand the cultural context they are writing in and how they are speaking to it (ie marketing themselves).

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    That means you are less likely to understand the cultural context they are writing in and how they are speaking to it (ie marketing themselves).

    "less likely" indeed. Luckily there are other ways to catch up with the "cultural context"

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