ritch-22

Perhaps the greatest catch-22 in human history is that poor people don't have the wherewithal to change the world...and rich people don't have the desire. What is being rich? It's the easiest life on this planet. In a million ways. And yet ultimately being rich is...stressful. Could there possibly be any more damning testimony against our current social order? Those with the easiest lives are unhappy. Poor people understand how wrong things are. I mean fundamentally, back-to-the-drawing-board wrong. Yet should a poor person ever become rich, a very singular mental paralysis kicks in - a combination of fear and selective memory makes them feel that this world CAN be saved...as long as we don't do anything radical. But radical change is all that stands between us and the end of mammalian life on this rock.
Ask a rich person whether their life is hard. At first, they'll demur. Yet most of them, with little prompting, will soon be happy to offer you a litany of woes. But suggest any sort of reality that removes them from their wealth, and the most seamless rationalization machine you've ever seen will kick into high gear before your eyes. Even if they were once poor, and saw with perfect clarity the absolute inhumanity of this world, they will now argue that the suffering of the many for the sake of the few is...right. Don't hate them, don't try to save them. If you were in their shoes, you too would suddenly believe that what you once understood with perfect clarity, is now wrong.
Perhaps you're one of those who believe that the world is okay? Disturbing yes, horrific sure, incalculably unjust...yet we're, uh, getting by? Yes, getting by, it's not so bad. We've got chocolate, beer, and blow jobs! Maybe we should try all three at once! And maybe for a few weeks when you were twenty-five, you felt like you were truly loved and understood. Never mind every other day before or since...just a dry patch, right?
Well, no.
An illustration - most people would agree that being single is hard. An ass-kicking, degrading, hollow-stomach freak show. But then things fall in line, and you get...married! Leaving all that misery behind, yes? It must be true, you saw it in a movie. But there comes a time in the life of every married person when they suddenly understand that BEING MARRIED IS HARDER THAN BEING SINGLE. What?? How can that be? But you push those thoughts away, because of the heady cocktail of social stigma and a lifetime of pro-marriage propaganda. And then...you become a parent. Finally, something pure and good. The most rewarding thing you'll ever do, so they all say. But then, a month or a year later, you wake up in the night with the paralyzing realization...PARENTING IS HARDER THAN BEING MARRIED. Not even close, really. Suddenly, all the things you were taught are the exact opposite...and it's a progression that's always one step ahead of YOU.
Having a family is hard. Not having a family is hard. Having a job is hard. Not having a job is hard. Getting drunk is hard. Not getting drunk is hard.
What does ANY of this have to do with rich people and that catch-22, you scream???
Only everything.
Being rich is about selling...an idea, a cookie, a widget. Ultimately, selling yourself. And it turns out that everything in this world we've created is a reflection of that paradigm. Sell it. Sell it again. Sell it every moment of every day. Sell sell sell...YOURSELF, until you die. Then, when you can no longer breathe...take a breath(?)
This paradigm has pushed us into a reality in which everything has a price. Dreams, integrity, your children's future...sold.
Gone.
Poor people can't change the world. Rich people don't want to.
Kiss a mammal today. They don't have many todays left.