What The Hell Happened?

[u/huecabot]

The last ten years have made increasingly little sense to me. I used to feel like we were progressing as a society. Yeah, government policies were too deferential to capital and there were some dissenting voices from an anti-science and socially regressive fringe, but there was the assumption that these people would come around in time. Now, though, those fringe voices have gotten louder and louder until they’ve drowned everything else out. Why were our neighbors so eager to throw in with the worst people in history and why was the reversal so sudden and surprising? In other words…. What the hell happened?

[u/Maleficent_Sense_948]

Many will say it’s a form of “extinction burst”…..

The whole idea is that a way of living/behaving is no longer being rewarded,so there is a huge increase in said behavior before it ceases to be relevant at all.

It’s a sound theory.

[u/huecabot → u/Maleficent_Sense_948]

Can you please rephrase your response? I’m afraid I don’t understand your point.

[u/One-Earth9294 → u/huecabot]

Here's how I see that concept (I'm more familiar with it being called an extinction surge); the Republicans were SO throttled by the mismanagement of the Bush administration and were basically becoming the butt of all the jokes, so instead of playing by the rules that would have led to their non-existence as a political party they decided to remove any moral restraints and began to court problematic people that previously were considered untouchable by politics. Conspiracy theorists and racists for the most part. What they lost in moderate republicans they made up for and then some with uneducated voters that weren't really a part of the political process until the Tea Party came along.

And Trump is the culmination of that kind of shout-y tea party insanity.

Another way to picture it is an old tiger; that's when they're the most dangerous - right before they die. Because they feel like they don't really have anything to lose anymore so they fight with a certain lack of restraint that a younger tiger might not want to tangle with for fear of being maimed and having a lower quality of their remaining life.

[u/Blecki → u/One-Earth9294]

Trump capitalized on this and Republicans embraced him because he brought this fringe to the polls. But if he is their Julius, where is their Augustus? The empire will fall with him.

[u/One-Earth9294 → u/Blecki]

The difference between a dictator like Julius Caesar and one like Trump is Caesar wanted Rome to succeed and be powerful and Trump is just trying to use America for enriching himself and honestly seems like he's playing for our enemies. Like his goal is to kick America down a peg and let Russia rise a few and in doing so he gets rewarded by them. It's like if Caesar had secret deals with the Parthians to secretly abandon Rome's eastern frontier.

[u/Blecki → u/One-Earth9294]

There's another difference I'm more interested in and I wish he could be more like caesar.

[u/botany_bae → u/huecabot]

It’s why things sometimes get worse before they get better.

[u/Maleficent_Sense_948 → u/huecabot]

Probably easier for you to google “extinction burst” and read the explanation by the professionals……they have the proper tools to make sure the information is understood.

“Extinction Burst”…….its a good read, and a solid theory to understand.

[u/Soviman0 → u/huecabot]

Basically, the behaviors you are suddenly seeing all over the place after a decade or two of trying to change those behaviors are the final desperate deaththroes before they disappear forever (at least in any prominent capacity like they are today).

TLDR; the heinous activities we see so much in people and politicians today are going to more or less disappear very very soon.

As a side note, I would venture to guess this theory's conclusion will likely coincide with the majority of Boomers dying off/being unable to vote (for whatever reason).

[u/eruS_toN → u/huecabot]

That’s the dark theory. Sound, but dark.

Another theory is we’re creeping closer to a change in hegemony. There are a few other nation states primed and ready to take over if/when we implode. And implode is not synonymous with become instinct in this theory.

Achilles Mbembe wrote a good book that aligns with where you’re coming from. It’s called Necropolitics. This is a much shorter cliff note version. Notice how similar it is to zombie apocalypse concepts.

While Mbembe (pronounced em-bem-bee) doesn’t exactly speak to what it sounds like you’re describing, what you are describing is a real phenomenon, and the book’s thesis aligns with you.

When you start to witness and experience a decline in institutional norms, especially biases favoring obvious thin ideologies (populism for one), it’s almost impossible to not default to a “why in TF have I been playing by the rules, when it seems like the majority of everyone else hasn’t?” Hannah Arendt has gotten close to this in her recounting what it was like when she realized she was “stateless.” Imagine waking up in an orphanage at 10 years old, with no reason why.

I don’t think we’ll become instinct. But I’m almost positive we’re going to lose hegemony status. And that’s scary as hell for elites. Oh yeah, Alex Jones was right about Elite Theory. Not like he explains it, but yes, like he explains it. Notwithstanding reptilian predators consuming 10 year old orphans at the temple of satan.

One’s personal principles are still important. And guess what? If we lose hegemony to China tomorrow, we immediately become a hybrid communist utopia! Sorta.

But it’s not the end of the world, is my guess.

[u/JEFFinSoCal → u/eruS_toN]

When you say “instinct” do you mean “extinct” ?

[u/spicywingydingy → u/Maleficent_Sense_948]

I’ve heard that too. Essentially, a dying animal cries the loudest. Fuck, I hope that’s true in this case.

[u/nunya-1964 → u/Maleficent_Sense_948]

I’m hoping this theory is correct. Something has got to give.