© by Mumia Abu-Jamal 06/2026
There’s a movie that I saw a few years ago, and it’s funny, but it’s not funny. And it’s very, very funny in the sense of, it will make you laugh. It might make you have a belly-laugh. But when you sit back and think about what it’s showing you, your laughter will stop.
It’s called “Idiocracy.” And it’s about the rule of really stupid rulers, and people who are consumed by entertainment. And nothing works, and everything is broken.
And society looks like it. Society is a trash heap. If you look at it, and think about the times that we’re in, I think it will look familiar.
Right? Where everybody in control doesn’t know – what – they – are – doing.
And it’s as simple as that, you know? They browbeat, and they beat their chests, and they roar, and they play to the crowds. But they don’t know what they are doing.
Because the idiots [in the movie] are both the leaders, and the people. And nothing works and everything is broken. And people roar in pleasure when things get shattered in the pit.
It’s worth a watch.
We live in an era of the Great Grift.
One writer [Matt Taibi–ed.] called it “Griftopia” — this is an era of taking, where people are snatching stuff, just because they want it, straight out of the air.
And it’s no longer covered by political niceties, of soft, sonorous voice, international law. They take things because they want things, and they take things using the military because of the strength and the quote-unquote “lethality” of the military.
This is the great grift, the great take. And why is it happening now? Y’know why? I think they know this thing is on the brink of failure. And if they don’t take it now, they won’t be able to take it tomorrow.
But they want to take it before the ecological situation becomes really unlivable, untenable — water systems break down, electric systems collide because they are building so many data centers, to support A-I industries that small towns and villages will get crushed below the weight of their bills, their electricity bills and water bills, to support these systems.
Everybody is getting in on the grift, the take, the getting paid. Because this is that moment. Capital is rapacious and awake to the great grift that’s happening, every day, right in front of our eyes.
With love, not fear, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
