On Payback
Substack has a feature called Notes; it’s like the phenomenon formerly known as a “tweet.” I have a number of Notes. but I get almost no engagement from them and , just a few minutes ago, I found out why.
The user - meaning the subscriber - has to have the feature turned on for individual content creators.
Since I posted a Note not long ago, I’ll offer a screenshot of that one here.
On X, there was a horrific story about a woman who was on trial for smothering her baby while she was high on meth. But anyone who has been paying attention to these things knows that she is one of a long list of persons in the United States who have killed their children while high.
Meanwhile, the homeless problem grows and grows with most being addicts. (I was attacked by a homeless person last week. No worries; I came away with a couple of scratches on one hand.)
Is this the real World War 3?
The opium trade was run primarily by the British, but many other western countries were getting a piece of the pie, including the United States. Addiction in China was ripping Chinese society apart, so the Chinese leaders outlawed it and banned the trade. Of course the British weren’t happy and war(s) ensued. The Chinese lost and a scaled-down opium trade continued until Mao.
It seems to me that they are still angry.
Our society is being ripped apart and I know that there are other methods to halt it besides the one that Mao used.
That’s why I can’t turn away from communicating, from writing.
This is in no way a justification, but the Chinese at the time were astonishingly arrogant in dealing with other nations (unlike today, of course). They refused to trade commodities and demanded payment in gold for everything (in the case of the British, tea).
The Brits realized that this was unsustainable and pondered solutions. At the same time India was producing a surplus of opium (which was legal at the time there). Hmmm... maybe the Chinese would trade tea for opium? But first, the demand had to be created... and so the East India Company began shipping opium into China, which - surprise! - took off. And suddenly the Company could trade opium for tea! Problem solved!
For whatever reason the Chinese Imperial government objected to this and attempted to ban opium. Which worked as well as such ban have throughout history. And so, what shreds of the central authority that existed in the ports tried to confiscate and destroy incoming shipments. Which is why the British government decided to get involved and "solve" the East India Company's "problem." And the Royal Navy and British Army actually went to war to force the Chinese to allow free trade.
And I don't see that "we" (meaning the nations of the world) really are acting in a more enlightened manner... aside, of course, for our high sounding rhetoric.
I don't use notes because I find them to be a time-sink like other social media.