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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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It's actually $3.6 million, you missed a 0. As someone on the other side who makes money off retail traders I think this cleansing by fire is necessary for the public to realise that when they do these type of trades they are playing a game against people who are smarter than them,

I don't think that's the lesson "the public" will learn. It will be another cultural grievance, another reason to hate contiguous and identifiable segments of the overall population.

These weekly losses should be publicly broadcast on TV and made fun of routinely by news anchors etc. until the general public has fully instilled the message that in the long run "you can not beat THE MAN".

...I'm not sure this is a lesson that can actually be comprehended. It runs directly counter to our entire worldview as Americans. Even conceding that in this case it very well may be the lesson that needs to be learned, my mind immediately starts searching for escalation strategies.

Yeah, I don't know how anyone can advocate for broadcasting "society is unfair, get over it" and expect the American people to accept it in this modern climate. Sure, it might be honest and accurate, but it's not likely to turn down the temperature of the culture war. As the OP mentioned, people still do want some payback for 2008, and 2020-onwards has been shaping up to be a repeat of 2008.

I think there is an easy line to see between "stop entering unfair contests of your own volition" and "society is unfair" but maybe that is me.

The $3.6M number could be broadcast the same way that cigarette deaths are.

It's the truth. It's always been the truth. It will always be the truth.

That's enough for me. Ultimately there are no good lies. I'd rather people kill each other over reality than make peace over falsehood.

Because reality always comes back for it's due.

I don't think that you can really call GME/AMC rubes getting fleeced a symptom of an unfair society.

I was thinking more of OWS and the revival of unironic socialism/communism in the 2010's. What do you think would happen if The Man decided to out and say, "yes, we admit it, we are on top, we will continue to be on top, you'll own nothing, and you're gonna have to enjoy it"?

I guess your definition of The Man decides if you believe they already have or not.