Somebody in India thought “financially independent” meant not depending on other people for food, shelter, etc. I had to tell him it really means being able to live off your assets as opposed to your labor, etc.
Then a light bulb went off in my slow head. What he thought it meant was really the meaning that made sense. What it means now in North America is a full-on distortion.
I mean, even bailing on the ambiguity for a minute, if You live off your assets, You sure as hell “dependent” on the powers-that-be to uphold the system where your assets live. That’s why folks that got land tend to fight land reform, and folks that got stocks root against uprisings in faraway lands.
“Financial independence” is like “globalization”. They both say one thing but mean something else.
“Financial independence” sounds like it mean not depending on others for food, shelter, etc., but it got twisted to mean not needing to work to live.
“Globalization” sounds like it mean everything everywhere going every which way, but it got bent to mean mostly Anglo-European culture and institutions going everywhere.
We think we slick, driving left and shooting right, but the upshot is we all start thinking it’s natural for only mostly Anglo and European culture and institutions to go global, and for an exclusive, non-random set of people to “get a living” w/o working for it.
From now, if I wanna talk about the concept of getting a living w/o working for it, I’ll just straight say it — say it straight.