Living the Liberal Dream

[4est_4est_Gump]

Why the rise of cosplay is a bad sign for the U.S. economy
Dressing up like Wolverine or Cersei Lannister is probably more fun than scouring the classifieds for menial jobs
By James Pethokoukis

Imagine you're a college graduate stuck in a perpetually lousy economy. That's a problem Japanese twenty-somethings have faced for more than 20 years. Two decades of stagnation after the collapse of the 1980s real-estate and stock bubbles — combined with labor laws making it tough to fire older workers — have relegated vast numbers of Japanese young adults to low-paying, temporary contract jobs. Many find themselves living with their parents well into their twenties and beyond, unmarried and childless.

Then again, they do have plenty of time to dress up like wand-wielding sailor girls and cybernetic alchemist soldiers from the colorful world of anime cartoons and manga comics. Indeed, Japan's Lost Decades have coincided with a major spike in "people escaping to virtual worlds of games, animation, and costume play," Masahiro Yamada, a sociology professor at Chuo University in Tokyo, recently told the Financial Times. "Here, even the young and poor can feel as though they are a hero."

It's hard to blame them. After all, it's not that these young adults in Japan are resisting becoming productive members of the economy — it's that there just aren't enough opportunities for them. So an increasingly large number of them spend an increasingly large amount of time living in make-believe fantasy worlds, pretending they are someone else, somewhere else. This is a very bad thing for the Japanese economy.

And guess what: America has a growing number of make-believe "cosplay" heroes, too. Many of the 130,000 people who attend the San Diego Comic Con every year invest big bucks in elaborate outfits as a way of showing off their favorite Japanese characters, as well as those from American superhero movies, comics, and "genre" televisions shows such as Game of Thrones. And this trend is growing — the crowd at Comic Con was one-third this size in 2000. In 2013, the SyFy channel even created a reality show about the trend, Heroes of Cosplay.

...

When you're disillusioned with the reality of your early adult life, dressing up like Doctor Who starts looking better and better. It's not to say that all or even most cosplay aficionados are struggling to find work. It's only to say that any rise in people fleeing reality for fantasy suggests problems with our reality.

... This isn't just a Great Recession thing. Economic growth has been historically slow since 2000, with the economy producing more high- and low-wage jobs than middle-wage jobs — what economists call "job polarization." Accelerating automation may create an even more lopsided labor market in the future, where only a tech-savvy sliver see rising wages from steady gigs. For everyone else, service jobs — often irregular — with little or no wage growth. Baristas and bartenders with Bachelors degrees — just what Mom always dreamed of for you.

Now, this is a future of what might be, not what must be. A U.S. economy with fewer barriers to startups, modernized infrastructure, and a better educated workforce could be more dynamic and prosperous for everybody. But that's not where we're heading.

RationalWiki assures Liberals that they are on the right economic path.

They just need to spend more and raise the minimum wage so that college grads can earn a decent living doing the jobs that Americans won't do...

 

[rosco rathbone]

welcome to the phuture:

1. total replacement of labor (white and blue collar) by automation...other than the "industries" in which pleasing and submissive service is still best rendered by humanoids, ie escorting, massage, and various footman- and butler type things


2. de facto or de jure guaranteed universal income

3. the final freedom of humanity to pursue self-actualization, as promised by Marx in his "Gundrisse" and "18th Brumaire". Everyman will write symphonies, compose epic verse, and dress up like effeminate asian adult comic book characters.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You know anyone named Sarah Conner?



Keep her safe...

 

[RobDownSouth]

The irony here is that the Chief, who recently quit his job, is castigatin' his fellow unemployed buddies.

"Do as I say, not as I do!"

 

[Adre]

Liberals pretty much own the space between his ears.

 

[CandiCame]

If you're a poor cosplayer you gotta be super good at making something out of nothing because some of my costumes have cost more than some people's monthly rent to produce.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

If you're a poor cosplayer you gotta be super good at making something out of nothing because some of my costumes have cost more than some people's monthly rent to produce.

CostumeS???





You mean you don't pick one and stick to it? Like The Flash?

 

[BotanyBoy]

CostumeS???





You mean you don't pick one and stick to it? Like The Flash?

LOL typical conservative sour puss...."GOD DAMN ALL THESE FUCKIN' KIDS, HOW DARE THEY DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN BE MISERABLE LIKE ME!!! I GET TO TELL THEM HOW TO SPEND THEIR TIME!! /RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!"

LMFAO bet you don't get pissed off at all about some dumb fucking jocks burning their days away playing foot fuckin' ball....that's conservative USA approved use of fuck off time.

 

[Que]

welcome to the phuture:

1. total replacement of labor (white and blue collar) by automation...other than the "industries" in which pleasing and submissive service is still best rendered by humanoids, ie escorting, massage, and various footman- and butler type things


2. de facto or de jure guaranteed universal income

3. the final freedom of humanity to pursue self-actualization, as promised by Marx in his "Gundrisse" and "18th Brumaire". Everyman will write symphonies, compose epic verse, and dress up like effeminate asian adult comic book characters.

Really well put.

I am not a fan of ACA as I don't believe adding a bureaucracy to the expense of healthcare makes it more affordable.

That said one of the things supporters of the ACA were castigated for was when it was suggested (Pelosi? Boxer?) that it would afford people the opportunity to pursue their dreams unhindered by concerns of employer provided healthcare.

I have both benefited from and had to do without such benefits between times working for "the man."

It s a liberating idea if Utopia actually penciled out on the numbers to have a society where you could choose to succeed or be indolent. Pursue arts and crafts at your leisure for fun and or profit.

My fantasy is that I could get zoning to open a fabrication shop in a busy down-town artsy enclave. Huge plate-glass #10 welding shade on it so works in progress could be seen by an impressed public. Even if no one bought anything, the indolent life of a craftsmen NOT having to make his nut has great appeal.

 

[sufisaint]

Well anything is better than being a corporate drone pretending to be a happy family man or woman.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

bb,I am most certainly not miserable.



query, that sounds pretty damned cool...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Who is posting from the NYC Comic Con?



What are you wearing?

 

[Ishmael]

Really well put.

I am not a fan of ACA as I don't believe adding a bureaucracy to the expense of healthcare makes it more affordable.

That said one of the things supporters of the ACA were castigated for was when it was suggested (Pelosi? Boxer?) that it would afford people the opportunity to pursue their dreams unhindered by concerns of employer provided healthcare.

I have both benefited from and had to do without such benefits between times working for "the man."

It s a liberating idea if Utopia actually penciled out on the numbers to have a society where you could choose to succeed or be indolent. Pursue arts and crafts at your leisure for fun and or profit.

My fantasy is that I could get zoning to open a fabrication shop in a busy down-town artsy enclave. Huge plate-glass #10 welding shade on it so works in progress could be seen by an impressed public. Even if no one bought anything, the indolent life of a craftsmen NOT having to make his nut has great appeal.

The reality is that 90% (at least) of the indolent will turn that indolence into mischief, not productive endeavor.

Ishmael

edited to add: And when they are taken to task for their mischievous behavior they will blame it on someone else.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

No, in this Brave New World, drug use will be legalized and encouraged, no sex act of any sort will be frowned upon and constant surveillance coupled with Judge Dredd Justice will ensure a compliant mass of existence that will certainly be less than human.



We can see that we are clearly in the inception phase of this new Eden.

 

[cowslinger64]

Really well put.

I am not a fan of ACA as I don't believe adding a bureaucracy to the expense of healthcare makes it more affordable.

I have both benefited from and had to do without such benefits between times working for "the man."

Unfortunately, nothing was being done at all about healthcare. Which is often how republicans deal with difficult issues Americans face. I doubt there are many if any that believe ACA is anything close to perfect. BUT, it offers access to healthcare...and regardless of what one poster here says, waiting til you're dying to get care at the emergency room is NOT healthcare.

It seems many people fail to realize is that there were people not even able to buy healthcare. Pre-existing conditions was a killer. I worked with a guy that had to join our union at the age of 57 and work 5 more years so he would qualify for medicare because his wife had had a heart attack. He could not buy health care...that's what he told me. It's possible that it was so cost prohibitive that he couldn't afford it, but I take him at his word. That's the one personal account I know of, and I bet there were many many others.

You should consider yourself quite lucky that a trip to the hospital didn't completely wipe you out... so many people filing bankruptcy because of medical bills. Really, you were very irresponsible cause the tax payers would probably have been on the hook for your failure to insure yourself.

It's too bad the GOP decided to fight Obama on this so much... all that wasted effort and time... the 25 billion dollars we had to shut down the government over it, but fuck those unemployed people yanno?

I agree with Rob that this should be the step towards single payer... which is what we need most. But as long as the GOP has their way, it'll be back to "fuck you, I got mine" really quick.

 

[miles]

No, in this Brave New World, drug use will be legalized and encouraged, no sex act of any sort will be frowned upon and constant surveillance coupled with Judge Dredd Justice will ensure a compliant mass of existence that will certainly be less than human.



We can see that we are clearly in the inception phase of this new Eden.

Hope and change murderer!

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

France, A Liberal Leader:

The land of 400 cheeses, the birthplace of Molière and Coco Chanel, is facing an unprecedented exodus. Up to 2.5 million French people now live abroad, and more are bidding “au revoir” each year.

A French parliamentary commission of inquiry is due to publish its report on emigration on Tuesday, but Le Figaro reported yesterday that because of a political dispute among its members over the reasons for the exodus, a “counter-report” by the opposition right-wing is to be released as an annex.

Centre-right deputies are convinced that the people who are the “lifeblood” of France are leaving because of “the impression that it’s impossible to succeed”, said Luc Chatel, secretary general of the UMP, who chaired the commission.

There is “an anti-work mentality, absurd fiscal pressure, a lack of promotion prospects, and the burden of debt hanging over future generations,” he told Le Figaro. However, the report’s author Yann Galut, a Socialist deputy, said the UMP was unhappy because it had been unable to prove that a “massive exile” had taken place since the election of President François Hollande in 2012.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...he-channel-and-heading-to-london-9788348.html

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Hope and change murderer!

They wish us to be chattel to be experimented upon without resistance.



We're all just purple penguins to them now.

 

[CandiCame]

I want 400 cheeses.

On one pizza.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

That better be a pretty high-fiber crust...

 

[Ishmael]

They wish us to be chattel to be experimented upon without resistance.



We're all just purple penguins to them now.

That is the end game. Orwell's '1984' delayed.

Ishmael

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

We can only hope the dream crashes and burns before that releasing the Phoenix of Liberty.



We hold dear our guns for that day.

 

[RobDownSouth]

We can only hope the dream crashes and burns before that releasing the Phoenix of Liberty.



We hold dear our guns for that day.

And five weeks after the apocalypse, with the ground squirrel population decimated and your ammunition gone, you'll be reduced to sucking dick for table scraps.

 

[miles]

^^^ The train wreck himself shows up right on cue.

 

[Ishmael]

We can only hope the dream crashes and burns before that releasing the Phoenix of Liberty.



We hold dear our guns for that day.

Most folks don't even know from which direction the danger is coming. We have our beauty contests that we lovingly refer to as elections. All thinking that the candidate of their choice is going to change things for the better, and are perennially disappointed when nothing changes for the better. Life only gets more restrictive and mostly worse.

The cancer is the government bureaucracy. That ever growing tumor of unelected, self-important Mandarins that exercise more and more control over every facet of the citizens lives.

Ishmael