Are we sharing the coffee?

Or are we slowly cooked in it….

Anyone who wants to leave a sustainable planet to the next generation must be able to see real conspiracies beyond wild theories. Real power arrangements. Financial patterns behind headlines and party quarrels.

In the beginning of science, science was believed to be almost impeccable for the development of civilisation. If something was “scientific” it was treated as truth. Today it is debated how much of what reaches the public is careful work, and how much is shaped or filtered by private interests that need to sell medication to taxpayers.

We thought we had intelligence agencies to protect our countries from threats from the outside. Today we can read open investigations and declassified material that show how some of these agencies have gone far beyond that story, entered secret coalitions with private interests, and worked closely with top governments in other countries for reasons that were never clearly explained to citizens.

When it was founded, the United Nations seemed to be there to keep peace in the world and to support stability after World War II. Today, with its voting structure and the veto for a small group of states, it often looks less like a neutral meeting place and more like a way for powerful blocks to guard their own security and economic position.

The Federal Reserve was sold to us as a way to guarantee stability, hold down inflation and keep the value of money. Today we know that private interests were built into the structure from the start and still play a strong role, even if the bank is presented as a neutral public actor.

In the beginning, pension funds were presented as a safe way to take care of workers when they get old. We pay into them during our best years and expect basic security in return. Over time, these funds have become large owners in the global market, often managed by a small group of asset managers and banks. Our savings are now part of the demand for steady return, even when that return is taken from the same societies and ecosystems we hope to retire in.

Recent wars were launched in the name of fighting terrorism, chemical weapons or nuclear weapons. We know now that in at least one central case, the invasion of Iraq, these claims did not hold. After the bombs, the International Monetary Fund and other institutions go in, not mainly to rebuild the country for its people, but with programmes that secure debt payments and access to resources for creditors and investors.

In the beginning, the news was presented as a public service. Journalists were there to inform citizens so they could take part in democracy. Over time, ownership has concentrated and most outlets now live from advertising, sponsor money and clicks. The line between information, entertainment and influence is less clear, while the surface story about a free and independent press is still repeated.

Social media arrived with the promise of connection. Everyone could speak. Everyone could be heard. Behind that promise, the real product became attention and personal data. What we see in our feeds is not a neutral mirror of the world, but a stream adjusted to keep us online and available to marketing and political messages. The first story was community. The daily practice is extraction.

Electric cars are sold to us as a clean answer to the climate crisis. They reduce local emissions and they look like an easy swap inside the same lifestyle. Under the floor sits the price: mining of metals, long supply chains, and electricity that still often comes from fossil fuel. The public story is that we are saving the planet one car at a time. The balance sheet shows that we are mainly changing the way we power the same idea of endless traffic.

The pattern repeats.

We are given a clean story at the start. Protection. Peace. Stability. Security. Progress.

Decades later we sit with a very different layer of revelations. We can see the trickle of trillions, moving steadily through all the waves on the surface, towards a shrinking focal point of private ownership. It is fair to ask where this leaves us and the planet down the road. Who will be the steward of what. Who will own who.

Red pill or blue. Comfort in a bubble or a just planet for future generations. I decide. You decide. The one who wakes up first makes, shares or gets the coffee.

While you are at it, share, subscribe and even pay for the subscription. It will pay for the coffee.