Hopium

 Hopium is considered by many, myself included to be a dangerous addiction.  It’s time to break out the liberal side of the grifting world, so a bit of background to reintroduce some personal opinions and deliver background.

If there’s something really nutty presented as a fact, in the disguise of a “what if this conspiracy is true?”, format it almost always comes from conservatives.  Thoroughly debunked, totally anti scientific, even labeled as so obviously ridiculous a toddler could see through it.  But, if there’s any new story that shows the perpetrators have gone too far and are finally getting their comeuppance, the liberals latch on to it and spread.  Almost always before actual facts show the story to be true.  A sense of justice, or hope, that criminals will finally be prosecuted or people will finally leave the cult after realizing how destructive it is - that’s a good thing, right?

Well if taken too far it’s a bad thing.  And being in super repetitive mode here, for a needed sense of cooperation by those in charge where the correct answer on economic and social issues it’s a barrier.  There’s a thing called hyper empathy which describes the mindset where someone gets so wrapped up in helping others their own quality of life suffers.  Think second mortgage on the home to donate the money to the disaster victims.

I trust you’ve heard of the story of Pandora’s Box.  And I’m happy to report that while researching for this post it may be more correct to call it a jar instead of a box.  The Internet does have good information out there if one knows where to look.  I never knew that until today.  Although it’s a classic story it is widely open to interpretation.  Does it represent the cruelty of releasing all the evil in the world without hope remaining stuck in the box?  Is it an apocalypse story?  What if excessive hope on impossible problems is so bad it’s the nastiest thing in the box and even the gods weren’t that cruel?

My main takeaway is more mundane than most of the speculation surrounding the meaning.  Simply put, even the ancient civilizations recognized there’s a lot of shit wrong in the world that they don’t have control over, exactly like the modern day conspiracy grifters.  If the best you have to offer is a story of pointing out there are obviously things wrong in the world without offering up any kind of solution, you really haven’t done much.

I’ve seen Hopium in action in my personal life.  Those awareness walks for cancer and other diseases, the awareness is all well and good.  Inevitably a form of fatigue sets in where even the most diehard early members you had join the cause don’t stick it out more than a couple of years.  These usually originate by someone suffering a more personal tragedy that relates to a societal problem.  They have a core group of friends that empathize and get all fired up to help their mate.  Those friends in turn will generate monetary support by signing up more tangential friends outside the original group.

It’s the same pyramid as the conspiracy grifting scam:

Top grifter - recruits loyal gung ho middle level people to spread the message.

Middle level - recruits newbies to suck money from or encourage to up their game to become middle level

Bottom level - grist for the mill.

Sure it would be great to see someone like a popular but obviously corrupt politician get their just desserts of a lengthy stay in jail, but does that really solve all the problems that were released from the box?  Can one person do it all?  Do you really need to make it your life’s mission to combat this, ignoring having any semblance of fun or entertainment?  Are you prepared to sacrifice your personal happiness for “the cause”?

The left wing Hopium grifters follow the same format as the right wing.  There’s somebody who obviously has engaged in problematic behavior the average person doesn’t understand how they get away with.  Why does Trump get to cheat on his taxes, but not me?  There’s ALWAYS someone in the news to pick.  Sure you know the big names - Trump, Greene, Santos, Boebert.  What you don’t get to see is so much of the local council person types that get the same treatment.  Those folks are constantly asking for money to combat the “evil”other side on a daily basis.  And you’re not a truly good person unless you associate with your group by proving your loyalty - with money.  And along the way, it’s oh so handy to create arbitrary scapegoats the same as the right wing conspiracy grifters.  Hey there, guy who just donated $100 to help Frisch defeat Boebert!  Arnie Average (who like all people has a mix of good and bad qualities and may in fact be deemed a good person by most people) wants to be on the city board!  And he’s a frigging REPUBLICAN!!!  Give me money.  The arbitrary scapegoat by association and not facts.

Another bit of anecdotal evidence.  Within my belief system is this apparently crazy idea that kids getting shot at school, even the wasted resources on combating the potentiality of kids getting shot at school, is a bad thing.  So, I signed my name to a petition for Sandy Hook promise, knowing full well what was about to happen.  Non stop fundraisers, even post Alex Jones conviction for mega dollars.  Almost all of the emails began with, “Hey, we noticed you have donated to XXXX.”  Or “We’re short of our goal of…”. Or both.  I got an email at least once a week until I finally unsubscribed.”

Then, since the algorithms decided I was associated with that cause I MUST be associated with other, similar hopium related causes.  Ugggh.  Yes, Alice.  There is a Hopium rabbit hole, too.  All leading to the same mental states of paranoia and depression of not being able to do enough to combat the ills of the world, because the sense of urgency is the message.  Do it today, make that knee jerk emotional reaction.

These are thoughts to keep in mind as the society at large inept structure of insurance industries are about to get a slap in the ass for dealing with hurricane damage by calculating out CEO bonuses.  GoFundMe is one of the biggest insurers on the planet, since your beloved Aunt’s chemotherapy is way more expensive than your crappy work health insurance can pay out.  Effective solutions require a cooperative group effort and time.