A better world through wealth-shaming!

Alright 2023, wow me. I mean it. 2022 wasn't quite the trash fire it could have been, but it still wasn't, you know, great. 

When this is your bar, things aren't exactly optimal.

From now on, I propose we, as a
nation, just ride the tea cups.

Like, I spent most of the year dreading the outcome of the election. It was like an anxiety-filled roller coaster of--wait, sorry, that's a terrible metaphor. Roller coasters are predicated on nervous anticipation, but my point is that it was almost as bad as waiting to see how 2020 would turn out. And we're not supposed to have to care about mid-terms. No elections, and especially not mid-term elections, should carry with them the threat of fascist take over. Yes, we dodged a huge bullet--which I realize is another unfortunate metaphor in America--but seriously, good riddance to 2022. 

"I proclaim this night to be taco night."

-the master of one's own destiny

And that brings us to 2023. Well, a combination of an officious sixteenth century Pope and the Earth's orbit around an indifferent G-type yellow dwarf brings us to 2023. So now what? Is the future what we make it? I mean, sure it is. Technically anyway, although most of us are relatively powerless with our decisions limited to what to make for dinner or what to watch on Hulu or whatever. Neither you nor I are really in a position to say, end the war in Ukraine or restore reproductive rights. But we do have the power to catch up on What We Do In Shadows.

"Sure, I could fight climate change, but
how would rich people get to space?"

-Some rich guy

Which is...well it's bleak I suppose. There certainly are people in a position to single-handedly make real, appreciable change in the world, usually through their influence or vast wealth, something most of us lack. But the problem is that those who can make a difference don't always feel like it. And I kind of get it. If one uses one's enormous fortune to house people or plant millions of trees, said fortune becomes considerably less enormous, which I understand to be the opposite of how capitalism works. So I guess that's a non-starter.

"What? I murder a few chimps and let Nazis
back on twitter and suddenly I'm the bad guy?"

-Some other rich guy

The good news is that Elon Musk's recent, ill-advised, and desperate plea for approval--that is, putting his job as Twitter CEO up for a show of hands--has shown us that the toxically wealthy and powerful are driven, at least in part, by ego. I appreciate the vague gesture towards "letting the people choose," but I kind of feel like not hoarding such a significant portion of the world's wealth would be a better way to empower the masses, but the key take away here is that the public blowback against him and his willingness to give terrible people a platform had an impact. In theory. I mean, he hasn't stepped down yet, but I mean, one step at a time.

So perhaps there's some hope here. Hope that in the future we might somehow be able to harness the power of social media to shame multi billionaires into doing the right thing. And if that doesn't work, we can always revolt like the peasants we're fast becoming. 

Pictured: all of us outside Elon Musk's house in say, five years?