Has America Crossed the Asshole Threshold?
4 hours ago
- #societal collapse
- #corruption
- #historical patterns
- The concept of an 'asshole threshold' describes a societal tipping point where corruption becomes widespread enough to undermine integrity and cooperation, leading to collapse.
- Historical examples, such as Tammany Hall's corruption in 19th-century New York and ancient Rome's decline due to greed, illustrate how societies can cross this threshold when parasitic behaviors outnumber honest ones.
- Research by figures like Peter Turchin and Garen Wintemute provides modern measurements of this phenomenon, showing signs of elite overproduction, low social cohesion, and normalized political violence in contemporary America.
- The Gilded Age serves as a precedent where America approached this threshold but pulled back through widespread civic organizing and collective action by ordinary people, not through top-down reforms.
- The current situation mirrors past crises, with wealth inequality and political polarization suggesting the threshold may be crossed again, emphasizing the need for individuals to build networks of integrity to resist decline.