Another armed conflict in the Middle East! Strangely, I get the distinct feeling we’ve seen this movie before. Oh yeah, I used the word ANOTHER because we have seen this movie before.
In the realm of ideas that the peddlers of bullshit conspiracy theorists have that have a kernel of truth is the psyop, of psychological operation. And there’s not much more for promotion of a good push to the extreme than a good war. I’m fresh off a quick trip to YouTube and Facebook and the confirmation bias based vibes are heavy. Not so much based on the content of the messages, but the number and content of the replies. You can put up an anti Trump video and receive nothing but positive feedback. Starkly contrasted by something what I saw on Facebook. Our purple state governor’s thoughts about the downside of the conflict met with over 10,000 comments, almost all of which were negative. The trolls needed some action. Which is at least partly why the conflict was initiated. Keep the working class busy with immediacy to fail looking at the long term bigger picture.
I’ve been keeping tabs on some former employers and things are not going well. Publicly they are moving people out of positions they were initially hired for to fill the gaps. Turnover is through the roof. Every time a major news event happens (e.g. Charlie Kirk) there is a barrage of new for the moment but rooted in “we’ve seen this movie before” commentary. “I don’t want my children and grandchildren to grow up in a world like this.” Yet, the psyop and the psychological tricks have worked their magic for generations. The immediacy of not paying bills is obvious. The long term military and industrial complex government waste is ignored. You get to be unhappy about the effects without having a clue for the causes.
Amidst the Facebook comments, wow there are a lot of Constitutional law experts creeping about. Obama did war, and nobody said anything as a defense to Trump doing war and wasting money. Sometimes, different people can make the same bad decisions and both be wrong. Like Bill Clinton and Trump both being in the Epstein files. But enough about the high end stuff at the top of the political food chain. Back to employers, the ones that are providing the middle class jobs that are increasingly not leading to economic stability.
In my view there are three main categories of remaining Trump supporters and critics within the employers. Never mind the Facebook and YouTube commentary crowds. Social media has always been a haven for fake intellectual. Actual real life stuff, when tariffs, high unemployment, stagnant wages, deliberately misreported statistics, market bubbles hit the bottom line. The angry and perpetually unhappy working class they see daily. How do they choose a side to be on? That is if they do ever pick a side.
It’s also noteworthy that in this day the number of people turning against President #45/47 versus those deciding that now is the time to switch to Trump is increasingly skewed towards turning away. Is starting another expensive and sure to be unpopular waste of money war going to work? Or is it just a momentary psyop reprieve before the next crisis gets mishandled?
Type 1
The middle of the road. More interested in surviving the storm that’s here now and waiting it out. Fully capable of making rational and calm decisions that aren’t solely motivated by exploitation of their workers. A perfectly acceptable and logical position. They themselves are victims of the tug of war. Trying to cater to some employees that, for example, genuinely think immigrants are ruining the country while others are like themselves. Wait and see. Not getting involved and remaining aloof from the big picture. I’m happy to report that when I touch grass and go see a movie or drop by the local library or club that most people near me seem to be uninterested in doing the social media attack dog routine.
Type 2
The ever popular, “Oh No My InVeStMeNts” crowd. No need to recreate the wheel here. One of picks for down to earth younger generation YouTube content creators summed it up pretty well here:
The thumbnail for the video is classic. F**k You Got Mine. Targeted at selfish boomers, and he’s not wrong. Although I’d add that early Gen X jumped on this train with the rise of personal computers. These type of people do not realize how unconvincing their arguments are. If it’s not fascism, it at least rhymes with it. Corporate profits above long term success of a younger generation are not important thoughts to be dwelled on.
Type 3
Compassion fatigue. Also part of the rhymes with fascism even if it’s not psyop design. Dropping out of society and “good men doing nothing to stop evil lets evil win” lifestyle. Typically compassion fatigue relates to something like health care. The overworked nurse that started by wanting to help people getting burned out by the constant trauma. Any high stress job that requires a degree of empathy is a victim. A school teacher. A veterinarian. A police officer. A rental agent in a diverse housing community. Anything that requires dealing with a large group of people made up of a wide variety of personalities and cultural backgrounds can be a victim of compassion fatigue. By design, earning a paycheck just to survive becomes more important than actually giving a damn. Think of this as F**k You, Don’t Got Mine But Its Not My Problem Anymore.
As for providing a role model to youth goes, Types 2 and 3 are pretty terrible.
