Gambling in its myriad forms is one of the most popular ways of entertainment, and one of the most lucrative businesses around the world. Year after year, we spend trillions of dollars on all kinds of gambling, be it the lottery, scratch cards, card games, casinos, sports betting or something else, in the hope of hitting the jackpot, or at least winning a substantial amount of money.…
Your Struggle Blog
Nurturing Society: A Means to Achieve Self-Actualization On an Individual and Collective Level
It is probably already quite clear from the previous blog posts and the book itself that I believe that a nurturing society represents a higher, more advanced level of civilization than nation states today, including modern Western democracies.…
Organic Solidarity’s Role in the Realization of a More Just Society
As we have seen in the previous blog post, organic solidarity is key on the road to more conscious and democratic societies. This is particularly important because it also allows for more advanced and just societies.…
The Key to a Truly Civilized Society: Organic vs. Mechanical Solidarity
According to Émile Durkheim, one of the fathers of modern sociology, the main cohesive force of a society, or even of small communities, is the solidarity of the individuals who make them up.…
Countering Existential Opportunism with the Power of Collective Consciousness
By its very nature, existential opportunism favors the survival, success and prosperity of individuals and groups, while the interests of other individuals and groups are compromised or marginalized. While this is natural and acceptable in the animal kingdom, which is essentially driven by instinct, in a society of intelligent beings it is a fundamental obstacle to the civilized coexistence of people.…
How Opportunists Manipulate Us to Further Their Own Goals
As already discussed in the columns of this blog and in the title book, we are being influenced by others at every turn these days, and often not at all by fair means.…
How Opportunists Take (Living) Space Away From the Less Opportunistic
The fate of the masses in virtually every area of our lives since the dawn of human civilization has been determined primarily by the directions taken by opportunists – people who constitute a narrow minority of our communities and societies, yet who have the most influence on our relations, our systems and the public opinion that provide the framework conditions.…
Star Wars vs. Star Trek – An Opportunistic Galaxy vs. a Utopian Future
Both Star Wars and Star Trek are well-known and popular brands around the world, and the stories of both universes have appeared in many different forms in the decades since their creation.…
Communities vs. Opportunists and the ‘Glass Bridge’ – A Squid Game: The Challenge Example
Recently added to the Netflix streaming service is Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality show based on the popular (and often shocking) South Korean fictional series Squid Game. Although reality TV is usually a genre that leaves me cold, I found The Challenge rather interesting, because the games it presents, as well as the relationships between the participants in the given situations serve as typical examples of existential opportunism.…
Party Politics and the Crisis of Democracy
While constant warfare is raging between liberal, conservative and other political forces at national and international level, the willingness to join parties and the trust society has in them has been severely eroded worldwide.…