Lately I’ve had a really hard time finding pleasure in anything.
The world is such a depressing inhumane shit show at the moment. And I’m tired of being gaslit by every government from my local borough administration all the way to the federal government.
Capitalism and fascism had taken a hold on the world’s nations the likes of which we have never seen in the history of humankind.
And the worst part is I feel people have been indoctrinated to as point where we’re never gong to collectively get out of it. I don’t even think a violent revolution is possible because people are too fucking dumb to notice what’s wrong.
And the “fuck you, I got mine” attitude that capitalism has brought has ruined any chance of salvation. Empathy and solidarity are ridiculed as being some woke mind virus.
The world’s climate is beyond fucked. There’s wars and crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the Epstein class in our name. We keep electing wolves in sheep’s clothing who win our votes on fake promises to help us then turn against us and double down on policies that make life more difficult and increase our level of misery. Unless you’re a billionaire CEO or a politician, your life is absolutely worthless. You’re nothing more than a low value resource. And you don’t have freedom. Neither of speech or otherwise. Not as long as what you say or do goes against what the elites want.
We’re fucked. I don’t foresee any future worth living in.
I feel much the same way, and I can only offer my own rather fatalistic take on it. Maybe it helps.
Yes, the world is on fire, and yes most of our leaders are owned by billionaires who are speed running fascism, but you aren’t. You (and I, and many others) see this for what it is, so we all have to make a choice: stand up or lie down.
You can lie down of course, most do. Some out of apathy, some fear, many ignorance. It’s a simple, but short and painful life. You can also stand up, but it’s a brutal and thankless job. Progress is measured in centimetres and in my experience it takes at least a dozen people working together to move the needle even a little bit: a social justice defended here, a bike lane installed there. It’s slow and gruelling work but it’s the only way that needle moves without resorting to violence.
Join a local action group. I’ve joined the Green Party here in the UK, but when I lived in Canada I was with either them the NDP. Small parties have the advantage of not being corporately controlled, but as a result they need a lot of volunteers. You can find real purpose there.
It doesn’t have to be strictly political either. Lots of groups are single-issue activists and they can be very effective. Years ago I worked with the Toronto Public Space Committee, and those were some of the best years of my life
It’s hard work, but the victories, however small will be shared with like-minded people. You’ll be ridiculed by family and despised by many others, and you probably won’t win… but “we don’t fight fascists because we will win. We fight fascists because they are fascists.”
The way I see it, if the world is going to hell, I don’t want to look back on my role in it and wonder why I didn’t at least try to push back. So I do crazy things, like run for seats on city council. I lost by just over 100 votes in my ward a few weeks ago, but I also helped get six other Greens into council and that’s not nothing.
“If nothing you do matters, then all that matters is what you do”.
Thanks dude. That’s a really good reply.
You know, I actually joined the NDP and Québec Solidaire. I just haven’t had the chance to find any free time to participate in anything because of my full time job.
I really enjoyed the Fascist one.
I know right? Hedges has had an amazing career. That whole essay I’d also available in text for, but weirdly I keep getting a “blocked URL” error when I try to post it.