Exactly. When there's no morality then there's no social contract and when there's no social contract you don't have a society that can function without explicit stick or carrot. This is a horrible way to live.

The funny thing is that I can't tell what side you're supporting from your statements.

I agree the west has lost its morality.

I disagree the average person is seeing reality with their own eyes. The average person is seeing whatever some interested party wants to frame as reality.

That's why Russians support Putin. In their reality they are fighting Nazis in Ukraine and protecting the rights of ethnic Russians. And there is some stream of social media you can be on where that is reality.

What you have right now is that state actors and money shapes reality. Do you want China to say what reality is or do you want democracies in the west to say what reality is and specifically the US.

With all the problems, I prefer to have the Americans be the source of truth if I have to pick between them, Russia and China.

I reject the framing around "elites" shaping reality. While we've always had issues around this the western democratic way is the best we know, with all its issues. Moving this power to China and Meta is making things worse.