this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2026
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You've only hit rock bottom when you stop digging
We're not here again yet.
its definitely this bad if not much worse and in more dangerous conditions, happening right now.
This very famous photographer died earlier this year. His whole career was photographing miners in Brazil and the striking conditions they're exposed to. The picture didn't stop happening, it was just pushed to the periphery.
Holy shit, I thought this was something I hadn't seen from Nazi death camps!!
my god.. i could never. i would have already spazzed out so bad someone would've killed me.. i can't do tight spaces at all.
i practically lept out of the MRI machine once they started pulling me out because i started freaking the fuck out after being in it for about 2 seconds. still makes me sweat just thinking about it. no no no.
There was an even worse job before this type of lift was common, usually done by children or smaller women, where they would crawl in a small shaft and move a cart with coal on a track. They would become covered in coal dust, and because of the flame of the lamps they would often do it unclothed so they didn't catch on fire.
Now we can wear asbestos clothes so it's an improvement
is that a mineshaft elevator?
If you're talking about the USA, then famines would basically have to be involved. We're talking about a near-collapse of the system, where a significant portion of the proletariat is either facing death or has lost people close to them.
And I'm not talking about some minor famine here. I mean something on the scale of Wyoming just ceasing to exist because everyone starved to death.
I wish I was joking but thats kind of my gut feeling...Anything short of systemic collapse wont be enough.
So yeah it still can get much worse and it probably will. Really hope im wrong.
But im sleep deprived so maybe im just completely off.
EDIT Now, of course, if Trump really runs for a third term and declares himself president for life....that could speed things up. I just don't see most Americans waging a people's war until the situation gets completely and utterly fucked up.
I think we are in the last days of Rome but its not burning....yet.
I want to say that Engels predicted that Americans would radicalize once it became impossible for large numbers of them to purchase a house / land. We’re nearing that point. (Although some are able to immigrate to other countries and drive up property values there.) Faith in “our democracy” is lower than it’s been in decades (I think), inequality is at depression levels, polarization is at civil war levels, we are hopefully nearing another 2020-style explosion. Doing something drastic, like canceling the next presidential election, could provoke a civil war to “restore democracy” that would hopefully turn into a communist revolution 😈
But large portions of the bourgeoisie really have to feel like they’re fucked without trump in order for them to cancel elections. My guess is that they’re still okay with handing the hot potato (surrendering to Iran, paying them $200 billion) over to the democrats.
something on the scale of Wyoming
I mean Wyoming has just under 600,000 people... wasn't COVID-19 more than that and people just didn't care?
Like bourgeois class solidarity is such a powerful force in this country that it even overpowers fears for individuals' own safety 
I picked Wyoming cause its small but if you want you can replace it with California. Alright fuck it . Lets say Trump Nukes Los Angeles. Its not really about it being as bad or worse than COVID but a undeniably proof of the decay of the Empire. People need to see and feel it. .... and accept it.
Honestly? I think there's a significant portion of the population in who are so utterly convinced of the security of Empire and self-centered that it would literally have to happen to them, not their families or friends, to them personally, to even begin to change. And only for a fraction of a second before they're vaporized.
IMO the existence of this population is something anti-imperialists in
have to "budget for". And I really don't know what to do ☹️.
tldr no more cow
Politically, certainly worse than it is now. More concerning is the environmental situation which imo even if all polluting stopped today, would keep declining at an ever increasing rate for longer than the lifespan of anyone alive today.
It's real fucking bad.
For as long as the West has existed, there has been suffering within its own borders. The question is not how bad does it have to get — that assumes a uniformity of conditions for all people. But the reality is anything but uniform. It can get infinitely bad for the powerless as long as it’s great for the powerful; history proves this.
There is no universal “bad” rating to be ascertained for unequal nations. It is bad for some, but not all.
The task continues to be agitation and organization around a common class interest
The price of staple food and basic treats must rise high enough that a household making median income is incapable of affording treats.
10% of earners do 90% of the spending. I don't think AI will be "good" but hear me out...
I work in a tech adjacent industry, and I make an effort to do some agitprop whenever I can shoehorn it into a conversation.
I usually mention the people working in the fields, harvesting fruits as an example. Waking up at 4am, the child tagging along with their parents to pick strawberries before going to school, making less than a dollar per bushel picked. These people work harder than anyone "works" in the tech industry, yet the disparity in pay is sinister.
I had a coworker argue that he "deserved" his position in society because he was smarter than the people picking berries.
No amount of arguing could change his mind, or any subtle references I made to him being incompetent and not making any contributions in the two years he was employed at the company.
Most tech workers I interact with are like this, where they spew liberal garbage out of their mouths but turn into hitler when you agitate any of their positions on things. I could see a point in time where these hitlerites are laid off due to "AI" and maybe, just maybe, they gain any form of class consciousness or solidarity. Probably not...
Yeah, tech workers are in a similar position as many "professionals" (lawyers, engineers, etc) where they make enough money that their material conditions are quite good and job security is trivial. This will change as they get proletarianized; if it's not AI, it'll be something else, because tech companies have been desperate to lower tech salaries since at least the 2000s.
I think once we hit even 1/100th as bad as we've done to other countries for decades, then maybe it might be bad enough for muricans to stand up a little
If you want to see how bad it gets where we're going... You don't need eyes!!! 
bad enough that western chauvinism is no longer supportable
if anything, things getting worse boosts chauvinism because they can blame everything bad on the immigrants
I'm not sure we have the same idea of what chauvinism is
It's just cope. No one considers that maybe it's just going to keep getting worse and maybe everyone should just watch to see how low the bar can get instead.