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I really am so tired of living in something that does a very good job of looking like a civilisation, but actually stopped being one at least a generation ago.

The cycle is well-known.  Barbarism -> Civilisation -> Decadence -> Collapse -> Repeat.  We're now well into the decadence stage.

Those who resort to game piracy just as a means to keep using the goods they bought and paid for (or arguably even those who avail themselves of the efforts of less scrupulous pirates in order to achieve this end), have basically realised the decline-and-fall is in full swing, are disgusted by the decadence of the disinterested elite who now all-but-openly swindle us as if it were their birthright to do so (and waste the wealth they bilk out of us on such absurdities as NFTs, which might as well be the Faberge Eggs of our generation), and are jumping ahead of the curve into the barbarism phase of the next cycle, which is to say behaving in a way that isn't sufficiently scrupulous to pass as civilised, but that nevertheless has a basic code of honour and decency tempered by sheer pragmatism.

It's only been over trivialities like games so far, but it'll probably be over food and fuel soon enough.  I don't remotely like that this is happening but, if the powers that be continue to flout their end of the social contract long enough, sooner or later everyone else stops holding up theirs.  Noblesse oblige, ou noblesse décapitée.

I really am so tired of living in something that does a very good job of looking like a civilisation, but actually stopped being one at least a generation ago.

The cycle is well-known.  Barbarism -> Civilisation -> Decadence -> Collapse -> Repeat.  We're now well into the decadence stage.

Those who resort to game piracy just as a means to keep using the goods they bought and paid for (or arguably even those who avail themselves of the efforts of less scrupulous pirates in order to achieve this end), have basically realised the decline-and-fall is in full swing, are disgusted by the decadence of the disinterested elite who now all-but-openly swindle us as if it were their birthright to do so (and waste the wealth they bilk out of us on such absurdities as NFTs, which might as well be the Faberge Eggs of our generation), and are jumping ahead of the curve into the barbarism phase of the next cycle, which is to say behaving in a way that isn't sufficiently scrupulous to pass as civilised, but that nevertheless has a basic code of honour and decency tempered by sheer pragmatism.

It's only been over trivialities like games so far, but it'll probably be over food and fuel soon enough.  I don't remotely like that this is happening but, if the powers that be continue to flout their end of the social contract long enough, sooner or later everyone else stops holding up theirs.  Noblesse oblige, ou noblesse décapitée.

I really am so tired of living in something that does a very good job of looking like a civilisation, but actually stopped being one at least a generation ago.

The cycle is well-known.  Barbarism -> Civilisation -> Decadence -> Collapse -> Repeat.  We're now well into the decadence stage.

Those who resort to game piracy just as a means to keep using the goods they bought and paid for (or arguably even those who avail themselves of the efforts of less scrupulous pirates in order to achieve this end), have basically realised the decline-and-fall is in full swing, are disgusted by the decadence of the disinterested elite who now all-but-openly swindle us as if it were their birthright to do so (and waste the wealth they bilk out of us on such absurdities as NFTs, which might as well be the Faberge Eggs of our generation), and are jumping ahead of the curve into the barbarism phase of the next cycle, which is to say behaving in a way that isn't sufficiently scrupulous to pass as civilised, but that nevertheless has a basic code of honour and decency tempered by sheer pragmatism.

It's only been over trivialities like games so far, but it'll probably be over food and fuel soon enough.  I don't remotely like that this is happening but, if the powers that be continue to disregard their end of the social contract long enough, everyone else stops holding up theirs.  Noblesse oblige, ou noblesse décapitée.

I really am so tired of living in something that does a very good job of looking like a civilisation, but actually stopped being one at least a generation ago.

The cycle is well-known.  Barbarism -> Civilisation -> Decadence -> Collapse -> Repeat.  We're now well into the decadence stage.

Those who resort to game piracy just as a means to keep using the goods they bought and paid for (or arguably even those who avail themselves of the efforts of less scrupulous pirates in order to achieve this end), have basically realised the decline-and-fall is in full swing, are disgusted by the decadence of the disinterested elite who now all-but-openly swindle us as if it were their birthright to do so (and waste the wealth they bilk out of us on such absurdities as NFTs, which might as well be the Faberge Eggs of our generation), and are jumping ahead of the curve into the barbarism phase of the next cycle, which is to say behaving in a way that isn't sufficiently scrupulous to pass as civilised, but that nevertheless has a basic code of honour and decency tempered by sheer pragmatism.

It's only been over trivialities like games so far, but it'll probably be over food and fuel soon enough.

I really am so tired of living in something that does a very good job of looking like a civilisation, but actually stopped being one at least a generation ago.

The cycle is well-known.  Barbarism -> Civilisation -> Decadence -> Collapse -> Repeat.  We're now well into the decadence stage.

Those who resort to game piracy just as a means to keep using the goods they bought and paid for (or arguably even those who avail themselves of the efforts of less scrupulous pirates in order to achieve this end), have basically realised the decline-and-fall is in full swing, are disgusted by the decadence of the disinterested elite who now all-but-openly swindle us as if it were their birthright to do so (and use the wealth they bilk out of us on such absurdities as NFTs, which might as well be the Faberge Eggs of our generation), and are jumping ahead of the curve into the barbarism phase of the next cycle, which is to say behaving in a way that isn't sufficiently scrupulous to pass as civilised, but that nevertheless has a basic code of honour and decency tempered by sheer pragmatism.

It's only been over trivialities like games so far, but it'll probably be over food and fuel soon enough.

I really am so tired of living in something that does a very good job of looking like a civilisation, but actually stopped being one at least a generation ago.

The cycle is well-known.  Barbarism -> Civilisation -> Decadence -> Collapse -> Repeat.  We're now well into the decadence stage.

Those who resort to game piracy just as a means to keep using the goods they bought and paid for (or arguably even those who avail themselves of the efforts of less scrupulous pirates in order to achieve this end), have basically realised the decline-and-fall is in full swing, are disgusted by the decadence of the disinterested elite who now all-but-openly swindle us as if it were their birthright to do so, and are jumping ahead of the curve into the barbarism phase of the next cycle, which is to say behaving in a way that isn't sufficiently scrupulous to pass as civilised, but that nevertheless has a basic code of honour and decency tempered by sheer pragmatism.

It's only been over trivialities like games so far, but it'll probably be over food and fuel soon enough.