this is really the Gen-X crisis in a nutshell. the people who got high off of the idea that being well fed and safe and entertained was bad for the soul, and we need crisis to Live, contribute a significant portion of the forces now eager to burn down the nation

I've always been generally against most ideas for mandatory service, but holy fuck. Maybe I'm deeply wrong. Maybe _everyone_ should have to do a year of volunteer work in a war zone to get this shit out of their system.

"Big Brother isnt watching you, he's entertaining you." Uh, pretty sure youre thinking of Aldous Huxley there bud.

People trust pain more than joy. Carrots are better than sticks, for sure, but I would rather not be ridden at all.

It's the difference between Brave New World and 1984. Both are good books that describe different kinds of authoritarianism and dystopia. Huxley's critique applies better to the US.

It really is fascinating to look back on the fiction of the 80s and 90s that was certain that a middle-class job and a home in the suburbs was an absolutely horrid fate, best avoided.