sometimes you're faced with overwhelming darkness. when the obscure suffering that consumes this world pierces the thick and illusory middle-class bubble of plenty, all the normal western excuses crumble under the weight of our pure animal natures. our interactions as great apes often seem to prove that culture is more or less an accident, and a happy one if you're at the top of the social ladder. any construct tacked on after the ladder is established is just a mechanism to keep those on top from falling into the unwashed classes below.
alphas don't play with betas, you see.
the irony of this sticky little dream of social order is probably always felt most accutely by those citizens of an empire that is falling apart. adults teach children to live as they live, and so keep the world as it is. adults teach children that stasis is a reality, and dedication to tradition can extend that stasis into infinity. but when the great beast life begins to lurch and sputter, like it occasionally must, especially under the weight of an intelligence-imposed bureaucracy, all the comforting little rituals in the world will not stop any civilization from succumbing to whatever barbarians lie waiting at their gate.
and there are always barbarians at the gate, don't you know.
alphas don't play with betas, you see.
the irony of this sticky little dream of social order is probably always felt most accutely by those citizens of an empire that is falling apart. adults teach children to live as they live, and so keep the world as it is. adults teach children that stasis is a reality, and dedication to tradition can extend that stasis into infinity. but when the great beast life begins to lurch and sputter, like it occasionally must, especially under the weight of an intelligence-imposed bureaucracy, all the comforting little rituals in the world will not stop any civilization from succumbing to whatever barbarians lie waiting at their gate.
and there are always barbarians at the gate, don't you know.
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There were barbarians at the gates of Rome for years before they were finally able to get in and sack the city. I sometimes wonder what barbarians await us outside our gates.
cicero suggested that the true barbarians were already inside the gates, in the halls of power, actively working to destroy society for their own ends. of course, cicero was kind of a dick, but there's a "suburb" of chicago named after him that's grimy as fuck, so there's that.
danka fer the welcomes and friendings. i'll try to say more interesting things, or, in lieu of that, just bitch and moan about the state of the universe. it's kind of what i do.