2018 will be a deeply polarizing year. A Golden Age awaits to emerge, but it’s still just a sapling and can easily be trodden out. 2018 will be critical in determining whether normal people can live normally or whether a storm of the hysteria that defined this decade blows away the progress we’ve made.

Background

When Donald Trump won the election of 2016 (a victory I predicted in Stumped), I was wrong about one thing. I erroneously believed that it would be a thunderbolt that forced the “social justice” peacocks on the left to rethink their stances. Instead, the opposite occurred. Taking the result as confirmation bias that America really is the evil place they thought it was, they’ve descended even further into Year Zero madness.

2017 was the year in which that hysteria reached a fever pitch. They ran from one hallucination to another. We can’t exactly fault them for trying new things. Eventually they seemed to find something that worked in the “sexual misconduct” strategy.

At the same time, the Republican Party had a difficult time consolidating its hold on power, but ended the year strongly. More importantly though, President Trump did consolidate his hold, going from “Hitler, to incompetent, to competent, but we don’t like it,” in the words of Scott Adams. That story arc, and his beating off of the Russian hallucination, puts him, and by extension normal people, in a strong position.

Golden Seeds

Scott Adams has next postulated that a “golden age” is coming. For what it’s worth, you’ve seen some of this in the media also. There are some encouraging signs in the economy and culture.

• GDP is growing at 3% and will grow at 4% next year.
• Wages are increasing for the first time in a while.
• Stocks are at a record high, and therefore 401ks and pensions are also.
• The Republicans are coming around to the idea of stopping chain migration and the diversity visa lottery.
• Hollywood revenues are declining.
• Leftist violence has been exposed.
• The Democrats are struggling for money and have no offer to the public or leadership for themselves.

Etc.

But it’s not so simple.

Dark Seeds

Despite those encouraging signs, a “golden age” is still a while away. The plutocratic insurgency is still gaining power. Additionally, as both sides regrouped and reloaded this year, we saw many examples of a threat to any emerging “golden age.” There are still deep structural problems in the country, aided and abetted by the plutocratic insurgency, that no single year or even presidential term can fix.

The labor force participation rate remains worrying and there’s no law of nature that says the newfound growth will go to the most distressed communities. Wages are going up, but that’s useless unless jobs are created in the places that need them, rather than a few winner take all cities. If there’s no new economic activity in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and it’s instead all funneled into New York and San Francisco, be worried.

In addition, there are a few other troubling developments…

• The “sexual misconduct” hysteria bubble which could make 2018 a dating apocalypse.
• Increasing violence from both factions.
• The media justifying leftist violence.
• “Social justice” peacocks being motivated in general, while their opponents are somewhat relaxed.
• The coming tide of automation that will displace more and more jobs each year.
• The looming student loan debt crisis, coupled with universities manufacturing more Year Zero leftists every year.
• The Republicans fucking themselves as usual. Talk of “entitlement reform” is toxic. The agenda needs to be immigration and infrastructure.

Etc.

Two Realities in Conflict

Scott Adams likes to talk about “two movies on the same screen,” but those two movies can in turn drive people to create two different realities. It will be the struggle of people to create these two different realities that will define the year.

2018 might be the start down the path to a golden age, or it could all blow up in a mass hysteria bubble. What perceptions dominate throughout the year will lead to actions that make the difference. Aside from the mid-term elections, other signals will be the economy and what people create.

“Social justice” was forcefed to us in 2017 more than any other year. Watch the commercials or Star Wars: The Last Jedi for confirmation.

I see weakness behind this imposing facade of strength.

We usually see the greatest works of empire after internal weakness makes itself felt and decline begins. The famed Lion Gate of Mycenae is such an example. As they’ve gotten even more ridiculous and brazen in the throes of their hysteria, the peacocks appear to be compensating for such weakness. Aside from the feminist hysteria wave at the end, they’ve been completely ineffective this year.

But the collapse of empires can be just as much psychological as physical. There’s no guarantee that the Year Zero leftists and peacocks collapse. They still have powerful sponsors and allies in the Deep State.

These forces will combat the forces of populism and, generally, normal people throughout the year. “The Resistance” has momentum, but it’s still out of touch with most of the country, which doesn’t spend all day fretting over hashtags on Twitter.

Normal people must emphasize normality, with a booming economy to help them. A major reason why this “social justice” craze took off this decade is because there’s been anemic growth with little hope for most people. When the economy doesn’t work for everyone, crazy thoughts take over.

To defeat the peacocks and Year Zero revolutionaries, the perception of an oncoming golden age needs to prevail over the hysteria they’re sowing. Good times erase bad thoughts and in turn make for miraculous action, action we thought wasn’t possible before.

At the same time, a storm of negativity can overtake any good thoughts that emerge and push us into bad actions.

These two energies will collide in 2018. The energy that dominates will dominate our actions. Expect to see the competing memes everywhere in the media and culture. Should times get better for people around the country (and not just in the big cities), the golden age will be on its way, but the hysteria wave, the negative energy, will have to be overcome. If not, the craze we’ve seen will continue.

Politics have changed and Hollywood is reeling. It takes years for new infrastructure to come into place, but that’s starting. More than anything, 2018 will be a battle of memes in the mind.

We have it in our power to make the world over again. But first we need to defeat these sources of negative energy.

To prepare yourself, read Stumped. It’s been accurate so far.