I know this is happening, I am aware and making my own personal plans, whatever good it will do.
The problem is, and why I’m not factoring ecological collapse into any of this is one simple reason: nobody cares. Our whole species is just fucking tuning it out. See no evil.
I have no idea anymore how to raise people’s concern on this, even so-called allies get hostile when you try to drive this point home that we need to DO something, so I’m just going to keep going forward and trying to work within people’s capacity for handling and understanding our current moment. As bad as the future is, it could get worse, we can still work to mitigate some of the damage, we still can hope that it won’t be as bad or as fast as some models predict. We can still pray some other super-power emerges with more global clout, or someone does some geoengineering project that will either save or destroy us finally.
So in the meantime, I am telling people that we need to change the system, that’s starting point. Nobody is leading and actual revolutions, there is no core value that people would be marching for, the damage to our species is done, everyone just wants their own entitlements for the here and now, so we have to use existing systems and blanket-populism to try to push people into being engaged again. If Trump and his ilk represent the future, we get the WORST possible outcome. If we can re-steer this boat towards better outcomes, we have a small chance because people are easily swayed into new beliefs if you can change their feelings.
Whatever happens, it’s no place for doomerism nor centrism. But we don’t get anywhere with lofty delusions that we’re going to all have a socialist revolution anytime soon. We can build coalitions and communities still, we can get involved in neighborhood organization and local county, state and city elections so the foundations for fascism no longer exist and the whole thing slowly crumbles. We’ve been led so far astray from our civic responsibilities that most people pay zero attention to the most important politics, their local communities, and the very worst people run unopposed and managed to wreck our whole world.
It is quite clear that people with your perspective take this as an axiom, and yes I hear the note of being positive, but let me explain a situation that is a good place for some realistic amount of doomerism, a situation where you have arrived at the ending of period of your existence in which you had a high quality of life, it happened much quicker than anybody quite expected and there is no escaping it for anybody including you.
If you got news that you had 10 years to live due to a terminal illness or a revised outlook on your future health prospects, and my response was to lecture you about being negative about it, that there is no use thinking you only have 10 years to live, you have to deceive yourself you have longer, that is the only way to live… how empty would you feel?
I see this type of thinking EVERYWHERE around me and it is honestly kind of terrifying.
I am making a conscious choice to try to keep working the mission, because what’s your solution? What exactly do you want to see someone say to your prophecies? What will make you feel better? “Actually, everything will be fine because I have an army of 50 million people and we’re marching on DC”?
It’s not happening. It won’t happen until it’s too late. I can’t repeat this enough: NOBODY IS COMING.
If we all die in 15 years, we die in 15 years. I’m doing what I can with the tools I have, what are YOU doing besides making your last years as unpleasant for yourself as possible?
I know this is happening, I am aware and making my own personal plans, whatever good it will do.
The problem is, and why I’m not factoring ecological collapse into any of this is one simple reason: nobody cares. Our whole species is just fucking tuning it out. See no evil.
I have no idea anymore how to raise people’s concern on this, even so-called allies get hostile when you try to drive this point home that we need to DO something, so I’m just going to keep going forward and trying to work within people’s capacity for handling and understanding our current moment. As bad as the future is, it could get worse, we can still work to mitigate some of the damage, we still can hope that it won’t be as bad or as fast as some models predict. We can still pray some other super-power emerges with more global clout, or someone does some geoengineering project that will either save or destroy us finally.
So in the meantime, I am telling people that we need to change the system, that’s starting point. Nobody is leading and actual revolutions, there is no core value that people would be marching for, the damage to our species is done, everyone just wants their own entitlements for the here and now, so we have to use existing systems and blanket-populism to try to push people into being engaged again. If Trump and his ilk represent the future, we get the WORST possible outcome. If we can re-steer this boat towards better outcomes, we have a small chance because people are easily swayed into new beliefs if you can change their feelings.
Whatever happens, it’s no place for doomerism nor centrism. But we don’t get anywhere with lofty delusions that we’re going to all have a socialist revolution anytime soon. We can build coalitions and communities still, we can get involved in neighborhood organization and local county, state and city elections so the foundations for fascism no longer exist and the whole thing slowly crumbles. We’ve been led so far astray from our civic responsibilities that most people pay zero attention to the most important politics, their local communities, and the very worst people run unopposed and managed to wreck our whole world.
It is quite clear that people with your perspective take this as an axiom, and yes I hear the note of being positive, but let me explain a situation that is a good place for some realistic amount of doomerism, a situation where you have arrived at the ending of period of your existence in which you had a high quality of life, it happened much quicker than anybody quite expected and there is no escaping it for anybody including you.
If you got news that you had 10 years to live due to a terminal illness or a revised outlook on your future health prospects, and my response was to lecture you about being negative about it, that there is no use thinking you only have 10 years to live, you have to deceive yourself you have longer, that is the only way to live… how empty would you feel?
I see this type of thinking EVERYWHERE around me and it is honestly kind of terrifying.
I am making a conscious choice to try to keep working the mission, because what’s your solution? What exactly do you want to see someone say to your prophecies? What will make you feel better? “Actually, everything will be fine because I have an army of 50 million people and we’re marching on DC”?
It’s not happening. It won’t happen until it’s too late. I can’t repeat this enough: NOBODY IS COMING.
If we all die in 15 years, we die in 15 years. I’m doing what I can with the tools I have, what are YOU doing besides making your last years as unpleasant for yourself as possible?