The system is failing even for those well positioned to ride the success of (but not hold stake in) the general market. The first upper-middle class runners are coming across the line to find nothing there. How does that effect the tipping point? Is this a marker of a Late Stage?
Does anyone even subscribe to the American Dream anymore? Maybe there isn’t a big pack running behind these first place white men to find a cliff at the finish line.
Is it the last remnants of an experiment burning out, or is it just the first car to crest the rollercoaster?
Or is the suicide stat meaningless and the power structure still favors inherited white male privilege so significantly that it’s dumb to grasp at minor perceived cracks forming? If this then what’s the stat about?
“The Lives of Others” is a German Stasi drama in which the Stasi tries to prevent the publishing of an article about rising suicide rates in the GDR. The implication is that these rising rates imply the failure of the GDR system. The film was produced as a general statemant against mass survaillance, but also an outright condemnation of the security apperatus of the GDR and the whole system. People rather kill themselves instead of continung to exist within the system. That it was made just before the manning/snowden leaks and suiciderates in the west starting to take off is really :marx-ok:
Bear in mind, many, possibly even a large majority, of white men don’t realize that they’re well positioned for success. Many view themselves as victims of things like affirmative action and “reverse racism”. I don’t know how this would affect suicide rates, but all I can confidently say is that the thought process isn’t “I still hate my life and I’m going to do this even though I won the privilege lottery”. I also don’t know how the suicide rate goes with social conservativeness, so this is kind of just food for thought or inspiration for further research.