"i was with you up until this.... this kind of defeatism isn't helpful."
thats fair, i understand why you would think that, they spent billions if not trillions of dollars over generations to make us all think the same thing to be true.
i think not acknowledging the truth of how our system really works is more detrimental to a future worth living, than pretending that the comforting illusion of modern democracy is sufficient enough to make the lasting changes we need to survive the next century, and beyond. evidently speaking, it is not.
id argue that understanding the patterns of power and influence, especially in the age of technology and spin, isnt "defeatest", but the first step in enacting the vision of hope that we need to keep living. and that vision varies.
for me, its not left vs right, its up vs down. rich vs the poor. always has been, always will be. love, balance, and understanding, in the absence of greed, fear, and hatred of the unknown.
if we "cut off the head", the power is consolidated to another individual, or group, they inherit the illusion, and the pattern continues, like a hydra. so, the only real solution is to attack the body of it, the system itself.
but power is consolidated after every revolution, at every level, and the patterns continues again, and again, it happens often enough that it has been deemed a part of human nature. Enacted equality is only a flash in the pan in terms of recent human history. So, we need a readily designed system and decades of influence to bring the global population into agreement over what is truly best for humanity, and the world, without global cooperation there will be no lasting change, especially when it comes to wealth inequality. however we are far too divided, ideologically, culturally, physically, financially, to really make that work efficiently. there is no one answer that works for everyone that isnt part of some dystopian nightmare that erases the idea of individualism, or the self, entirely. however its arguable dependant on your world view that the self is an illusion of the ego, and that the ego is a mask for the divine, of which we are all one, splintered, and made to forget, for the sake of self exploration and the expansion of our combined consience. but thats not based in the material, and so should hold no sway over it, regardless of its truth or fallacy.
we arent the first species to "drop the ball" on this planet, and we will for sure not be the last if history has any merit to make that prediction.
so, we either destroy the system, let it destroy itself, or watch as it consumes everything around it, and splinter off into the stars, devouring everything in its path.
humans are bound by exchanging goods and services, for IOU's. our entire society, even in its most base, tribal elements, are ruled by this logic.
as long as that is true, no singular person is free from corruption. no system can save itself from eating its own tail. there is no world where our level of consumption can balance itself with the needs of the environment to sustain us.
as our "pot" slowly starts to boil, people, rich and poor, become more and more desperate, more willing to abandon morals for survival. over the next few decades we will see wars, famines, shortages, and shifts in the world order not seen since WW2.
the issue here is, we are not poised to be in a position of control over how that world order shifts, as regular people. our reach is small, and it would not be allowed to gain any traction beyond "controlled opposition" status if it broke out amongst the people. uncontrolled opposition is always crushed and villified.
i say this as someone in the far left camp, theres zero shot that human selfishness and greed, doesnt win over love and compassion, in a world where 1's and 0's dictate the outcome of someones quality of life. until we address which game we are really playing, we cannot change the rules in a meaningful way.
i have more doubt than hope, but im willing to be proved wrong a million times over.
if you got this far, and still have hope, make some friends, do your cardio, and practice your aim.
sarcasm, however, is a sign of intelligence, as is the ability to recognize it.