We are bored more than enraged

The destruction of our modern infrastructure might have been “planned” by the elites, but it certainly has been carried out by us, the have-nots. We projected our frustrations onto choosing the wrong politicians, blaming foreigners for everything, and endlessly subdividing ourselves into small fractions who hurt each other. The elites just needed to coast along, like a surfer. It worked really well. So well, the waves of hatred have gotten so big that even the experienced crisis surfers are trying to retreat into their caves (bunkers) until the storm is over.

Everybody, including me, has underestimated the power of hatred. I think that applies to the living - the generations who endured endless wars certainly understood that, but they have largely been gone, 80 years after the end of WW2. All the subsequent wars have been too local, too short, to create a wide network of “woke” citizens who might have blown the whistles. Looks like the overlords learned.

And here we are. We are in road rage 24/7, in or out of our house/work/schools, because the almighty monolith, the screen, never leaves us alone. We are constantly fed with rage and depression-bait content and nonsense distractions that only serve as the resting period before the next rage. The screen has been fused with our essentials so tightly that unless we are named Chris Nolan, we need to soak ourselves in it anytime. Yes, the choice is always there for us to not get hooked by the bait. That is a piece of advice as sage and innocent and “love and light” as telling us not to breathe.

The question here is, who are angry the most, among us half-barbarians? Straight-A student brain says the poorest people are. But our never-lying heart tells us the truth: it is the former middle-class people. It is the people who used to enjoy a modest amount of wealth and privilege, who had the experience of worry-free moments, who until some years ago traveled around the world. I still enjoy the disappearing middle-class lifestyle like a cup of self-made latte in the morning, but I belong to this class. And everybody here, especially men, is pissed off.

It makes sense because kids who throw the biggest tantrums are the spoiled ones. Kids who are used to handouts, who receive candies as a reward for their good behavior, and who are protected enough to stay ignorant about their inherent powerlessness. They are the ones who threaten adults with emotional outbursts and often resort to (mini) violent acts of destroying furniture, because they know someone will clean the mess the next day, and they will still get the candies they rightfully deserve. I say kids, but we all know that when it comes to physical violence, boys.

Of course, the majority of middle-class people are hard-working and honest. We aren’t “spoiled” per se. But the fact that rage is strongest among people who feel they are “robbed” remains. That feeling of “robbed” can cause destruction beyond their (and our) imagination, which is the lesson we are witnessing, not necessarily learning, in real time.

Therefore, the cycle of construction and destruction of our civilization might go on like this, pretending that I am the overlord playing history chess using humans as pawns. 1. Create a relatively affluent life for the majority of humans (mid-20th century). 2. Start giving them problems, slowly but surely (1990s and on). 3. Sell them the solution that is sweet on the outside but with a seed of destruction inside (Trumpism). 4. Let the seed hatch, and watch the entitled humans throw themselves into hatred, offering nutrition for the seed of destruction (we are here). 5. At some point, the seed does not matter anymore. Humans continue the destruction (a few years down the road). 6. After a lot of humans are wiped out, the construction begins (the fever dream of white male tech overlords).

This is surely pure evil, but can anybody deny that there is an attraction toward a “hard reset?” That we want our dirt to be swept under the rug, so we can start afresh? Don’t we already do that on a smaller scale, as in moving houses, breaking up, and changing jobs? I think that almost subconscious desire for a reset is the biggest reason why we aren’t doing everything we can to stop this tsunami of destruction. It is that we aren’t really counting ourselves in the vast majority who would drown.

Looking at this cycle, I feel sad, but more than that, I feel bored. This is so predictable and uninspiring. We have gone through this many times in our past civilizations, and we can only rewatch disaster movies with excitement. It is time we start wanting something new, something that defies the past patterns. I don’t think I am the only one feeling this way. Along with the air of rage that is waiting for the trigger moment, I feel many of us are feeling… tiring. The tiring of predictability, the boredom of going through the same pattern one more time.

I know, for most of us, this is the first real extinction-level threat. But that is in this lifetime. We have accumulated wisdom and experience and knowledge through our tradition, our lineage. And that one, the instinct that runs in our blood and DNA, I hope, is screaming “enough is enough, this is not fun” louder than our frontal-lobe rage.