Why subscribe? LOL. Indeed. Why?
Marketing is not my thing. Especially since the psychological advances of the last 30 to 50 years, thanks to the influence of America’s legion of voracious marketers, has not been focused on helping people find meaning and contentment in their lives. Hell no! because well-adjusted people don’t buy shit they don’t need. They don’t buy trash quality, or planned obsolescence.
Shit, if people were psychologically well, and not hollow inside, filled only with a ravenous desire to somehow fill the emptiness inside, they might stop and think about what it means, in a world of finite resources, to live in a system painstakingly designed to make everything disposable, maximizing waste and burning through said finite resources many times faster than is necessary, or that makes any sense.
Psychologically fit people might be better at maintaining relationships, and find themselves fulfilled by connection with others rather than isolated, lonely, and shopping for shit they don’t need at Wal-Mart at 3am. They might wonder why living in homes with larger, more economical groups is unusual, even in a housing shortage, and why more builders are not taking advantage of the inflated prices due to short supply, and getting rich while restoring balance to the supply and demand curves.
They might wonder why over 50 years, while productivity went up 290%, wages only went up
Here’s the one that’s a real kick in the knackers:
Oh, but wait:
So - while producing 3.9 times as much, workers are receiving .15 times as much. So where’d the other 275% go? That money is being generated, every year, by US workers. Where’s it go?
If the fruits of economic growth are not going to workers, where are they going?
Of course, the workers don’t bother to learn these realities, or bother to protest, as long as marketers keep them focused on watching adults play schoolyard ball games. “But at like, a really intense level, they are pushing the boundaries of human physical accomplishment!” Oh yeah? To what benefit, other than the obscene wealth of the obscenely wealthy owners? Will America’s fascination with grown men and women chasing balls around fields and courts solve food insecurity in the US? Cure cancer? Inspire the youth to pursue an education so they have a chance to cure cancer?
Ha - quite the opposite. Show me a male in grade 4 to college graduation who doesn’t value sports over learning. Who are our highest paid public officials? College coaches. The machine that dangles a distracting, impossible dream that, when the bubble bursts, leaves depressed, disillusioned people who prioritized running after balls over education (because the < 1% chance of becoming a pro athlete is clearly a more sensible option than focusing on education while in school - like their parents told them) and are now prime fodder to work to generate 275% more wealth than they are compensated for, and then give pretty much all of it back to those who engineered our “best system in the world. But don’t worry about that. Who’s playing tonight? I want to sit passively and drink poison while watching others exert themselves impressively to no real effect other than individual wealth for a minuscule number of people.
But - if you got money, and aren’t enraged by a realistic assessment of America’s sports psychosis, sure, pay for a subscription. Or get a free one and get… something.
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