Posted on 08/18/2024 6:22:31 AM PDT by Tom Tetroxide
Rebellion takes many forms. Counterculture movements tend to try to go against social norms and household values that teens especially might see as restrictive. But in China, a new type of rebellion is taking place. People are simply giving up and embracing a low-pressure lifestyle.
This is part of the “lie flat” movement, where young people are refusing to compete, refusing to push themselves, and oftentimes refusing to work or study. And for the Chinese Communist Party, this represents a type of quiet rebellion against the high-pressure system that is nearly impossible to quell. We’ll discuss in this episode of Crossroads.
Josh mentions in the video that this happened in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, too, by the phrase that became popular there, “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay.”
These were never social norms nor household values - only the propaganda pretends they are.
I see this behavior as a form of Going Galt.
While it may be less true in a communist country like China, once upon a time in the US companies looked internally for talent. If you worked hard, you’d get raises and promotions. You’d move up and build a solid career. Baby Boomers largely experienced this. If you chose well and decided to be born in 1948, you lived in a growing economy with management that was not reluctant to reward hard work. That’s lucky.
But people born in, say, 1990 or 2000 have grown up in a country which has been fundamentally transformed. Lots of dead-end jobs. Lots of gigs. Not so much in the way of careers. Society is a minefield of potential offenses and the trend is that You Will Own Nothing.
A lot of people have decided to just step out and not contribute any more labor value than they absolutely need to.
The problems are deep. And it’s far beyond “lazy kids”. Those kids have pulled the curtain aside and they see how things work nowadays. They went Galt.
Different in China; they do not pretend to work. They just do not. Since they see no point in working, saving, marrying, or having children.
But then even if they wanted to work, there is little work to be had, so they live on the street. With the rest of China’s poor [ 80% ].
Some background for anyone who, like me, didn’t read the article. In China the real estate companies build apartment buildings. These apartments are nothing but a concrete shell as when you buy one, you have it finished in accordance with YOUR personal feng shui. It’s unheard of to buy one that’s already been finished for someone else’s. Anyway, the price of these apartments is sky high as this apartment building was sold to investors as guaranteed high payback. So they can’t sell them cheaper, as that would cause the investors to lose money. A man can’t get married if he doesn’t have an apartment. That’s the rule. So, guys are looking at the fact that they can work 90 hours a week (not unheard of, and trending towards average!) and STILL not be able to afford an apartment. No apartment no wife. No wife no kids. In short, no future. So, they’re throwing in the towel. “Screw it, I can’t have the Chinese dream future? I give up.” And are refusing to work. Lying flat, also called “Let it rot”. Another thing that’s playing into this is that during the “1 child per couple” days all the families wanted BOYS, as when the parents retire it’s the son’s job to take care of/support them. So everyone wanted boys. The 1-child policy ran for a long time, causing the M:F ratio to further and further skew. So now you have ALL these “marriage age” men and very few women. And the women understand their value now due to scarcity. And are being much more selective of their mates. Which means not only must he own an apartment, but it must be a NICE apartment, and the man must have a high income with the ability to allow the wife and any kids to live in the lap of luxury.
Something a good % of the men can’t afford if they CAN afford an apartment. More reason to lie flat.
Lie flat since you can’t afford a flat.
I think they’re trying to get our youth to ‘lay flat’— social media is a tool of destruction.
They will take down Boeing, our farming is being deconstructed, we have no manufacturing and we are in severe debt.
We should be gawking in mirror.
good for them
Americans should do the same
stop funding the lying LEFT
cut the cable tv
Just like many of ours.
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