Most European languages are some almagation and standardization of a patchwork of dialects. English destroyed scots, Tours french destroyed occitan, hochdeutsch largely displaced bavarian, etc. The reason is the dramatic increase in state power in the 19th century (therefore giving importance to the language of administration), combined with policies of “cultural unification” and nation building. So there in fact very much is artificiality in language that is predictable.

The reason Esperanto wasn’t adopted by states when it was invented is because internationalism was seen as either an utopia or a threat by states. The reason it isn’t adopted by the UE now is because it would be a highly visible and unpopular move that would take decades to bear fruit and therefore politicians will never support it. The entire UE therefore learns english, massively increasing the influence of people who brand themselves its enemies.

Sure, this is a gross oversimplification, and SM is very wide; but the impact of two thousand years of Christianity really is very significant to the western psyche, even among the non-christian.

Things like being bad and deserving punishment or suffering leading to ascension are so close to christian concepts (sinning and hell, the passion of Christ) that it would be surprising for them not to be connected.

And there’s also christian influences in sexuality outside of SM obviously. Stuff like Temptation Island on TV, or just sex being “dirty” in general (as in, engaging in sex lowers one’s moral worth).

Sexual relations are the continuation of normal relations, making sexuality a mirror reflecting society. Findom reflects class relations, D/S reflects gender relations, SM reflects christianity, race play reflects racism, etc.

Does it though? Where does the “need” in your sentence come from?

How come the supply chain has no slack to allow for (inevitable) hiccups and accidents? The answer is two part. It used to have them but they were optimized away. It still has them, but you are led to believe they aren’t there because putting this pressure on you allows your bosses to extract more work out of you.

And how come the supply chain is so stressed? Is everything that goes through it so essential that a single late ship is a catastrophe? The answer is obviously not, we are shipping gigatons of drivel across the world that gets immediately forgotten in a drawer or tossed in the bin once it reaches its final destination.

If you are shipping essential goods then there is a safety net of supplies at the destination to absorb any issues in shipping (if there isn’t, clearly these goods were not essential). If you aren’t shipping essential goods, then it’s already factored in global insurance markets, and late shipping is merely someone’s bank account getting bigger at a lesser rate.