Apparently We're All Suckers and Chumps

By TLS

This one annoys me greatly. It also annoys me how much air, or click, time this gets in the mainstream. I saw it again just the other night in an Instagram video titled something like ‘Student creates game that proves the rich control the poor.’

If ever there was a reason for a deep sigh while pinching the bridge of one’s nose, this is it. This statement is stupid, while obvious, it’s wrong, while also correct.

Most of the claims I see usually, heavily, imply the poor are the bulk of the mindless masses. But specifically, dumb, ignorant, and blind to the marionette strings directing their lives by their evil overlords, sitting on dark thrones twisting the ends of their mustaches.

First, let’s get the most obvious out of the way. Yes, the rich steer the ship. If someone has trouble grasping that concept or is unable to come to terms with that reality, wellll, too bad! Guess what? Regardless of what you may have been told as a child, not everyone is equal and life most certainly is not fair. Suck it up buttercup!

Additionally what these claims often heavily imply is a nefarious deep-state mind control organization directing all our lives from the shadows. Yes, there are plenty of ‘secret’ organizations in the world. Some are more successful and influential than others. Most however are simply inept and serve only as their own echo chamber.

Organizations, you know, the kind with actual real people in them? They are difficult to run, manage, fund, and operate. Hollywood makes it look easy, simple, and successful. That’s Hollywood, which is ok (sort of) at doing fiction, they really struggle though with reality and accuracy.

Trolls and conspiracy theorists love to spin stories about how we (not them of course) are all just tools and toys for the elite’s use and entertainment. Do the higher, and highest, rungs on the socioeconomic ladder have a bigger say in how society operates? Well, yes. Money equals influence, access, and power. To suggest otherwise would be severely naive.

But, do I believe for an instant the wealthy are moving the rest of us around like pawns on a chessboard? Or like Gary Oldman’s character in The Fifth Element? Not even a little bit. Everyone is trying to push society in one direction or another and some may have more pushing power. But millions of others are pushing in an opposite direction, or at least a slightly different direction, and this is a difficult force to overcome.

Trolls and conspiracy theorists love to blame problems on secret evil shadowy organizations. That can make for a fun exciting fiction while living in mom’s basement. Reality however, is usually a lot more complicated and far more nuanced than that simple story. And a complicated, nuanced reality is not something that fits in well with the evil overlord story.

Acknowledging that everyone else is just trying to do their own thing and get by in this world takes the ‘blame’ off of others. It can also, possibly, shine a bright spotlight on the inconvenient fact that living in mom’s basement may not be as righteous and all-knowing a position as it seems when the only light in the room is usually from a computer monitor while a troll is clubbing away on a keyboard.

If you’re tired of lazy conspiracy narratives, share this piece with someone who needs a reminder that the world is complex, not scripted. And if you want more unfiltered takes like this, consider subscribing. Free is the concert, paid is the backstage pass.

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