Black Horse (American Revelation VII, Part Five)

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. ~Revelation 6:1-6

My friend Aaron sent me this on Twitter a few hours ago.

Literally a rage-filled article by some entitled bitch that writes for the Federalist, blaming the Federal government for the cost of her favorite Chipotle dish going up by a few cents.

Lady, if you're really that underpaid that a matter of 32 cents or so breaks the bank for you, may I humbly suggest you get a second job.

Or maybe write down your bullshit ass complaint on a sheet of paper, fold it up Origami style with a bunch of pointy ends, and stick it all the way up your entitled ass.

I mean, fucking seriously?

"Chicken bowl, brown rice, black and pinto beans, Pico, hot salsa, lettuce, cheese, sour cream — that’s all I want." ethereally seasoned with a dash of the frustrations, struggles and tears of grossly underpaid service industry workers, too, I guess.

Would it have been better to turn the workers out into the street during the shutdown? Or just stay open and let them and their customers (which apparently includes you) all die of the virus?

Maybe throw in a little civil disorder, rioting, various people having to kill and steal just to survive? That a little more what you wanted? Ya know, I wrote about you and I didn't even know it. I mean, fuck civilization, it's not a real Apocalypse until the Proles are murdering one another in the streets over meager food supplies.. and then getting slaughtered by militarized police and the National Guard, too?

Maybe throw in a Zombie apocalypse that you can watch live on CNN while you try and ride out in a swanky mansion on Long Island with a shitload of survival gear and a bunch of Mercs for protection? (Sorry, couldn't miss the World War Z reference.)

I mean, for somebody who is apparently low-enough income that 32 cents actually matters on some level, Kylee has that super-wealthy 1%-er FUCK YOU I'VE GOT MINE! attitude down perfectly.

I get that the Federalist and its entire purpose is to propagate shitty Anti-government, far-right political views on behalf of a small clique of shadowy wealthy donors who fund the goddamned rag, but Jesus. These people don't want America, they want the killing fields of Khmer Rouge Cambodia with a mall...and a Chipotle apparently. 

Not only do they not want to pay jack shit for their own damned food and stuff, they don't want the company to pay the workers worth a shit either. Now let's apply that logic to her job and see if she likes it. Let's see if she likes having to string together four or five writing gigs and a part-time service industry job to make ends meet...and writing articles on her breaks to make a deadline?

Given her attitude, I quite doubt she has that problem, but I personally know people who do at my own work and they're damned grateful that our wages just went up.

I mean, hell, do you know what *I* did during the shutdown, while collecting that Unemployment that Kylee bitches about so viciously (but I'm willing to bet, that she also benefitted from herself) I wrote every day, it was my way of maintaining some kind of a work routine when I otherwise could not. Call it my upbringing, or perhaps a remnant of military service, but I have to have some kind of routine and in the absence of work I made one of my own. I did it for no better reason than I was bored and had the capability and initiative...and for once, the time...to do so.

What did you do with your time? 

'Cause I know one hell of a lot of people in the United States and around the world for whom the last year and a half has been nothing but a struggle and I knew several people who, doubtless would look upon that as an upgrade if they were able to, on account of, ya know, being dead and unable to look at much of anything.

And maybe it's just me, but having been there, it seems like it just might be a good deal easier to be conservative...or to practice any or all of the things conservatives (formerly, at least) considered virtuous, when one has money?

I mean, just for starters it's hard to find the drive to do extra work, for which one is not paid directly when one has to struggle just to come up with how or where their next meal is going to come from. But ya know, a bit over two months of Unemployment benefits let me do exactly that. Isn't that worth something? It certainly was to me, and it blew up my readership enough that someday I just might be able to make a little money off of doing this type of stuff.

Isn't bettering oneself...conservative? 

Especially when one can do so without any additional costs to the State or anybody else? I mean, everything else was shut down so my writing pretty much was what I had to work with. I'd have been on Unemployment anyway...and since my work reopened as early as they could for better and worse, I wasn't on it for all that long.

If the fact that employers are having to raise wages now because people in a free society finally had the time to realize that they were being underpaid and had the capability to do something about it...doesn't that still get filed under 'Capitalism?'

(Yes, I'm aware that none of this is really about any of that stuff.)

Or does capitalism...backed by infinite socialism for the top earners only...only get to apply to the wealthy and their political hangers-on? Infinite money for y'all, nothing but infinite jackboots for the rest of us? 

No thanks, I'll pass.

The truth here is that Kylee, like most of these fucking people, is just mad that she can't clap you in irons and force you to make her taco bowl bullshit for free. It's as simple as that.

No, the underpaying retail- and service-industry complex that these idiots structured too much of our economy around pre-COVID so they could pay Americans slave wages wasn't going to survive contact with any kind of crisis, and it sure won't survive something like future conflicts with China or the disruption of another pandemic or a major war or a possible American internal conflict either. Dealing with escalating major crises on the scale that we are is eventually going to require a bigger tax base than low-wage service jobs provide...even with taxing the rich.

We are going to have to generate a new middle class for that, and for that matter, more rich people too. Giving an ever-smaller group of people ever-larger fortunes isn't going to cut it. Offering others, lower down, racism and relative status and broken promises and magic beans was eventually going to run out, too. They just thought they could string everybody else along for 20 more years or so, enough for the current crop of Rich Old White Guys to be dead and thus, for it not to be their problem.

They know...they knew beforehand...that it was all bullshit, they just wanted to ride the lightning until it broke and see how much they could get and now they're mad because reality and Trump blew up their grift.

And if you wonder why "Conservatives" are so mad about things like "Critical Race Theory" or history in general or companies having to raise wages to attract workers and keep competing in the marketplace, that's why.

Because the last thing these motherfuckers can...or will...ever do is admit that they were wrong.

And they want you to pay the cost for that, too. Even if it's with the cost of your own life.

But not them, they're special, or so they say.

It's all bullshit. Their whole philosophy is nothing but a bunch of lies and rotten bullshit and anybody who tells you anything else is either a fool or a liar.

The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angkar are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive. ~Dith Pran, The Killing Fields

Part Four.