0:00

Hello folks, my name is Ernest. Thank

0:02

you for being here. How long would you

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be willing to watch or listen to

0:08

something that could fundamentally

0:10

improve your life? An hour? 30 minutes?

0:13

Okay, even just 15 minutes? Because I

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can tell you something true, even if

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others won't, that if you can't even

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handle paying attention to something for

0:24

15 minutes, you're not sincerely

0:27

interested in changing your life anyway.

0:30

That's meant to peique your interest, if

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that's possible.

0:35

Now, if you're still here,

0:38

and I'll assume you are if you're

0:41

listening to this, that's probably a

0:43

really good thing for you because I want

0:46

to give you something that the

0:50

algorithm can't, and that's actual

0:53

history. I'm not talking, of course,

0:56

about going online and doing any kind of

0:59

automated history.

1:02

I'm talking about a real hand first

1:06

account

1:08

history from someone who was actually

1:13

there and experienced it,

1:17

namely yours truly.

1:21

And um one can argue before I go into

1:24

this that

1:26

despite what I may say about my own

1:29

experiences

1:31

that um it's all subjective because

1:34

there are millions of people then and

1:37

all experiences are not the same and

1:40

there were just so many different lives

1:42

and so many different experiences that

1:44

you can't you simply can't you know

1:46

group these things all together. um as

1:51

though they're socially applicable.

1:55

But I beg to differ with that

1:59

because although there can be, you know,

2:02

contrasting opinions about a given time

2:05

period or place,

2:08

there is this thing that is very strong

2:11

which um I subscribe to

2:15

uh called consensus.

2:18

And so, you know, for example, if you go

2:22

back way back in history during the

2:24

reign of uh Stalin in the old Soviet

2:28

Union, to this day, there are still very

2:32

old old-timers who actually missed

2:36

Stalin, who by any consensus account was

2:42

an absolute murderous monster. So, while

2:46

it's true what I'm about to tell you is

2:49

my opinion,

2:51

I think that it would also be the

2:54

consensus of the people of the time and

2:58

place where I lived.

3:02

So

3:04

bearing that in mind, what I'm trying to

3:07

say first and foremost

3:11

is that consensus

3:13

I believe to be a much more accurate

3:16

barometer

3:17

of such things

3:19

than just random opinion.

3:24

Okay. Okay. So, what I want to tell you

3:28

about

3:30

is me and how I grew up in an age of the

3:37

last remaining

3:39

relative

3:41

security.

3:43

And I realize for any of you young

3:47

people out there, what I'm going to tell

3:50

you, it just may sound completely

3:53

unbelievable,

3:56

but that was the case. Everything I'm

3:59

telling you is true.

4:01

And um there's a reason I'm telling you

4:05

this, and I'll get to that

4:09

if you can hang around long enough to

4:11

hear me out.

4:15

The big point of this era in the which

4:18

would have been the mid70s

4:23

uh until the early8s

4:26

because that was the actual end of that

4:30

life.

4:32

Um, it was still going pretty solidly.

4:36

In: 1973

4:40

76

4:41

things really started turning downward.

4:47

And by the time we hit: 1980

4:50

the government was literally driven

4:53

underground

4:55

um by uh unbridled corporate fascism.

4:59

That's when it really began to take

5:01

hold. In other words, it's a long-winded

5:04

way of everything really unabashedly

5:08

started turning to [ __ ]

5:11

socially speaking.

5:13

And specifically, what I'm talking about

5:16

is job security.

5:20

I am not here at all under uh any um

5:26

pretense of u you know oh this is a good

5:29

old days thing. It it's not that I'm not

5:33

looking at this with rosecoled glasses.

5:36

I'm simply telling you what was.

5:40

And what I'm telling you what was we

5:43

still grew up this is in the city.

5:46

No didn't live I didn't live in the

5:47

suburbs. I didn't grow up in the

5:49

suburbs. I grew up in the city, a hard

5:51

city,

5:53

but still our neighborhood was clean.

5:56

And we had mainly two parent households.

6:01

And I'm not saying they were perfect.

6:03

Again, this isn't uh: 1950

6:07

is: 1970

6:10

parents, one job.

6:14

Um my old man, he worked in a steel mill

6:18

and he had a union job and at the time

6:22

um we you know we were definitely uh

6:25

because we weren't that foolish with our

6:27

money we

6:29

well what you'd call I don't know low

6:31

low-end middle class which today by

6:34

today's standards we were doing quite

6:36

well by comparison.

6:39

You figure on one income, one guy's

6:43

with, you know, he wasn't a a techno

6:45

dick, he was a steel worker. Worked in a

6:48

steel mill. And yet still that bought us

6:52

a home and we had a car and we never we

6:57

never growing up never had a credit

7:00

card.

7:02

It was like a foreign concept. That

7:04

wasn't until much later. So, we paid

7:07

everything in cash, maybe writing a

7:10

check occasionally.

7:12

That was it.

7:14

And here's the thing,

7:17

it wasn't just me. It was everyone I

7:21

knew.

7:22

And by extension,

7:25

most of the people in that city,

7:27

anywhere that I went, and I went around

7:29

a lot,

7:31

a whole lot, know the city like the back

7:34

of my hand. And um except there were

7:38

people who were you know trash but that

7:41

was mainly because they chose to be

7:44

trash

7:46

because it wasn't this nightmare of

7:48

finding a job. Jobs were plentiful. I

7:50

mean actual real jobs that paid

7:54

decently. No most I say most. I'm not

7:58

saying all, but most of the time, I

8:01

don't know, 80 90% of the time,

8:04

um, if people were poor and destitute,

8:06

it's because they were of low character.

8:08

That's a pleasant [ __ ] way of saying

8:10

they were just trash.

8:12

And there's always been trashy people

8:15

throughout human history. So, it is what

8:18

it is. We avoided those people. Our

8:22

friends are, so we avoided those people

8:24

because we weren't trash.

8:27

So, this is not to be confused with

8:30

people that were down on their luck.

8:34

Yeah. You had some people that

8:36

occasionally had a bad break and we

8:39

helped each other and you would help

8:40

them and they would quickly get back on

8:42

their feet and you know there was some

8:45

kind of um you know helping us. They was

8:48

a give and take. I remember

8:52

very few people being on welfare and

8:55

actually

8:56

and I know this as bizarre as this may

8:58

sound were actually ashamed of being on

9:02

welfare of getting food stamps and um

9:07

yeah they would um some of them would

9:10

actually disguise themselves going into

9:14

or coming out of a welfare office.

9:17

That's no joke. I'm not kidding

9:21

because there was a unspoken language.

9:25

There was a you know an an understanding

9:29

that um you know if you would not or

9:33

could not pull your own weight

9:36

um there was something really wrong with

9:38

your character

9:40

and um

9:42

people cared about their character.

9:45

They really did. They cared about it and

9:48

their appearance, how they dressed,

9:51

everything.

9:53

They really did. Obviously, that's

9:56

that's not the world we live in now.

10:00

But what I'm trying to say was this. The

10:03

general feeling of everyone regardless

10:07

of whatever's going on in your life, but

10:10

people were much more relaxed and

10:13

friendly. this and this was in the city

10:16

and would would help you if you still

10:18

you need if you need your car broke down

10:20

or you had a flat tire or you know

10:22

whatever people walk by and say hey can

10:24

I help you with this I was trained

10:27

taught to be that way myself

10:31

because it's character

10:34

you can't buy character

10:38

it has to be instilled and you have to

10:40

develop it now I'm not claiming mean by

10:44

any means to be a paragon of virtue. I'm

10:47

simply saying that's the way things were

10:49

and that's the way I was and for the

10:52

most part I still try to be.

10:56

But you see part of the unspoken

10:59

contract is was this that if you were a

11:03

working person I'm not talking about a

11:05

university educated person. I'm not

11:07

talking about that area of life. I'm

11:10

just talking about regular working Joe

11:14

and the company took care of you. Their

11:17

responsibility

11:19

was to take care of you. You took care

11:22

of them. Again, it was symbiosis in

11:25

action.

11:27

That's what it was. I remember year

11:30

after year after year after year

11:33

of my old man always got a Hollywood a

11:37

um sorry

11:40

my old man always got a holiday turkey

11:43

or a holiday ham. Every worker got one.

11:49

And uh this was in an era that you could

11:54

still

11:56

a lot of these guys you could count on

11:58

retiring from the company meaning you

12:00

would get a pension

12:03

and with that some medical care.

12:06

In other words, the company cared enough

12:10

about you and all those guys

12:15

who worked there for any length of time.

12:18

I'm not talking about the bums. I'm

12:21

talking about, you know, hardworking

12:24

bluecollar guys. They were fiercely

12:28

protective

12:29

about the company. They're not worried

12:32

some about their job because they had

12:34

job security.

12:37

They they cared about the company. So,

12:40

it was a symbiotic relationship.

12:44

Well, unfortunately,

12:46

you know, that ended

12:49

Oh, Christ. Let's see.: 1980

12:52

Yeah, we're talking about around 40 to

12:55

45 years ago.

12:58

Now,

12:59

no one, everything from IT people to

13:04

you name it, whomever it is, there's no

13:07

security.

13:10

There's no security. You see, you're

13:13

expendable. You're a light bulb. If you

13:16

burn out, the hell with you. We'll get

13:18

another one. If you get too old or too

13:21

slow, the hell with you. We get another

13:23

one. Or if they're just downsizing,

13:27

you know, there is nothing there

13:32

to protect you. And this the the big

13:35

huge

13:37

part of this what made those protections

13:41

manifest was that the I'm talking they

13:44

were union jobs.

13:48

And so what happened is you were

13:50

convinced over all of these eons of

13:52

years of propaganda and fierce fiercely

13:57

trying to destroy the unions at all cost

14:00

which they did.

14:02

By and large, they succeeded. The

14:05

unions, any unions that do exist are a

14:07

joke. They're a shadow of their former

14:11

selves.

14:13

And so, you know, socially over time,

14:17

you allowed yourself to be painted into

14:20

a proverbial corner where you have no

14:23

options and you have no choice.

14:28

Then the terror sets in of no security

14:33

and that's where people are today.

14:37

That's where they're at. Everyone to one

14:40

extent or another

14:43

um is always anxious, always worried

14:48

because yeah, you may have a good job

14:51

today, it can be gone tomorrow. White.

14:55

And when you put people in that kind of

14:58

mental state and it it goes across the

15:01

entire society

15:04

of people in that state.

15:07

Um people are nuts.

15:10

They're nuts because they always live in

15:15

fear.

15:18

So you can't do anything really that you

15:24

want to do

15:26

when you're always in fear.

15:29

Like for instance, this whole debacle

15:31

with the government

15:33

uh shut down and then there was, you

15:36

know, Trump sitting there and he's

15:38

signing another document

15:41

and these these [ __ ] clowns are

15:44

standing around him

15:47

applaing. The seals are all around him.

15:51

Yay.

15:54

entirely missing the point apparently

15:58

that he was the one that pushed for and

16:00

instigated this whole ridiculous debacle

16:05

in the first place. You shouldn't be

16:07

applauding him.

16:10

There's a whole hell of a lot of things

16:12

you actually should be doing, but I'm

16:14

not going to say anything. But you sure

16:16

as hell, like a group of 5,000 seals,

16:20

be standing around with your flippers.

16:24

Yay! You're gonna give us your candy

16:26

back.

16:28

Yeah, federal government. Imagine that.

16:31

I knew he was a good man.

16:36

And the SNAP benefits again.

16:40

Yes, King Trump has decided well

16:43

begrudgingly. Okay, you you here sign

16:48

paper and you can you get you some ramen

16:51

noodles, you trash. You poor people

16:54

trash.

16:58

And this is what happens

17:00

when you keep electing

17:04

uh businessmen

17:06

who have never probably eaten

17:10

a you know 50 cent package of ramen

17:15

noodles in their life.

17:18

I'm probably sure that hasn't been the

17:20

case. Yeah, it probably hasn't.

17:24

But you keep putting multi-millionaire

17:27

businessmen.

17:29

You keep putting these people in place

17:34

and you think you

17:37

you think for one micro second

17:41

that they're going to even care

17:45

about what's going on in your life,

17:47

which is paycheck to paycheck.

17:50

or that even if they wanted to care me

17:52

that they could remotely relate to that.

18:00

Keep applauding

18:03

like a good obedient

18:06

dumb trained animal. Keep applauding

18:13

when you celebrate

18:15

getting back something a few crumbs from

18:19

the table.

18:20

that never should have been taken away.

18:23

Anyway,

18:28

keep applauding.

18:31

So, look, I know this has been long-

18:33

winded. I'm I'm going to wrap this up,

18:36

but I'll simply put it to you this way.

18:40

If you want some security,

18:44

it's not going to be given to you.

18:48

You have to fight for it.

18:52

And that means a union.

18:54

That means a strong union.

18:57

The next thing is stop electing

19:03

psychopathic

19:05

business

19:07

um corporate lap dog politicians.

19:12

Anyone businessy,

19:14

you know, bean counters.

19:18

stop electing them

19:21

into public office,

19:25

especially the wealthy ones

19:28

with last names. I don't know, like

19:31

Patel.

19:34

Um, yeah, if you can go over and get

19:39

over

19:40

instead of ideology

19:43

and all that nonsense,

19:46

you know,

19:48

[ __ ] I'd rather have Jake the chicken

19:50

farmer

19:52

as president.

19:55

Well, I didn't say Jake the corporate

19:58

chicken farmer either. I just Jake.

20:00

Here's a guy named Jake and he's got

20:02

some [ __ ] chickens.

20:04

I'd rather see him as president because

20:08

something tells me

20:10

that a guy like Jake could much easier

20:14

relate to you

20:17

or me.

20:19

So until next time, this is Ernest and

20:23

it's all I've got for today.