Unsettled Earth

Why the world will crash and burn by 2050

Before the reader gets up in arms about some “end of the world” or “apocalypse” prediction, that is not what this blog is about. This blog post will simply analyze several cultural factors which are currently leading us towards a reshifting or reorganizing of society, and how they will explode in the next 40ish years.

One of the biggest factors in social upheaval at this moment is that this current generation is peeking behind the viel of the American capitalist dream which was set before our grandparents, and we’re seeing its empty promises for what they are. Two generations ago, the dream was alive and well. The dream went something like this: “Get born -> Get Educated -> Get Specially Educated -> Get a well-paying job -> Financial Security -> Family, Trips, Retirement -> Long life and a good death.” And for our grandparents generation, this was true. They lived in a burgeoning north america where entrepaneurs and local business were demanding professionals of every single discipline. If you were educated, you WOULD have a job it’s as simple as that.

However, things started to shift with our parents generation. Because of the ridiculous amount of personal wealth and prosperity, our parents generation became one of the most selfish and self-serving generations which have ever existed. The American Dream became “streamlined”. The high value of marriage and family became side-lined because of the desire for personal wealth. Children and Spouses were simply to encumbering to be apart of the dream. While many held on to vestiges of the family and marital values, many were willing to sacrifice them for the sake of the dream. (Which is why our generation has inherited one of the most broken family situations that has ever been recorded). Another shift which happened in our parents generation was the “business shift”. It was no longer good enough to be the expert helping a local business and getting paid fair wages, because all the experts and professionals saw how their bosses were reaping the cash, and paying out minimally to their employees. So the intelligent experts which were once fair paid partners and employees now were breaking away from their old companies and starting their own. This trend was brought out of the aforementioned selfish desire for personal wealth. So what we inherited from this trend is that the “business degree” and the “business man” were now replacing the professional or the expert of a certain field.

Now comes along our generation, one of the most angsty and jaded generations yet. We have inherited the myth of the american dream but nothing more. No longer does good education equate to a good job, no longer does a good job equate to a good life (in fact, many are in contradiction with one another now). We have experienced all the bankruptcy of both our grandparents and our parents generations, and feel as though we can do nothing about it. We are so mixed up in the myth of the american dream, but we are feeling NONE of it’s benefits. We watch as billion dollar playboys strut around as poster boys for what is impossible for 99%. In our generation it does not pay to become educated, it only pays to somehow exploit the system more than our competitors. The corporations of our generation do not want experts in a field, they do not want professionals, they want cattle. Unintelligent, low functioning robots who can be cheaply paid to work outrageously while they reap the benefits. AND OUR GENERATION SEES THIS! We are not like our parents who still retained some vestiges of benefit from the system, we are a surpressed generation.

For these reasons and more, I argue that there will be a gigantic social and economic upheaval in the next 40 years, minimum. It will likely be violent, although I do not desire any such upheaval. Our generation is growing restless against the growing “Corportocracy” or a government run by rich corporations, and the empitness of their promises for good life. We grow restless against the seeming impossibility of living a different life apart from our money hungry overlords. Mark my words, there will be upheaval on a scale which we have never known in America.