I appreciate the time you took to listen and write this.
Have you ever listened to Patrice O'Neal talk about conspiracy theories or Bill Burr talk about bankers and robots?
I believe that there is a "they" but I don't necessarily think they are reptiles. I don't think that really matters, though. Where I disagree with people like Icke that have all the answers is really in two main areas. First I don't think that information can be known. Any fan of the X-Files knows that you can unravel a conspiracy only to find that it was exactly what "they" wanted you to think!
The other problem is that so much intelligence and ability to plan future events is given to "them" by those who claim to have The Truth, and really you're dealing with competing groups with competing interests, and they're all fallible.
But it's pretty clear that society is going in a direction where privacy is a thing of the past already and technology is becoming an essential part of all of our lives and there is a trade-off. People put their whole lives in their phones for example. There is always the argument that "if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear" but it does make it easier for the future totalitarian government to come into being and to prevent any form of resistance.
There is another common thought that it's crazy for people to think that they are so important that the government would want to keep tabs on them. But they don't have to keep tabs on everyone. The point is that they have the ability to keep tabs on anyone.
Look at right now how "they" are encouraging everyone to have a "smart home" with cameras and listening devices that are there for our convenience. That is making it much easier to keep tabs on anyone that they would think is a threat.
I think we're living in a time when we are witnessing the end of any chance for the individual to have true freedom. It's not here yet but it's coming. And self-driving cars, robot factories, cell phones, and Alexis are all part of it.
That's fine if you're the kind of person who wants the government to manage your life and protect you and it might go on like that for a long time. I'm not sure what "they" have planned once they've got everyone plugged in. Maybe it will be a happy little future with pills for happiness and we will welcome our new robot overlords.
And those who don't are going to have real problems trying to do archaic things like growing their own food, for example. That's what Monsanto and their plan for GMO's looks like to me. Patent seeds and control the food supply. And a lot of people who call themselves libertarians will go along with that because it's just free enterprise. But Monsanto claims that when their crops are planted near other crops and create hybrid seeds that they also own the rights to the new hybrid seeds. Enough people started to catch on that they lost their good name and were bought by Bayer who are mostly considered a harmless aspirin company now, their ties to the Third Reich having become old news.
Here's a random Patrice O'Neal guest spot on Opie and Anthony. If you haven't listened to him and Bill Burr check it out.
I am probably not gonna respond to this as cogently as I like but I'll try. I did watch the Burr clip; have not but may tomorrow watch the O'neal clip. So this is partly a response to your own text and partly addresses Burr's take on things as per the clip you shared. OK, here goes.
I agree, absolutely, that unchecked capitalism leads to corruption. But I also believe that capitalism leads to the best possible product for the consumer.
I believe that there is the possibility, if not likelihood, that tech we now take for granted has backdoor elements that we did not ask for, i.e. microphones that pick up what we are saying privately, software to process and transmit said recordings, software that tracks our co-ordinates. No question.
I agree that we consent to this when we we rush through the installation process of apps. The fine print IS there.
I believe that these surreptitious aspects of new tech exist to sell is things, not to encroach on our freedom or privacy. To speak to a remark you made, 99.9 percent of people just aren't that interesting or important. Plus it would take a massive, MASSIVE payroll expenditure to actually horde and catalog the information picked up from surveilling EVERY c*** WITH A SMARTPHONE. I think mostly it's just software that picks up basic sounds in speech and then routes the information through algorithms in computers for marketing purposes (that's, admittedly, a very simplified, generalized assessment.)
I do not believe that big corporations care about the little people, generally. I agree about that. But they know they need them and they know they need to dangle that carrot on that stick. The little guy is free to jump as high as he wants (CEOs, general managers, corporate heads, whatever) or to not jump at all (bums on the street.) Most people are somewhere in the middle; regular people trying to make a buck, hopefully in a field they enjoy but if not then for a paycheck that makes up for it.
We will not be replaced by robots. At least not in our lifetime or even our kids' lifetimes and probably not in the lifetime of their kids, either. Men must make the robots. Men must maintain the robots. Men must program the robots. Skynet's a LONG way off. And Skynet's not really in the interest of the "ruling elite." You can't con a robot. You can't entice it with a 401k or a corner office.
Bill Burr, who I love (Kuby!) has contempt for the billionaire on the hill? Hates him? Thinks he's full of shit? Thinks his wealth has corrupted him? OK. Well, to me, that's like me hating Bill Burr. As an ice cream truck driver, how could I have anything but hate for a multimillionaire? Right? Surely he doesn't need that much money. Surely he hasn't earned it. Surely he only lets me go to his shows and download his Netflix specials because I'm too dumb to see what a con he's pulling on me. Right?
So, roughly, that's where I stand. I'll likely make time for the O'Neal video. I like to hear what others have to say; this is how we home and sharpen and sometimes revise our views. But the bottom line for me is that I do NOT, in ANY WAY, see how rich people are to blame for or how they profit from the coronavirus. If anything, they lose.
If this is a coordinated, planned assault on liberty, it has to have been orchestrated by 5 year olds.
Edit: I agree with almost all of Burr's criticisms at the outset but I do not concur with where he ends up most of the time.