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Comment by sepositus | Hacker News Reader

"Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times."

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Yeah, we've been here before. Empires don't necessarily fall by the hand of their enemies as much as they fall by their own hands and hubris. See: UK, Germany, Russia, historical China and other asian countries, hell even the Romans, and so on and so forth, we've had it all. Trump is nothing new, just another fool in a long line of fools.

You are getting downvoted because people see their own reflection in that statement. And they don't like what they are seeing.

It is getting downvoted because it is a well known silly trope. Generally, success reinforces itself. That’s why there have been a bunch of countries that have had multi-generational streaks of repeated success. Eventually, this feedback look can fail, but it isn’t on some predictable four generation pattern.

> Eventually, this feedback look can fail, but it isn’t on some predictable four generation pattern.

Actually, it kind of is.

See The Fourth Turning and any other book based on the Strauss-Howe generational theory.

Is this theory air-tight and inviolable? No. Does it more or less support this “silly trope”? Yes. I think it’s safe to say that it is directionally correct.

I don’t think that book was well regarded by historians. It’s more of a pop-sociology thing, right?

It's most likely because people just assume it's a misogynist quote.

Thinking in memes isn’t going to lead us to a better world.

Least we can do is downvote it.

The thing itself speaks seemingly a truth though: growing up too coddled will risk a twisted perspective of what you deserve and what's a given.

Seemingly? Do you have any indication that this is a consistent pattern in the world outside of imagination?

Rich kids with inherited wealth are always perfectly fine and reasonable people?

They overwhelmingly do better than their poorer peers, yes. Anectdote vs statistics.

If you think that it's just an imagination, the universe will make you physically feel what it really is. Not all at once, but gradually, drop by drop. And then, you'll learn the true meaning of another "meme" word: ignorance.

Or you’ll find out that strong men thinking in memes create even worse times.

In any case, that's the beauty of life: we live the consequences. Both sweet and bitter, depending on choices of the past.

Most of what happens to us is by chance, not by choice. And when it's by choice, its often not our own choice.

This is what they want you to believe. You are useful and convenient when you are malleable (to someone's else agenda aka "their choice"). Ideally, you should not practice any discernment at all, raise no questions, silence any suspicions. As if it's all by sheer coincidence and predefined by external forces ("chance").

Straight out of "Manipulators' Handbook 101".

You're the one not raising questions about this nonsensical maxim. It seems neat to you so you accept it as truth uncritically.

It's not the truth. It's an observation, one of many. It does not look neat, it looks horrible. However, I am ok to give it a deeper nuanced appreciation than to just negate it right off the bat.

The annoying part is when I’ve got to live with the consequences of someone else’s choices.

Thinking in memes is exactly what the right is doing. It’s short, succinct and pretty much a termination point for all further thought on the matter.

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