People in the depression definitely worked harder than people do now. Jobs were like “selling tomatoes from a cart” and “guy who sands the paint off old boxes to sell them as new ones”.
The 60s and 70s were a time of unprecedented increase in standard of living for many people in the US. You could see the Rolling Stones live for like $5, and pay for a car (in full) with a part time job. We are not going to see that again, so don’t compare life now to that.
Well that was wild. I think the best thing to remember from this is that religion is not going to give you “advice” like a friend would. The Bible doesn’t know whether you should get a different job. It’s not logical, it’s emotional.
If a loved one dies or you have to make a tough moral decision, that’s where it can help. Same with any philosophy. You wouldn’t ask Immanuel Kant some boring question, so why ask God? No He doesn’t care about your football game. Sorry.
the Chinese civil war was not fought with ballots or debates, it was fought with guns, on both sides.
Ultimately, the people with the guns hold all political power in society.
That directly contradicts Mao’s idea that guerillas are supported by the people they live with. If the people withhold support, guerillas become like a fish out of water. Ordinary people (without guns) actually exercise more power in this scenario.
By focusing on guns instead of class, you are not using a Marxist or Neo-Marxist framework to analyze the civil war. You are using a Realist or Neo-Realist framework, similar to Henry Kissinger. Marxist frameworks believe class is much more important than guns.
The statement “political power flows from the barrel of a gun” is almost anti-Marxist in the way it completely ignores class conflict.
Well these questions are mostly for people to LARP about how tough and self-sufficient they are. No, society wouldn’t collapse because we didn’t have electricity for 99% of our time on Earth. Electricity was a luxury as recently as 100 years ago.
Number one issue is, can electronics be fixed? If yes, temporary issue. If not, and we are literally without power (for some magical reason) we just need a million more horses to cart food around. There wouldn’t be much looting. The new iPhone won’t work and how are you going to get away with anything bigger? Guns and locks still work without electricity.
I personally would start buying up property from people ignorantly fleeing cities. Most major cities are built on great harbors or waterways for sail and steam ships. People will try to farm, fail at it, and just buy from farmers like before. Food will move by boat first to major ports. Every prepper in the middle of nowhere will sit in a bunker eating canned vegetables while the rest of the world goes on with their lives.
You don’t actually need Facebook and Tik Tok. You won’t die without it. You’ll just read the same gossip in a magazine.