Grabopoly

The holiday game around here has been Guelphopoly, Monopoly using local landmarks. So far, I am a loser. However, since we have played this a few times, I am learning how to win. You grab the university properties, add some expensive housing, and charge exorbitant rent. Soon everybody else goes broke while the winner gets rich. 

Sound familiar? Four years at university? Student debt? Unemployment? Then back home living with the parents because the grabbers have control of everything else? In Guelphopoly, it all plays out like the story of your life (if you are Gen Z) with a dopamine rush every time it's your turn to roll the dice and you're sure you're gonna win. Guelphopoly exercises our default grabbing instinct while demonstrating that most of us are going to lose.

However, in real life there is another competing instinct. It includes empathy, respect, restraint, reciprocity, compassion, generosity, gratitude, honour, trust. Life is not a game. We do our best when we work together and and share the rewards even when times are tough.

There is tension between these two instincts:
(1) take care of yourself and grab all you can
(2) take care of each other and share the rewards

During an expansive epoch, when there is enough for everyone plus some extra left over, we are easily convinced that we ought to care for each other: minimum wage, labour unions, pensions, social security, employment insurance, universal medical care, progressive taxation, volunteering, foreign aid, easy immigration, defense and trade alliances, conservation, environmental regulations, pollution control, rewilding. All good. 

Now that we have surpassed limits to growth (you knew that we are in overshoot, didn't you?) and things have begun to collapse, now that we feel needy and threatened, now the emerging wisdom of the age is that altruism is a woke conspiracy. We see through the lovey dovey warm and fuzzy feelings to a crumbling reality, and grab all we can get.

Benjamin grabs Gaza.

Putin is takin Ukraine.

After grabbing immigrants to deport all over the DSA (Disunited States of America) Donald Art-of-the-grab Trump Makes America Grab Again in Venezuela. He's betting that grabbing the western hemisphere piece by piece will get him the Nobull Piece Prize. 

Xi grabs the advantage in electrification technology while Donald grabs tariffs to shut China out of the ev market in the DSA, so Elon can grab his price for a Tesla (If you're a celebrity, they let you grab anything you want.)

Elon dreams about grabbing Mars as a new home for the wealthy winners when Earth gets used up and the losers go extinct.

Being a loser (one of the majority), I prefer that we take care of each other without grabbing what's left of a wonderful world. 

It's not a game.

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