Western “I’m not dying for this shit” mindset.
Your people actually have to feel positively about your society to lay down their lives for it. What the capitalists haven’t realised is that atomising society has caused this, in the past it was the sense of community that brought people together to still feel like there was something worth defending. Now? Nobody has that. It was destroyed. And with it they also destroyed the thing that gave them the ability to wage war with significantly more engagement from the population.
I suspect some of the push to reintroduce religion in the west is to try and rebuild community that was lost through this atomisation process.
What was it that Thatcher said; “there’s no such thing as society, only families and individuals”
Well they got their wish, why would individuals and families die for something even the elites don’t believe in
Yeah that’s exactly what I’m getting at. There’s nothing left to fight for, they took it away.
It’s kind of funny that she was such a reactionary that she couldn’t even commit to the galaxybrain stirner bit, because “families” are also a social construct, and if you mean the objective biographical facts of biological relations and not the social formation, then there’s no need to make a carve-out here because there’s no inherent reason families need to associate with each other beyond reproduction, so they aren’t relevant to saying society doesn’t exist.
That was also my thoughts when I first read the quote, it was such an obvious and cowardly cop-out, she transformed her deluded declaration of profundity into a pathetic utopian plea, Stirner would’ve spit in her face
The quote is also a good litmus test for chuds and liberals who can’t detect the ridiculous contradiction within the sentence
I suspect some of the push to reintroduce religion in the west is to try and rebuild community that was lost through this atomisation process.
The power of burger mindset is too strong, we’ve created the prosperity gospel to atomize and commercialize religion. There’s merch stores in every church where you can buy custom branded thermoses, plate carriers, and american flag quilts!
i have not actually been inside a burger church before despite visiting burger country, is it really that bad?
The prosperity gospel type definitely are. They’ve got merch shops and some even have coffee shops inside. Think of pastors who drive Bentleys and own private helicopters. One incident that illustrates the type is when Joel Osteen kept the doors closed to people who had been flooded out of their homes until the public backlash got too big. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/29/547035773/after-pressure-mounts-joel-osteen-says-his-houston-megachurch-is-open-to-evacuee
Most churches are normal. The megachurches are 100% that bad.
it is not good.
anecdote: the church i went to as a minor billed itself as progressive, because the dress was casual and it courted younger people. i stopped attending by 20, as the community felt cliquish. they had a small bookstore inside the building open on sundays, and there were murmurs even then about how that didn’t seem right.
it kept getting bigger and bigger though. the church itself became a complex of buildings, each more elaborate. the bookstore started carrying merch, music from the “worship” team which itself grew more theatrical and elaborate, putting on shows.
i haven’t been there myself in 20+ years, but i know someone who did some non-profit work that attended some meetings there and their stories were nuts. the “bookstore” is now a huge retail space with its own starbucks. they have their own broadcast programming and are networked into other churches around the region. they employ hundreds of people, selected for dubious-political reasons in these do nothing jobs they call a ministry for funneling tax free tithes. people dress in the finest clothes and accoutrements while hemming and hawing over giving out $100 to some destitute mother with children, forcing her to attend services.
i couldn’t even watch The Righteous Gemstones because the context was too on the nose, though the show was pretty funny.
and, like i knew people from when i was in high school who stuck with the church when i left, burrowing further in to become insiders with paid leadership roles there.
within the last 5 years, two of the guys i knew from high school, both married fathers, went missing only to be later found dead by suicide about a year apart. the instition and media are very hush, hush about it and its hard to even find info that it happened outside of public records.
and those are just the ones i heard about because we went to the same high school at the same time and word got around.
Here’s a little video clip of the Lakewood “Church” in Houston - note that it’s a former sports arena converted to worship services.
Really makes a mockery of christ.
What’s funny is I can see this happening to any religion too. Imagine a muslim or hindu or something branch that goes into this insane shit.
I’m willing to bet there’s people in India taking notes from the prosperity gospel to buttress the hindutva movement, it’s all gotta boil down to being poor is divine choice and being rich is divine right. Any faith can be corrupted, I think.
My money would be on UAE or Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of prosperity jihad, maybe Turkiye
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Imagine fighting until death to defend Jensen’s Crystal Alchemy Lab & US F-16 unsaturable sales pit
Full text
Growing numbers of Taiwanese are unwilling to give their lives to defend the island, according to a new opinion poll.
In a recent survey by My Formosa, respondents were asked if people should be prepared to pay any price – including death – to protect Taiwan’s status and prevent reunification with the Chinese mainland.
The poll found that 52.2 per cent of those questioned were unwilling to do so – an 8.4-point rise compared with a similar survey carried out two years ago – while 40.8 per cent were willing, down four points on the previous survey.
When asked which approach would best safeguard Taiwan’s security and help prevent war, a majority – 58.3 per cent – favoured resuming government-to-government talks with Beijing and easing people-to-people exchanges.
Another 28.2 per cent supported boosting defence spending to buy more weapons, while just 3 per cent believed Taiwan should fully comply with requests from US President Donald Trump.
The poll did not mention specific requests from Trump, but the US president has been pressuring the island on a range of issues, including defence spending, arms sales, tariffs and investment in US-based chip manufacturing facilities.
When asked whether an armed conflict was ultimately unavoidable, 60 per cent disagreed, while 31.4 per cent agreed.
Analysts said the poll reflected deep public unease over rising tensions and a pragmatic desire to avoid confrontation as military pressure from Beijing intensified.
“Many people want peace and stability above all else,” said Max Lo, executive director of the Taiwan International Strategic Study Society, a think tank in Taipei.
“There is fatigue from constant talk of war, and ordinary citizens may feel powerless about what would happen in a real conflict.”
Scepticism over US reliability has also grown in recent months, adding to public anxiety. “People in Taiwan increasingly feel they could be abandoned by the US, which no longer seems fully committed to standing by our side,” pollster Tai Li-an said.
He added that while earlier polls had found up to 70 per cent of those surveyed said they would “fight for Taiwan”, far fewer were willing to say they would “sacrifice their lives”.
A separate survey by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation in May showed 57 per cent of respondents no longer viewed the US as a reliable partner, while less than one-third still saw Washington as dependable.
Its latest poll earlier this month also found 45 per cent did not believe Trump was serious about deterring Beijing from attacking the island.
The findings came in the wake of an article published by Time magazine last week, that called on Washington to rein in Taiwan’s “reckless” leadership.
The commentary written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia programme at the Washington-based think tank Defence Priorities, described Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party as a “brash new leader” who has “lurched toward formal independence”.
Goldstein warned that “Taiwan is the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” and that the US should “act with utmost prudence”, arguing that defending the island could risk “a potentially catastrophic great-power war”.
His remarks drew a sharp backlash in Taipei. National Security Council secretary general Joseph Wu said on social media it was “pathetic” to ignore Beijing’s provocations and label Taiwan’s defensive efforts as reckless. “We’re investing in defence to preserve peace,” he wrote. “No surrender. Got that?”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry also said the island was “committed to maintaining the cross-strait status quo” and “seeks no escalation of tensions”.
Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of China to be reunified by force if necessary, has branded Lai an “obstinate separatist” and stepped up pressure on Taipei, including large-scale military drills around the island.
Most countries – including the US, Taiwan’s main arms supplier – do not recognise the self-ruled island as an independent state, though Washington opposes any attempt to take it by force and remains committed to supplying arms to defend itself.
Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of China to be reunified by force if necessary
Hmm. I wonder who else views the two Chinas as one… It will forever be a mystery.
China: “Taiwan is part of China”
Taiwan: “Taiwan is part of China.”
United Nations: “Taiwan is part of China.”
Western “journalists”: “Isn’t there someone you forgot to ask?”
