2025 - The State of the World
Meiomei ...
Those are the only “syllables” that come to mind right now when I think about the current state of the world.
First, let’s talk about the far right: The Nazis are essentially divided into two camps. On the one hand, there are a few malicious, power-hungry people who, unfortunately, are also intelligent enough to carry out their plans. On the other hand, there are a multitude of the aforementioned followers who, due to a lack of intelligence, are completely blinded and follow their fabricated, despicable ideologies.
How do these “evil ones” manage to persuade a terrifying number of mentally deficient people to follow them?
It all boils down to the concept of distinction: setting oneself apart from others is a simple, evolutionary, human reflex that, unfortunately, has absolutely nothing to do with logic. People need friends, groups, and a sense of social unity. But they also need their enemy stereotypes. Unfortunately, this is true for EVERY ONE of us when it comes to our own self-image and self-assertion. We watch soccer—city against city, country against country—and cheer on our “heroes.” But even during a Bayern vs. Milan match, a derogatory term like “damn Spaghettis” is bound to slip out. Or soldiers march enthusiastically off to war and kill enemies with whom they’ve never exchanged a word. “That man over there is our enemy and must be eliminated!”
All orchestrated by the villains, who meanwhile are living it up and seizing power and money for themselves. Legitimized corruption included! Because even in wars, for those who start them, it’s ultimately all about money and power.
In the U.S., even back in the days of slavery, Black people were the oppressed and exploited. They still are to some extent today, but in this sense, they no longer represent the enemy. The new enemy is immigrants: Africans, Asians, and Latinos—people of other skin colors—who are now being hunted down by Trump’s henchmen and put in internment camps or deported out of the country.
In their hate campaigns, the far right does not shy away from any form of vile defamation, slander, or fake news. Being evil has become socially acceptable, at least since Donald Trump: “Take whatever you want!” And even the time-honored “martial law” has lost all its boundaries—“Genocide tolerated, permitted!”
And when one is forced to witness and endure these witch hunts against unwelcome, unwanted foreigners in the media that have not yet been occupied, it serves as a terrifying reminder of our Hitler-era Nazi Germany.
Spain still has a social democratic government. But it is under extreme pressure, especially since the right is forming a coalition with the far right (which, fortunately, has not happened in Germany so far). It is important to know that after Franco’s fall, the Spanish right was largely formed by members of the Franco regime who, to this day, claim power and money for themselves. And these unscrupulous people will stop at nothing to destroy their opponents.
Bottom line:
After World War II, the Americans established capitalism in Western Europe thanks to their newfound power. “Everything works better when trade and productivity are directed by private hands!” In principle, not the worst idea.
But capitalism has spiraled completely out of control through all these new mechanisms (e.g., platforms and companies like Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, X, and Starbucks, etc.), along with greed, corporate consolidation, and the erosion of the “working class’s” sense of identity. These days, “class consciousness” is mostly limited to the rich and/or the right-wing. Socially oriented measures like the minimum wage are merely a drop in the bucket, intended to keep our society at least somewhat on track.
Taking it a step further …
Low-wage earners today may strive for a better quality of life, but they squander their meager money on expensive cell phones to take selfies on cheap vacations, with the goal of impressing their friends.
Meanwhile, thanks to junk food, they’re getting fatter and fatter, and with the money they’ve barely managed to save, they buy their equally overweight children nonsensical brand-name items like exorbitantly overpriced sneakers, etc., as well as expensive skin creams to protect against sunburn and the risk of skin cancer caused by climate change, which can no longer be stopped.