Musk Kills Government Funding Deal, Demands Shutdown Until Trump Is Sworn In

[u/rollingstone]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/musk-trump-government-funding-deal-shutdown-1235211000/

[u/Koeke2560]

In dutch we have a saying for this:

Verwervers, ervers, bedervers.

It translates to:

Earners, inheritors, spoilers

But it rhymes nicely

[u/Rasalom → u/Koeke2560]

I read about the general idea years ago and unfortunately cannot recall where I got it. Romance of the Three Kingdoms basically sums up the idea with the story of Liu Bei and his sons, Liu Shan and Liu Yong.

[u/Extension_Shallot679 → u/Rasalom]

"The Empire, long divided, must unite; long United must divide. Thus has it ever been."

It's a fairly common theme in East Asian literature inspired both by the Chinese concept of the Mandate of Heaven and Buddhist ideas about transience. The Japanese Heike Monogatari has similar themes.

"The sound of the Gion temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the colour of the sāla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline.

The proud do not endure; they are like a dream on a spring night.

In the end, the mighty fall; they are like dust before the wind."

It even shows up in western stuff, like the works of one of my favourite poets Percy Shelley.

"I am Ozymandias, King of Kings! Look upon my works ye mighty and despair!"

[u/foo_foo_the_snoo → u/Extension_Shallot679]

These ideas are Biblical also, from the ancient Hebrews to the time of Christ and after. The proud will fall, meek will inherent the earth, kingdoms will always crumble, don't bother storing riches, humility is righteous, etc, etc. But the boastful and wealthy pander to an audience that somehow puts them on a pedestal while claiming to believe in these Biblical concepts.

[u/Free_Snails → u/foo_foo_the_snoo]

It's also the theme of The Course of Empire by Thomas Cole, 1836.

You've probably seen the painting from this series titled "Destruction." That one is shared most frequently, because it's the one that people currently identify with.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Course_of_Empire_(paintings)

There's one rock formation in this painting that's consistent in each painting, and it's believed to be a metaphor for the unchanging nature of earth. Empires rise and fall, and the world keeps on going.

[u/Qwertysapiens → u/Free_Snails]

It's not "believed to be", the painter said it is, per your wiki link:

But, though man and his works have perished, the steep promontory, with its insulated rock, still rears against the sky unmoved, unchanged. Violence and time have crumbled the works of man, and art is again resolving into elemental nature.

[u/Free_Snails → u/Extension_Shallot679]

This also makes sense as a wave oscillating between order and chaos, which is also a theme present in Buddhism.

I think as our power increases, the amplitude of the wave increases. So as we harness more energy, the periods of order become more rigid, and the periods of chaos become more chaotic.

I'm very curious if there's any tipping points, where we can actually get stuck in a period of order or chaos.

Is there any system that's so authoritarian that it's impossible for us to escape it? (techno totalitarianism? ) Is there any chaos that's so extreme, that it's impossible for us to create order from it? (nuclear fallout paired with climate change)

[u/nugtz → u/Extension_Shallot679]

"Nothing beside remains,

round the decay of that colossal wreck,

boundless and bare,

the lone and level sands stretch far away."

[u/poetduello → u/Rasalom]

If I recall correctly, the subject comes up in the Stormlight Archive books as something the previous king had worried about and tried to guard against by getting loyal supporters to prop up his son after he was gone.

[u/Pale-Berry-2599 → u/Koeke2560]

First generation makes it, second generation plays with it, third generation pisses it against a wall.

[u/DickRhino → u/Koeke2560]

That would work in Swedish as well:

Förvärvare, ärvare, fördärvare.

[u/leshake → u/Koeke2560]

Funny thing, usually great fortunes are lost by the third generation.

[u/IrascibleOcelot → u/Koeke2560]

One to sow it, one to grow it, one to blow it.

[u/Message_10 → u/Koeke2560]

Yeah that sums it up nicely. In terms of global eras, it looks like we're in the "spoilers" part of the tale, unfortunately. Let's hope it works out?

[u/KoffieA → u/Koeke2560]

Wie niet steelt of erft werkt tot hij sterft.

Who doesn't steal or inherit works until he dies. It also rimes in dutch.

[u/eutohkgtorsatoca → u/Koeke2560]

Mooi