Bland as fuck CIS white guy here. They deserve as many throat punches (though maybe just a death stare is safer) as possible.
Also cats are better than most people.
I’m so sorry that we as a people seem to be hell bent on both halting progress and undoing what little we’ve had in the modern era. You deserve better.
It’s the standard narcissistic downward spiral more likely.
One of the sadly interchangeable bozos who inherited a lot of money and/or lucked his way into a fortune can keep the spastic ego weasels in their heads in control for a while. Or has a team of people to both manage their companies and public presence.
But as one starts to bridle under all of this undue control from outside forces, the madness comes to fore. They begin to lash out at the perceived slights, which ironically were always for them and their company’s protection, and it all snowballs from there. Worse, seeing another such oligarch do the mad jig seems to encourage the others that THEY shouldn’t be shackled either!
Musk was always a giant pile of shit. He was just well managed and in control of his inner demons enough to present a ‘pleasing’ facade. And being forced to buy twitter completely unmoored him from reality.
Zuckbot is an odd case… he’s an unmitigated monster, but seems to be enough in control that the downward slide hasn’t started. Yet.
Bezos was fine until Amazon became mega profitable and he got to live out his corrupt CEO dreams. Look at not only the legions of shattered humans left in the wake of Amazon, from drivers all the way to corporate, but what he did to William Shatner. While Shatner has been a weapons grade asshole for much of his life, seeing him humbled to the point of tears from finally going to ‘space’ only for Bezos to frat bro it up to make sure that HE was in the limelight was grotesque.
Spez has always wanted a seat at the big boy table. And has a long, long, long history of douchebaggery.
Trump isn’t even worth mentioning. I was an teen when he came to prominence in the 80s and even then it was absolutely fucking obvious that he was large mouth, larger ego all wrapped in an empty suit.
This isn’t all to say that there isn’t a conspiracy to destroy these services. Only that the more logical takeaway is that these awful men have always wanted to be the garbage fire they’ve become… and it was just a matter of time.
The true believers are absolutely part of it.
And as we enter the third wave of the Tea Party (MAGA chuds and now the Freedom Caucus), the cynical despots at the reins have been replaced by a LOT of true believers who are both dumb as a post and have drunk all of the Flavor Aid.
But there are still plenty of Phyllis Schlafly types in the party. Hardened opportunists with nothing more than a deep hunger for power, and no moral compass.
As an elderly person who has been online 30+ years, I am so unbelievably exhausted by the endless sea of power hungry technophobes that somehow float to the top of government.
I hate to go for the tired old saw of ‘no more old people’, especially since we have a fresh crop of younger (under 50) people who are just as stupid, venal and completely lost around anything more technologically complex than a cup of water… but maybe we should stop electing and re-electing people who are old enough to have considered retirement in the private sector a decade or two prior?
As for the Heritage Foundation. Other than the very small handful of ‘reasonable’ conservative groups (aka those being targeted by the GQP as a whole such as Log Cabin Republicans), they’re all going mask off. And have been since 2016.
Pro forced birthers don’t care.
Not even in a ‘the cruelty IS the point’ way, though obviously sex is bad and suffering must happen to women (in their world view).
They don’t care because it’s a numbers game. Some women will die. Some will be maimed to the point where they can no longer conceive.
Those women don’t matter. Only the endless brood mares who are pumping out kids. Sure a few will suffer, and ‘blah blah gods plan’, but they aren’t part of the equation. The mass of humans being pumped out who will fodder for the corporate grist mill, or failing that filling the ranks of military or prisons.
I guess I’ve been ‘lucky’ to be formerly part of an almost completely outsourced profession (IT) since right around when it was getting outsourced. So it’s all sadly old hat to me… not an endorsement, simply a tired observation.
The last 7(ish) years of watching people in my life who appeared ‘normal’ slide into full throated endorsement of fascism has been both fascinating and absolutely horrifying. I hate the thought of cutting some of them out of my life, but haven’t hesitated for a moment to do so.
It sucks and I’m so sorry you’re going through this.
In a similar vein, I vaguely remember a sociological tract detailing the value of psychopathy in ye olden times (think at the tribal level) as they both want power and are willing to make the hard choices that others might be too empathetic to do.
But their continued existence and proliferation among certain sectors (business, politics, religion) has become a detriment.
Every single week there’s a new bombshell detailing the pervasive corruption in the supreme court. And nothing happens. We are stuck with these tyrants until (a) the court is packed/expanded as threatened by Roosevelt in the 30s and noised about by the left during the 2020 election cycle or (2) they start dying off and aren’t replaced by more fascists.
At least the interests behind them are completely cognizant of what they’re doing.
The assault by Moms for Liberty and their other less ‘insane’ kin on school boards across the nation is honestly terrifying. And just so well coordinated.
I recently listened to a delightful pair of Behind the Bastards episodes (a podcast I can’t possibly recommend enough) about Jack Welch, the darling of the modern C-suite and those aspiring to such.
The way he shaped modern capitalism to the detriment of all is terrifying. But the hilarious aside is much he was like Trump, Musk, Zuckbot, spez and all the rest. A raging little boy who has been dealt some insignificant slight, generally imagined, who wants to burn down the world as a result.
But, since this was entirely in the pre-Internet era, and he was mostly a darling of the press when interviewed for his pithy anecdotes about how to business, it mostly flew under the radar. The modern hyper toxic tech bro CEO or his presumptively dumber and louder counterparts who have still stumbled into social media is nothing new. They are just airing their dirty laundry in the public square with a much bigger megaphone.
Konsi is adorable!
Reminds me of a halfling cleric I played back in Pathfinder. Always adopting strays (orc slaves) and trying to go the most non-violent route possible.