Dynasty of Dystopia

We hail from a world of mass death and fear. 150 years ago things were pretty grim. We'd pop out 15 babies each and most of 'em would die, it was a struggle to maintain the population. Raising capable, life loving children who were going to be hard and able to survive this world was paramount. 

We built character once, we woke up, it was freezing, we shat in an outhouse 10 yards outside the house in the snow, and no one thought to complain about it, because there was no improving it.

There was a turn in our society, there was a point in humanity where we reached a point we no longer had to kill one another to survive, in a fight for resources. And during this turn, we had strong capable people with a thirst for competency, a love of meaning of life, a shared appreciation of all things comfortable and luxurious, and from this group all wholly appreciated hard work and talent, was born our modern media empires.

News organizations that were mandated to service the public to guard them from tyrannical government, music groups that sought to teach people culture, and more advanced humanity above our base natures. Cooking stars, actors, politicians, CEOs, animators, car manufacturers, were all creating things exciting and new, pioneering no ways of doing things.

We as a people were THIRSTING to empower one another to do great new things, we celebrated hard work and capability. Those in control of the levers of society were entrusted with them not because they were the descendent of some dynasty, we don't celebrate kings and kings here! They rose up the ranks by busting their ass harder than all the rest, by giving more of a damn and achieving heights of talent never before seen before. Pioneers like Walt Disney, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Whitney Houston, The Beatles, Marlon Brando, and on and on and on.

There was a global directive, there was a PURPOSE to our society, there was a self governance to ensure sanity. We understood how just above the poverty line we were, just a generation before things were much darker. And under the stewardship of these hard working, talented people, we were happy, we were optimistic, we were on an upward trajectory to use our new found capabilities to foster EVEN BETTER institutions, BETTER technology, al in service of humanity as a whole to fight the darkness.

Imagine you're the descendent of Walt Disney, your grandpa was  a hard working perfectionist with never-ending demands. You have to uphold the Disney brand! You have a duty to humanity to keep the prosperity going!

You didn't ask for this! You didn't want to be charged with this! You were born into wealth, you don't have to work hard, that's what the plebs do! Your talent doesn't matter, you have an endless well of family funds that you can enjoy your entire life. 

You have that safety net, you have a failsafe. You grew up in luxury, it's all you've ever known. You have no appreciation for life, you have no appreciation for hard work, and amongst your peers, you actually begin to resent those who were like your forefathers. Those who expect you to work hard, those who value grit and determination and the character that you never had to build.

And thus began our Dynasty of Dysfunction. Spoiled brats born into the means of production with no respect for our better natures.

We were capable of so much more... the trajectory of progress instead of shooting up like a rocket, now flatlines and declines with the smarm, and the hubris, and the spite of modern tribalism.

We no longer see ourselves in accordance along lines of work ethic, along lines of talents, we now see us and them purely as animals. Who's on my team? Who else will help me horde all the good and luxuries we were born with? Who will uphold the status quo in which the disparities of wealth are maintained?

These are the descendants of the Dynasty of Dysfunction. The wokeness, the push to AI, the absolute drive to eradicate all traces of our better natures, a mad dash to destroy all things that are human and good to preserve for all eternity this microscopic breadth of rank Versailles fashioned virtue.

So the next time you go to work, and you wonder why your ethics aren't valued, when you go to school and the systems deny your a grant, or admittance to the prestigious University, when you watch a shit Marvel movie or hear that crappy, hollow pop song from Taylor Swift while she twerks the message to vote for her virtuous candidate of choice, remember we are capable of more. Remember that there is the potential to enact a brighter future, a more intelligible one, a more decent one, and one of greater meaning for all.

The games industry is dying, Hollywood is dying. Now is the time for us to know where we came from, and to understand why things started to become dark, divided... Things have been worse, we've overcome perils far more dangerous than a silly culture war. It's time for us to remember who we are, and what we are capable of.

We got to build some character over the past few years. We got to build some appreciation for how things used to be. And if we don't allow that to stifle us, it makes us stronger, it builds a resolve and it compels us to work hard again, and to empower those who roll up their sleeves and get to work building humanity once again, like the good ol' days.

Just a little pep talk for the Geeks and Gamers out there in this sea of petulance that the future isn't written in stone, culture changes by inches most generations, and sometimes there is a tremulous shift. We don't know what the future holds, but we are in control of it, if we can reach down and find that dying fire that was carried so mindfully by generations past.