America’s Social Devolution and the Fast-Paced Collapse of Human Connection
Hey, it’s Earnest Mann. In this episode, I’m laying out what I believe to be a disturbing truth about modern America — we've become a socially deconstructed, fast-paced, and corporately exploited society. I compare the gentler era of 1870 to 1910 with today’s Orwellian chaos, where corporate greed, hyper-productivity, and the death of meaningful social interaction dominate.
The Shortening of Attention Spans and the Death of Coherence
I use the bizarre evolution of TV advertising as a metaphor. In the 1970s, ads had room to breathe — 30 to 45 seconds long, often clever, funny, and coherent. Now? You’re lucky to get an 8-second ad, with many crammed into just 3 to 6 seconds. What does that say about us? It says we’ve become consumers with the attention span of meth-fueled canaries — sped up by stress, overstimulation, and a bloated population trying to keep up with itself.
Corporate Restaurants and the Human Cost of Profit
Let’s talk about Red Robin — but really, this is about every corporate restaurant in America. Sit at the bar. Observe. You’ll see people stretched thin, trying to do the job of three others, constantly surveilled, and stuck in a system that’s more about maximizing profits than feeding people. The forced birthday clapping, the frantic pace, the loss of connection — it all points to a bigger problem. These businesses are structured in a way that burns out their workers while killing the very thing people go out for: a peaceful, human experience.
Brainwashed Loyalty to Systems That Don’t Care
And here’s the kicker — so many employees, even while being overworked and underappreciated, will defend the company because of "benefits" or “decent pay.” But let’s be honest — that’s only true if you’re willing to be three people for the price of one. My advice? Slow the hell down, because the corporation doesn’t care about you. Never forget that.
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© 2020 - 26 The Earnest Mann Show
you for being here. I have no idea how
many of you have considered this, but if
you set aside the obvious incredible
advances in technology, I would argue
that socially speaking, America has
dramatically socially devolved from the
comparatively wonderful gentile society
that lasted for roughly 40 years from
1870 to 1910 to the current social
dystopian and [ __ ] Orwellian a
nightmare of current America.
If you're a young person and don't have
much perspective on this simply because
you weren't there, you didn't exist,
this is something that YouTube can
actually help you with.
Just type in 1970s TV commercials and
you should have quite a few videos to
choose from. So, pick one or maybe even
watch more than one and I guarantee you
you'll find something curious. Besides
some of them being very funny and
entertaining, it's the issue in their
length. They were typically a minimum of
about 15 seconds long and very often at
least 30 or 45 seconds, which is about
the reasonable amount of time necessary
to deliver a reasonably catchy, funny,
and/or coherent ad. Now, compare the ads
that pop up when you're watching YouTube
content currently. I refuse to pay their
extortion fee to be ad aggravation free.
YouTube used to be adree. The average ad
time length I came up with was about 8
seconds and it's damn unlikely when
you'll find one around 12 seconds. It's
much more common to see product ads of
only 3 to 6 seconds. apparently created
for people with the attention span of a
canary that just consumed half a pound
of methamphetamine.
So, what the hell is going on here? You
might intelligently ask. Well, it just
so happens you're in luck. You're going
to get an intelligent answer. Well, I
don't mean to sound presumptuous. Let's
just say you'll get my answer. then you
can decide just how [ __ ] intelligent
it is.
There are two primary reasons for this.
And I'm not going to go into long
scientifically based explanations. I'm
simply going to tell you what I have
found to be true.
Now, very briefly before I go into those
explanations. If you're enjoying this
episode, please do subscribe and hit
that notification bell so you won't miss
an episode. And with the more
subscriptions I get, the more people
will get to experience a very different
perspective on subjects such as this.
First, population.
Now, I know that what I'm about to say
concerning population is a very gross
oversimplification
because I could talk about it for hours
alone. So, if you have any questions,
please feel free to reach out to me. So,
bearing that in mind, I'll just say
this.
Generally speaking, when a population
exceeds a certain number, that
population tends to speed up. And this
is due to the stress and aggravation
that comes with larger populations.
People simply become far more agitated.
So, because of the additional stress,
aggravation, and agitation,
people often become much more
disconnected and incoherent.
which is a pleasant way of saying they
collectively have a much greater
probability of acting [ __ ] crazy.
Secondly, totally compulsive and
religiously devoted consumers who
apparently have completely lost the
ability to recognize cheap marketing
manipulation
and be pissed off by it. Yet, if they
became aware by paying attention, that
would in fact go a very long way of
getting rid of the problem itself.
Think of it. When's the last time you
sat down at a restaurant and had a good
relaxing meal with pleasant music, low
dim lights, and weight staff or
bartender you had a bit of pleasant
conversation with?
Matter of fact, when's the last time you
were able to relax and take your time
doing just about any [ __ ] thing?
With most restaurants in America today,
unless you're rich, of course, it's
impossible
because of employees moving at a frantic
pace and each employee is forced to do
the work of three people. because the
corporation is monitoring them from
every angle, making certain they squeeze
the fullest amount of production and
profit out of them.
The hyper corporate, hyperp
profofit-driven Red Robin restaurant
chain is a perfect example. Try this
experiment yourself.
Next time you go into a Red Robin
restaurant, don't get sucked into the
TV, which like just about any other
corporate restaurant chains will almost
always be on a sports channel because
apparently that is the only thing on TV
that anyone could or should be
interested in.
Don't sit at a table. Sit at the bar.
from a really good position so you can
see everything going on around you.
If you do this, lunchtime might be a
really good time. Notice how quickly not
just the people on the floor have to
move, but particularly the person behind
the bar who I've witnessed many times
obviously stressed because they're at
the bar doing the work of two or three
people, which at least to me is very
unpleasant to watch and kills my
appetite because I like pleasant human
interaction with my server.
not a totally stressed out production
unit absolutely frightened to [ __ ]
death that they'll get [ __ ] canned fired
because they're not working fast or hard
enough. And on top of that, just to make
certain you get a good dose of
indigestion for whatever food you
ordered, it's that idiotic
companymandated
group employee clapping for a birthday.
Incredibly loud, incredibly juvenile,
and definitely sickeningly corporate.
When I was 20 years old, one of the
things I had instilled in me was
selfrespect. And if some kind of
restaurant business expected me to do
something that [ __ ] idiotic and
degrading, I would have told them to go
[ __ ] themselves and walked out the door.
But sadly, many of these people truly
have no other choice. I totally
understand that. But I also understand
this is what corporate capitalism does
every time, all the time. And I believe
it's truly [ __ ] disgusting. And they
wonder why so many restaurants have
closed their doors. They'll blame
anything, inflation, the economy, or
high prices. And I'm not saying those
aren't factors, but they completely omit
that many people go out to eat because
they actually desire a human connection,
which you cannot get from an overworked
corporate wage slave. And just to finish
this up, you know what the saddest and
disturbing part of this is?
Many times the people who work these
jobs are so utterly, totally, and
completely loyal and brainwashed to the
company that even with these totally,
objectively true criticisms I'm making,
they will still double down, defending
the company, stating they have decent
benefits and decent pay. To which I
respond, "Yeah, sure you do. just as
long as you're willing to do the amount
of work of three [ __ ] people.
My advice, slow the hell down. And
remember this, never give a damn about
the corporation because ultimately the
corporation doesn't give a damn about
you.
Until next time, this is Ernest and
that's all I've got for today.