I had a conversation with one of my clients today who expressed embarrassment about needing frequent mental health support and was wondering why she couldn't be more self-sufficient. This resulted in rather an interesting set of ideas taking form in my head. I found myself saying that given how difficult it's becoming for many people to compete and cope well in life, I find it truly amazing that anyone can survive this monstrosity of competition and survival of the fittest brutality. I am thinking here of a recent quote from Kevin O'Leary, reality show host and contender for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party of Canada and millionaire sociopath. In an interview, he said that he thinks it is "fantastic" that the eighty world's wealthiest people have the combined wealth of what the poorer half of the world's population, or, three and one half billion, have to live on. His rationalization? This way the poor will have to get off their backsides, pull up their bootstraps and work and compete with the hope that one day they will also become millionaires.
Can it get any more ludicrous that that, Gentle Reader?
Of course, O'Leary would not even listen to any of his interlocutor's well-reasoned argument of the absolute inhuman, Darwinist barbarity that this potential federal nightmare was endorsing, and being a man likely lacking a conscience or anything at all resembling human decency, O'Leary simply repeated what he said, expressed absolutely no interest in examining his position and tried to move on. Here it is, if you don't believe me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuqemytQ5QA
The purpose of this blog does not include giving oxygen to wealthy imbeciles, so I will get on with the show here.
It is the likes of O'Leary, President Dump, and other obscenely wealthy psychopaths who are running our world. Or, we could say, ruining our world. Because of their unbridled, brakes off, free market-mania, we are now living in a global shark tank, to cop the title of one of O'Leary's TV shows. The competition to survive, much less get ahead is becoming increasingly fierce and the integrity and fabric of communities are being slowly ripped to shreds. As housing becomes increasingly more expensive, and as jobs continue to pay less than a living wage, there are going to be more people competing for smaller and ever-shrinking slices of the pie.
The fallout in public mental health is increasing as diagnoses of depression and anxiety become more common-place, as well as trauma and other mental health disorders. The inability to keep pace with the rapid change and competition is compromising the quality of life for many, and there are growing numbers of human casualties falling through the cracks as the gap between rich and poor continues to widen and more people become vulnerable to low wage employment, unemployment, poverty, hunger and homelessness.
Social problems are increasing and only the strong, which is to say, the very strong, are going to survive. We thus become increasingly isolated from one another as we struggle and do heroic battle to stay on top of things. Human beings are social creatures. Living in any form of isolation for too long is going to be toxic.
We struggle alone, some of us taking stubborn and perverse pride in our isolation, and refusing help from others even as we sink slowly to the bottom of our post-industrial cesspit.
We rise together. But we all fall alone.
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