Being Human in a LARPing World

American political and social institutions have become so locked into polarization that reform efforts from within actually reinforce the problem they're trying to solve. The deeper issue isn't guns or police tactics. It's that every major institution profits from maintaining the conditions that make disasters possible. As long as the game rewards performative action over real change, no amount of policy reform will break the cycle.

• The Uvalde police dressed in tactical gear but didn't act as protectors. The actual hero wore jeans and a baseball cap, and he didn't wait for permission.
• Only 18 percent of Biden voters see Trump voters as good Americans, and 22 percent of Trump voters feel the same. This isn't policy disagreement. Both sides benefit equally from dehumanization.
• Every reform effort becomes just another red vs. blue battlefield. Gun control, police reform, campaign finance reform. The system has learned to absorb dissent and use it as fuel.
• Schools and police departments benefit from perpetual crisis. Political parties benefit from eternal enemies. The institutions that should prevent disasters don't actually want them to stop.
• If you can't reform the system from inside the system, what do you do? The question isn't whether gun control works. It's whether anything can work within these rules.