"Hey, look over there!"
The Red Herring behind our country's increasing divisiveness.
Read time: Under 5 mins.
Let me ask you a question.
Have you ever sat there, mid-scroll, doom-finger twitching, watching the world burn and wondered, “Wait… who is actually benefitting from all this chaos?”
Because someone must be.
Turns out, quite a few someones are. And no, it’s not you, me, or that guy on Twitter with 34 followers and a pinned tweet about freedom.
The real winners are the same people who always win when things go sideways: the ultra-wealthy, political power brokers, media conglomerates, and opportunistic tech lords who treat human suffering like a limited-time investment opportunity.
Let’s take a walk through the flaming funhouse of modern America and see who’s quietly cashing in while we’re out here throwing hands over Target’s Pride display or whether the Pope has a new AI-generated puffer coat.
1. The Uber-Rich: Disaster Is Their Retirement Plan
Ah, nothing is more American than a housing crisis … a crisis the rich call “a buying opportunity.”
Every time there’s an economic downturn, a pandemic, or a foreclosure wave, billionaires and hedge funds don’t cry. They buy.
When COVID hit and millions couldn’t pay rent, BlackRock and other institutional investors swooped in like vultures on a Vegas buffet, buying up foreclosed homes at rock-bottom prices.
In 2023 alone, one in seven homes sold in the U.S. went to investors. Not families. Not first-time buyers. Corporate landlords.
As wages stagnate and housing costs skyrocket, the American Dream gets Airbnb’d out from under your feet — then rented back to you for $2,300 a month plus a cleaning fee.
They love when things crash. It’s when the discounts hit.
Economic despair? They diversify their portfolios.
Environmental collapse? They buy waterfront property in Montana.
Nationwide evictions? Perfect time to expand their real estate empire.
The rest of us? We're stuck in a 400-square-foot studio with black mold and a rent hike notice duct-taped to the door.
2. Politicians: They’re Not Broken. They’re Just Expensive
Every election cycle is now less about policy and more about vibes.
Our political class doesn’t want solutions. They want narratives. Fear-based, us-vs-them, emotionally manipulative narratives that keep us voting like we're trying to stop the apocalypse.
The left screams, “They’re coming for your rights!”
The right screams, “They’re coming for your kids!”
Meanwhile, both sides quietly vote to increase the defense budget and renew tax breaks for corporations.
The more divided we are, the more they rake in donations. Your fear is their fundraising campaign. Your Facebook argument is their polling strategy.
When people start talking about class solidarity or campaign finance reform? Suddenly, they remember how to work together…to shut that down fast.
Unity threatens their business model.
3. The Media: Rage for Ratings
Modern media is no longer the “fourth estate” — it’s an entertainment business in a trench coat.
Outrage is their product. Your cortisol is their currency.
Cable news no longer informs. It incites.
FOX News doesn’t want to cure your confusion — it wants to turn it into fury.
MSNBC doesn’t want to make you hopeful — it wants you to hate-watch the GOP like a political reality show.
And social media? It’s an algorithmic riot. No nuance. No empathy. Just dopamine hits and tribal warfare.
They don’t care if what you read is true. They care if you stay angry long enough to sit through an ad for prescription drugs you can’t pronounce but probably need NOW.
4. Big Tech: Data Lords of the Divided Kingdom
You know all those TikToks, YouTube videos, and "recommended for you" political rants that seem custom-designed to enrage you?
That’s not an accident.
These companies have built sophisticated AI systems that figure out exactly what makes you click, twitch, hate, and panic. Then they feed it to you on a silver platter.
They’ve monetized your nervous system.
Facebook: “Oh, you liked a post about vaccines? Here’s a conspiracy theory and a GoFundMe for someone’s horse de-wormer.”
Twitter/X: “Here’s a tweet from a guy with an American flag avatar and zero followers threatening civil war. Enjoy.”
Google: “Looking for the nearest grocery store? Here’s a YouTube video explaining why the lizard elite controls the produce section.”
They don’t care if we fall apart as a country. As long as we stay online, filling their pockets.
5. Culture War Grifters: Selling Salvation to the Lost
In times of uncertainty, the charlatans show up.
When people feel scared and abandoned by their government, healthcare system, or economy, they look for someone — anyone — who seems like they have answers.
The influencers. The saviors. The rogue podcasters. The celebrity truth-tellers. The supplement slingers. The ex-shaman life coaches with a “strong opinion on the Federal Reserve.”
Some of them are sincere. Most are not.
What they all have in common is a clear message: “The system is rigged, but if you follow me — and maybe buy my $299 e-course — you’ll survive the collapse. …Oh, and don’t forget to click the ‘bell’ notification icon so you can be bombarded with notifications every time I need external validation.”
The truth? Most of them are just surfing the wave of your trauma and monetizing your desperation.
So Who’s Losing? (Spoiler: It’s Us)
The people fighting on the frontlines of this divided, collapsing system are not the ones profiting from it. They’re the ones:
Working two jobs and still choosing between rent and groceries.
Watching their parents lose their pensions as their health and cognition deteriorate.
Drowning in student debt for degrees that now qualify them to write emails for $48k/year.
Trying to afford insulin while Congress argues about books in school libraries.
This is not by accident.
If we’re busy punching sideways — at immigrants, at trans people, at liberals, at conservatives, at anyone who looks or thinks different — we’ll never look up.
We’ll never see the wealth extraction, the political theater, the real looting that happens in boardrooms, not the streets.
It’s not just the usual suspects like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos quietly pulling strings behind the curtain — it’s also Peter Thiel, with his surveillance empire and far-right funding; Bill Gates, who wields massive influence over global health and education policy through his foundation; Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire shapes political narratives for millions; Michael Bloomberg, who bankrolls centrist candidates and controls vast financial media networks; Larry Ellison, whose company profits from government surveillance contracts and health data systems; and Ray Dalio, whose hedge fund billions and geopolitical think tanks shape elite economic discourse. These billionaires are structurally embedded into the levers of political, cultural, and informational power, often operating behind the scenes where accountability rarely reaches.
Final Thought: It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way
There’s a sick genius in how divided we’ve become. It’s elegant, in a way — a self-sustaining machine of blame, fear, and distraction.
But here’s the compassionate twist: most people, regardless of political leaning, want the same basic things:
A safe place to live.
Healthcare that doesn’t bankrupt them.
Work that doesn’t kill them.
A future that isn’t completely on fire.
We’ve been convinced our neighbors are our enemies. But the truth is, we’re all just different kinds of broke, tired, and lied to.
If we ever stopped fighting each other and turned our attention toward the people actually causing the chaos — the ones buying up the country while we argue about gas stoves — we might finally scare the hell out of them.
And wouldn’t that be beautiful?
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