Matt,
I was a born anti-populist. From a young age I’ve always had schadenfreude for the downfall of populist movements or organizations. Anything that bucks the establishment, goes against the grain, disrupts the status quo or creates a certain amount of anarchy hits a sweet spot for me. Perhaps that’s why Starting Strength appealed to me? It does many of those things.
I have always been suspicious of populism. It is a form of absolute power that corrupts absolutely. We saw this with the Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church, the people involved in the #MeToo movement (though I do have some reservations on that), policing, Wall St., COVID-19, and many other modern day current affairs.
I think it is almost always good to burn a little bit of civilization down to move it forward. I am not advocating for violence, but simply, to use the same rules everyone else takes advantage of to point out the gaping holes in society. What made $GME so attractive was the ability to completely fuck massively evil hedge funds over using the same rules they always have - from the comfort of one’s phone.
No Molotov cocktails were required. No beheadings needed to happen. No hippies were shitting outside their tents on Wall St. This was simply playing the same unfair game against the game proprietors themselves. In my opinion, when this happens, there is no better message that could be sent. Violent overthrows are always messy, uncivilized and dirty. A silent, cunning and legal (I don’t know if anything illegal happened), battle always is better.
COVID-19 is the way governments of the world are playing this game. Not a single bomb was dropped and the world was destroyed. They’re just “playing by the rules” to the detriment of the planet.
So, yes.... I sympathize with the Joker from time to time. Burn the stacks of cash and watch the fat cats cry. Most of life, you’re the bug. It feels great to be the windshield if even for a short time.