Giving you the backstory and appraisals of vintage memes!
Submissions should be vintage memes or commentary about vintage memes. Commenters are advised to appraise the internet value and provenance meme antiquities.
Rules:
You don't need a formal conspiracy when interests converge. These people went to the same universities, they're on the same boards of directors, they're in the same country clubs, they have like interests, they don't need to call a meeting, they know what's good for them and they're getting it."
This is truly one of the most important concepts of the modern age and it’s so unfortunate how few people really internalize what this means
Why not both?
It’s possible to be stupid, evil, and corrupt simultaneously
Hanlon's Razor adage: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they have weaponized hanlons razor and are actually malicious, but are acting bumbling and incompetent to keep people from rising up and slaying them.
All fascist governments in history have both been absolutely malicious and highly incompetent.
We're in the middle of an experiment to see if a government can be both at the same time. If it's successful, we all die. But that's science for you.
It's both.
It's a fun combination of both.
Monied interests seek out the true believers of whatever nonsense (no regulation, supply-side econ etc.) they want and fund their campaigns.
Little column A, little column B.
Or
Por que no los dos.
One of the darkest spells of my life included this realization.
Nobody is in charge. There is no shadowy cabal of super-elites who pull all the strings.
Yes there are some billionaires who have way too much power and influence, but they're not smart people, they're not organized, they have no long-term plots that have any chance of succeeding, they have no fucking idea what they're doing. They pretend to be so threatening and powerful but they're just extroverted assholes and people with no sense of human emotion so they seem "special."
The belief in sinister higher powers is as harmful to our collective power to affect change as the delusional beliefs in benevolent higher powers. It takes away responsibility to yourself, responsibility to make positive changes, responsibility to your community and investing in the places you live. We HAVE to start accepting how alone we really are, not on an interpersonal level but broadly. We can mourn it and then move on to start doing things.
What do you mean "what if?"
Don’t forget corruption. I’ll go further to say that many of the conspiracies are not about what else they can inflict on us, they don’t care and the conspiracy is how to loot or merchandise the position to enrich yourself and your buddies.
For the obvious example, blocking renewable energy and electric vehicles isn’t about “p*wning the libz”, destruction of the environment, or class warfare, but helping a few get richer and they don’t even think about the rest of us enough to create a conspiracy.
Except the conspiracy is right out in front of everyone in the shape of Project 2025. It's a collection of different think thanks and influencers throwing together a plan for derailing a government. Deep, unsurvivable cuts that draw every ounce of capability and competency out of the governing body until it becomes a universal example of how democracy doesn't work.
You guys have a government? :O We only have formation talks and a demissionary minority kabinet that stumbles ahead. Our polititians deserve a medal in this incompetence race, too.
It's not a conspiracy and they're not stupid. It's just class politics. The government has done a great job if you're a billionaire.
It's not complicated.
What that ???? step is almost doesn't matter. Is it back room corruption or did the rich people just only support candidates which they thought would do things that benefit them? The end result is the same.
If they were just genuinely dumb everyone would be suffering. But it's just the rest of us. The rich do better and better every year.