Humans have been propagandized too hard into being selfish, low empathy and ableist to ever work together effectively. We will suffer under this system until collapse takes us out because we are that shitty at doing the one thing humans are supposed to be good at (working together to make our environments safe). In the current way of things, there is too much of an incentive to be selfish and too much of a punishment for basic decency.
There's almost a disgust towards altruism. We don't even bother lying to one an other about it being okay to ask for help any more. Instead we repeat the same old jaded conservative rhetoric, shrug our shoulders at those in need and say "Well life comes at you hard, toughen up buttercup!". I thought this obsession with calling everyone weak would die with boomers, but now every generation does it. Because why deal with a scary systemic problem when you can juat wipe your hands clean with the magic of personal responsibility? All it took was a few years of normalised atrocity porn on social media and selling cruelty as maturity and everyone decided to do the Goebbels shuffle.
Eugenics never died, we perform it every day when we decide an undesirable in need isn't worth the trouble. I feel like I'm surrounded by dangerous wild animals and yet every day I'm supposed to prove my worth to them. And god forbid my grown adult ass points this out because lord knows I should know how the "real world" works. I do, Karen, I just don't use my own lack of a spine and internalized fear of punishment as an excuse to justify systemic cruelty.
I think the thing that pisses me off is the smugness about it with these people, it's always "Heh, you'll give in and grow up eventually like the rest of us or die." That's not something to be smug about, that's just sad. Your compassion was stripped from you in order to protect yourself and that's sad.
I hate being negative like this so fuck it. Bloomer post coming soon.
I feel like there's something to be said in this: if being an evil and uncaring piece of shit rewards you and allows you to continue living, and trying to do good gets you punished or otherwise killed, then that would explain why good people seem so few and powerless. Thinking about it, if the good people keep dying and the bad ones keep living, then it's the bad ones who will establish the standards for future generations.
I see good people everywhere, there just aren't as many opportunities to be a good person as there are to be rewarded for being shitty. Like when I've fallen on my bike, people have helped me, or I saw an older person trip on a sidewalk and the people nearby instinctively stopped and helped. I think it's the natural instinct to help others in need, humans are a social species and wouldn't have succeeded without this drive, it's just beaten out of everyone by the pressures of our economic system. In spite of all the evil being rewarded, many people are struggling to make things better.