Thank you very much Mark. There is so much more nuance but there is one clear message: capital corrupts and destroys everything in the end, it really is as simple as that
Yes: each of us has become our own dictator. Does it not follow, therefore, that each of us is our own liberator?
That liberation requires, yes, a revolt against the parasitic system we have internalized. I suggest that revolt is now underway in small communities, providing guidance to free themselves from that internal imprisonment, and then use the liberated time & energy to build community resilient enough to sustain as Empire crumbles.
I’m sure there are many more, but here’s the one community I am participating in:
(here’s a short statement of our mission & vision)
I love the way you write, and, I love what you write. That is to say, I love truth, it's brutal, it's heartbreaking and devastating, because of the suffering of all life, in particular non human life.
I'm grateful to have found you.
It's only been a couple of months.
I'm reading and rereading all your articles. Between Professor William Rees and you, I'm amazed at the level with which you both see the big picture, joining all the dots. I discovered Professor Rees several years ago and was liberated by his lectures and talks and papers.
Over these years I've kept watching his talks just to keep my sanity. Now I've found your articles I'm more informed and liberated. Thankyou so much. Sorry I'm not financial enough to support you.
Most people are not even remotely prepared or ready to acknowledge this economic and societal prison-with-no-bars; let alone understand it, or escape it. And asking folks to reject it all -- most of whom live with families in a paycheck-to-paycheck Sisyphean financial struggle -- is a tall order to say the least.
I don't disagree with you; the article is very cogent, and you've definitely nailed it. But to define the problem suggests we have a solution prepared. Or need to seek one. What is it? Or rather: what is yours?
It's a complicated situation, I understand. And beginning starts with defining the problem. You've already done that well, as have some others. So where do we go from here? Especially as this parasitic society (in the U.S. and elsewhere) is really ramping up for a full blown fascistic re-run of the worst parts of the 20th century. With a nasty technocratic twist.
You mention revolt against the system. Sounds like one good way to begin. How? A debt strike? Something else?
You’re not asking me, but fwiw imho one part of the meta-crisis is that it is so overwhelmingly unsolvable that figuring out the best response to salvage even a part of civilization is simply too complex.
All I know is that we have to do SOMETHING, so that is my advice: push in the right direction with SOMETHING. Personally, I write about it, because it’s all I can do from where I am in life.
Whether it is “willful ignorance” or “cognitive dissonance” that is preventing our society from progressing as it should is unclear. It’s probably some of both. Combined with a conscious effort to “dumb down ‘Murrica, by the Republicons, the net effect has been brutal and unrelenting. It will be a long road back from this fascist coup and we have run out of time. Think of the wasted opportunity cost that comes with this chaos! The planet is en fuego and our “leaders” are spewing “drill baby drill.”
I used to work in domestic violence for some years. There are a lot of parallels, the women were often in an invisible cage of beliefs, far more effectively policing themselves. I also see parallels with the work of Iain Mc Gilchrist about the over reach of the left hemisphere.
It is my opinion that we don’t need Neuralink as Elon Musk would like (what a revealing metaphor) we already have one, a part of our psyche gone rogue and reinforced by constant cultural conditioning (the software part)
this is all very familiar somehow. I used to work in domestic violence services for some years. Some women came in, missing teeth, or with broken ribs and they were very clear about who had done this to them and why. Others came in, often well dressed, confident but strangely nervous and unsure. They were the hardest to reach, constantly questioned themselves ‘is it really abuse if he says he’s joking’ and might react badly if you tried to jail break their reality ‘you don’t know him, he loves me really’. They seemed to be under their abusers’s spell, while vaguely aware that something was seriously wrong.
This is missing the point. What is significant about the United States since the tariffs announcement is that a dictator is launching a direct attack on the profits of most American businesses for no reason other than his own crazy misunderstanding of how economics works and those business owners are remaining silent. Millions of Americans are cheering the dictator on, even though it's costing them financially. Our previous understanding that profits drive everything and businesses will always fight to the death to defend them is clearly wrong in several particulars.
Trump's tariffs are designed to destroy small business and consolidate wealth upward. Large corporations can easily withstand the price increase and remain intact while small business fails. Small being a relative term now with the results of so many corporate "mergers".
Tariffs will also force more Americans into poverty and home foreclosures. People in poverty are easy to control under a fascist government. Ask the homeless who are at the bottom of the pile. The parasite class.
He is also manipulating the world market by a form of insider trading crashing the market by absurd tariffs and then relaxing them. Buy low,sell high. He can enrich himself and the chosen few.
It's nothing more than the way he's running all his businesss. Theft.
This piece is so clear-sighted. Thank you.
Thank you very much Mark. There is so much more nuance but there is one clear message: capital corrupts and destroys everything in the end, it really is as simple as that
Yes: each of us has become our own dictator. Does it not follow, therefore, that each of us is our own liberator?
That liberation requires, yes, a revolt against the parasitic system we have internalized. I suggest that revolt is now underway in small communities, providing guidance to free themselves from that internal imprisonment, and then use the liberated time & energy to build community resilient enough to sustain as Empire crumbles.
I’m sure there are many more, but here’s the one community I am participating in:
(here’s a short statement of our mission & vision)
https://open.substack.com/pub/megroekle/p/my-mission-vision-and-offerings?r=d62km&utm_medium=ios
Check out Dr Roekle’s Substack. Questions, and participation welcome.
That’s the idea…
Absolutely superb 🙌🏻
I love the way you write, and, I love what you write. That is to say, I love truth, it's brutal, it's heartbreaking and devastating, because of the suffering of all life, in particular non human life.
I'm grateful to have found you.
It's only been a couple of months.
I'm reading and rereading all your articles. Between Professor William Rees and you, I'm amazed at the level with which you both see the big picture, joining all the dots. I discovered Professor Rees several years ago and was liberated by his lectures and talks and papers.
Over these years I've kept watching his talks just to keep my sanity. Now I've found your articles I'm more informed and liberated. Thankyou so much. Sorry I'm not financial enough to support you.
No worries thank you. Rees is great indeed :)
This was an amazing piece of writing. You hit the nail on the head on this illusion of democracy in so many ways.
Much appreciated Calum. It’s part of a group of similar essays looking at politics from the necroeconomic perspective
Thank you George! You help clarify my own thoughts. This, to me, is what a real mentor/teacher does.
Thank you !
And it seems that the East India Company continues with even greater bloodthirstiness
Holy cow! Great work!
Thank you ❤️🤘💀
Most people are not even remotely prepared or ready to acknowledge this economic and societal prison-with-no-bars; let alone understand it, or escape it. And asking folks to reject it all -- most of whom live with families in a paycheck-to-paycheck Sisyphean financial struggle -- is a tall order to say the least.
I don't disagree with you; the article is very cogent, and you've definitely nailed it. But to define the problem suggests we have a solution prepared. Or need to seek one. What is it? Or rather: what is yours?
It's a complicated situation, I understand. And beginning starts with defining the problem. You've already done that well, as have some others. So where do we go from here? Especially as this parasitic society (in the U.S. and elsewhere) is really ramping up for a full blown fascistic re-run of the worst parts of the 20th century. With a nasty technocratic twist.
You mention revolt against the system. Sounds like one good way to begin. How? A debt strike? Something else?
You’re not asking me, but fwiw imho one part of the meta-crisis is that it is so overwhelmingly unsolvable that figuring out the best response to salvage even a part of civilization is simply too complex.
All I know is that we have to do SOMETHING, so that is my advice: push in the right direction with SOMETHING. Personally, I write about it, because it’s all I can do from where I am in life.
Yes. It is the healthy reaction both for the world and for yourself
Whether it is “willful ignorance” or “cognitive dissonance” that is preventing our society from progressing as it should is unclear. It’s probably some of both. Combined with a conscious effort to “dumb down ‘Murrica, by the Republicons, the net effect has been brutal and unrelenting. It will be a long road back from this fascist coup and we have run out of time. Think of the wasted opportunity cost that comes with this chaos! The planet is en fuego and our “leaders” are spewing “drill baby drill.”
I used to work in domestic violence for some years. There are a lot of parallels, the women were often in an invisible cage of beliefs, far more effectively policing themselves. I also see parallels with the work of Iain Mc Gilchrist about the over reach of the left hemisphere.
It is my opinion that we don’t need Neuralink as Elon Musk would like (what a revealing metaphor) we already have one, a part of our psyche gone rogue and reinforced by constant cultural conditioning (the software part)
this is all very familiar somehow. I used to work in domestic violence services for some years. Some women came in, missing teeth, or with broken ribs and they were very clear about who had done this to them and why. Others came in, often well dressed, confident but strangely nervous and unsure. They were the hardest to reach, constantly questioned themselves ‘is it really abuse if he says he’s joking’ and might react badly if you tried to jail break their reality ‘you don’t know him, he loves me really’. They seemed to be under their abusers’s spell, while vaguely aware that something was seriously wrong.
Yup…
Quote from my essay about this…
If you don’t know you’re in prison, how do you get free?
This is missing the point. What is significant about the United States since the tariffs announcement is that a dictator is launching a direct attack on the profits of most American businesses for no reason other than his own crazy misunderstanding of how economics works and those business owners are remaining silent. Millions of Americans are cheering the dictator on, even though it's costing them financially. Our previous understanding that profits drive everything and businesses will always fight to the death to defend them is clearly wrong in several particulars.
Trump's tariffs are designed to destroy small business and consolidate wealth upward. Large corporations can easily withstand the price increase and remain intact while small business fails. Small being a relative term now with the results of so many corporate "mergers".
Tariffs will also force more Americans into poverty and home foreclosures. People in poverty are easy to control under a fascist government. Ask the homeless who are at the bottom of the pile. The parasite class.
He is also manipulating the world market by a form of insider trading crashing the market by absurd tariffs and then relaxing them. Buy low,sell high. He can enrich himself and the chosen few.
It's nothing more than the way he's running all his businesss. Theft.