Much has been written, and will be written, about the California wildfires. But something is already emerging quite clearly. Something we haven’t seen on any video… We haven’t seen the perfect action of trained firefighting teams, the fight for every second, the immediate response, the most advanced technology, safety experts controlling the situation… nothing like this. We’ve seen neighbors helping each other. And we’ve read about cases like this.

The whole thing calls into question the concept of a multi-speed America. The kind of America where some people live in a culture and standard of living comparable to Central Africa or Bangladesh, and a little further down the road you find super-rich communities. Or the kind of America where you find illiteracy, a little further away the collective imbecility of the new aristocracy, and a little further away the absolutely cutting-edge scientific establishments whose output makes your head spin. Each class lives in its own way, isolated from the others.

But now it seems that’s not quite possible. When movie stars don’t want an entire neighborhood to go down in ashes, they need working-class guys to act like working-class guys. To train physically, to take pride in their strength and their performance, in their ability to be on time, and in their courage. Including that they will mock the softened and effeminate and that the timid among them will not last long. And technology? Who else gets advanced tech toys but guys like that! When this world of lower-class men is gone, you can put out your house by reciting lectures on tolerance.

And it doesn’t really matter how political it is. Whether it’s from the left, like pressure from LGBT activists, or from the right, like privatization of fire departments and pressure from CFOs. The basic thing is still the same. If each other’s worlds fall apart, mine won’t survive.
Solidarity of worlds is not a luxury. It’s a prerequisite for the survival

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