# The Whatever Era By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-01-27 There was a time when, at least publicly, the upper echelon of society was held to the highest standard of behavior, decorum, and ethics. Of course, this was mainly for show. However, there used to be a scandal. No longer. For those within the plutocratic elite, there is no constraint. Only the working class is held to a standard. At the top, one can be a raging acholic, prone to violence, a cheat, a felon, a Nazi sympathizer, or a rapist and still be confirmed to, or accepted in, the highest echelon of society. Those in the working class can still be fired for any minor infraction that those in power decide to enforce. It should be noted that such enforcement is entirely at the whim of those in charge. Sometimes, rules are enforced; other times, a good laugh is held about the silliness of the broken rule. Only those with power can decide when rules are enforced and when they are not. The dominant response to this within our society seems to be “whatever.” In some respects, this makes sense. After all, eventually, we will all be dead, and everything with which we invested our attention, care, and worry will rot away along with us. So, it might be reasonable to conclude that nothing matters. (Score one for the nihilists). Further, there is nothing new with the abject hypocrisy of the ruling class. The only difference now is the degree of transparency. This is all fine and good, except that no matter how bad things are, things can always get even worse. Apathy can contribute to the velocity and slope of our degeneration. Trump, Musk, and Hegseth are the avatars of the powerful elite of whatever era. Longstanding norms of our civil society are being abandoned daily. There are so many that it can be numbing and difficult to calibrate. Not all of these will stand judicial review. But many, if not most, will. Those within the whatever era are contributing to the problem. Apathy is better than violence, but active, productive engagement is needed. Things will continue to get worse until we make them better. Maybe the age of solidarity awaits us as we move through the whatever era. #### Related Items [[Nihilism]] [[Society]] [[Elites]] [[Behavior]] [[Rules]] [[Norms]] [[Solidarity]] [[Class]]