As a society, we are addicted.
We are addicted to celebrity news and sports teams even when we will never meet them, nor do they truly care about us other than getting us to watch them so they earn more money. Sadly, most do not do good with the millions (or billions) they earn.
We are addicted to the pipe dream of becoming a billionaire. The odds of any of us even becoming a measly millionaire is less than five percent for most people with a high school graduation, and less than 20 percent with a bachelor’s degree (if you are a person of color, that drops to less than four percent). Face it, most of us will never be millionaires, let alone billionaires. Although 60 percent of Americans think they can become a billionaire, the actual chance is 0.00000165 percent, which means it is nice to dream big, but you need to plan for reality.
We are addicted to cheap prices. Think of how many of us can’t stop shopping at WalMart or Amazon.
We are addicted to wanting quick information. When we ask a question, we want the answer in milliseconds, not hours or days.
We are addicted to instant gratification. Think how much is spent at GrubHub, InstaCart and Amazon. Or how many of us will go through self-checkout rather than wait for a live person to scan and bag for us.
We are slowly killing ourselves with these addictions, as often happens with all addictions if not stopped in time. These addictions are going to be the end of us.
Of the addictions above, the three worst are quick information, cheap prices, and instant gratification.
With the want of quick information, few of us check to see if the answer has been sponsored by someone and their agenda, nor fact check from different sources to make sure the information is accurate. This is why so much misinformation, disinformation, and flat out lies are believed by at least 30 percent of the adult population.
With the want of cheap prices, we are more than willing to overlook the bad actors, the billionaire class (maybe because we think we will be billionaires someday and want to do whatever we want without accountability), when making shopping decisions. We overlook the support of autocrats, of not paying a living wage, not providing benefits, not paying fair shares of taxes, and doing harm to us and the planet. As a whole, we couldn’t even limit our shopping to just local small businesses on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to send a message to the billionaires that the direction of the country is bad, which they are supporting.
With the instant gratification, almost the exact observation as cheap prices. We want it now and we want it cheap. Be damned the consequences of low wages, minimum hours, loss of jobs, and billionaires selling us out.
I recently wrote about the apathy of American society. Today’s writing and that post go hand in hand. As a whole, we don’t seem to be able, or choose not, to see the larger picture, only what is in front of us, and also ONLY if it directly affects us. This short-sightedness is helping to make things worse for all with little chance of getting better.
As I said then, I’ll say now, wake up people! What we are losing daily will take a long time to fix, but we need to stop it now to begin the repairs so our kids, grandkids, and so on can live a better life, a free life, a life in a democracy.
We need, sad to say, but must be said, to be okay with the pain it will take to fix what has been broken. But then again, as a society, we allowed it to become broken. We should shoulder the pain of fixing what has been broken. Otherwise you, and all of us, will pay the price.
Are you okay with that!?
I’ve often said we all need to be involved in saving democracy in the ways which fit our lives and our comfort levels. These can be blogging, reposting on social media, calling your elected officials, letters to the editor, donating to organizations, and/or marching in the streets. Nothing is too little or too much. Here are some ways to get involved whether from the comfort of your own homes, or on the streets, over the next few weeks:
Sign up for General Strike and commit to participating.
Download the app Five Calls to help let your elected officials know you are paying attention and don’t approve. Website: https://5calls.org/
Join a local group of Indivisible.
Participate in the action items of 50501: 50 Protests, 50 States, 1 Movement.
Continue to boycott companies who have bent the knee or no longer believe in equality. Don’t buy from national chains or companies, such as Target, Amazon, Tesla, Walmart, Apple, Disney and any others who are bending the knee and capitulating to authoritarianism and the billionaire class.
Write letters to your local papers expressing your disappointment and tell your stories of how the Republican administration is harming our families.
Do something, anything, peaceful to fight back!
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 