I'd say it's at about a 4. In the grand scheme I can do nothing. But at the local level, I can affect all sorts of change for the better. I can organize, so as long as I do that then nothing is lost
I own a few shotguns and a couple rifles. I used to go hunting, and guns are pretty cool. Now they just collect dust in my dad's safe since I don't have one. If I wanted to shoot again, I'd need to retake the safety course
The only social media I consume is lemmy, and that's only about 3 hours per day at most. I'm the happiest I've been in a long time. It was easy as soon as I started going for regular walks
Remember that that was a weak justification as well. We found only 34 tons of mustard gas, while at the same time we possessed the world's largest amount of VX gas. It was a "rules for thee" excuse
Well, they intentionally remove themselves from the broader community because they think they're better than the "unwashed masses" for one. They also tend to fearmonger about violent crime and generally vote for fascists. They tend to be class traitors in general
That's total nonsense. Socialism and capitalism are both economic, and economics are tightly integrated into governance. To divide the two so wholly is a fool's errand. The difference between the two lies in who owns the factories and fields. If the factories and fields are privately owned, it's capitalism. The US has been practicing capitalism since before the declaration of independence was even written. Capitalism is also an inherent hierarchical power structure.
Oligarchy is a political form of governance, not an economic model. Oligarchy can exist in several economic models, but let's focus on how we got oligarchs in this capitalist system. They were created by exploiting the labor of the working class to earn their wealth, but being rich isn't enough to them. They use their money to buy power, and then leverage that power to increase their wealth.
I was a very light smoker (<4 packs per year) and decided to stop after a fishing trip this year. I stopped feeling the nicotine buzz and only tasted ash, so I decided it wasn't worth it any more
What do you do in that situation? Demand a new car?