I'm going to have to go on a short break from writing. I will try and post something up when i can, but dont hold your breaths.
At least this time im giving warning, rather than disappearing for two months...
Monday, September 15, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Long awaited
Finally a new post!
But enough navel-gazing, the world is in trouble.
What? You hadn't noticed? It's fair enough, not many have. Of course everyone kind of knows about climate change (everyone who isn't willfully ignorant about it), most people have at least heard there are a number of wars going on, and a lot of people have at one point or another thought that if the poor-rich gap gets any bigger, we're all going to fall into it.
But how many people actually realize how bad things are?
The vast majority of people out there do not really realize how bad all of these problems really are and how, despite the best efforts of small numbers of dedicated people, these have only gotten worse and will continue to do so.
"But Razboz, i hear you whine, you aren't really offering any new solution! It's clear that the problems we have today are grave, but solutions already exist, we just need to implement them! For example I've stopped taking the car to work and I give money to UNICEF!"
Of course you wouldn't actually say that because there are too many multisyllabic words in that sentence, but if you did the first thing I'd mention is how stupid you are to buy into the cynical lies that has been perpetrated against the peoples of the world.
This lie is that all of us, one by one, by changing our way of life can change the climate and help solve poverty.
I can hear all of you caviar-greens and salmon-reds (yes that is a kind of pink) complaining and whining from here.
First off: shut up. If your way could work we wouldn't be in this increasing mess. That we can all do our bit and that changing our lifestyles will change the climate is simply the way that corporations and governments have found to placate the pressing need for profound change. Indeed if we really did what we needed to do to change our way of life, and by extension our modes of production, transport and governance these people in their cushy (leather) sofas would lose what they prise most: their power.
These elites, which govern the world through force and disinformation, need people to believe that with an introspective approach, one of self-change before global change, there will actually be an important change. This works well for them: it gives them the opportunity to sell the washed and white-collared masses expensive solutions, like hybrid cars, new power plants and funky little gizmos that can play the radio and have a flashlight and need only be cranked to provide power. The people who can afford this feel they've solved the problem, and those who cant feel guilty for not being able to.
In short by buying into the idea that we can all do our bit, by contributing to these corporate and government led environmental and social efforts we are buying into the very system that caused these problems in the first place. Now if this system had ever given any indication that it can be successfully harnessed by good people to do good things, then following these efforts would be, if not acceptable, at least an interesting alternative. As things stand the system is out of the control of any government or corporate interest. It is out of the control of any group, NGO or otherwise, and will always remain that way.
These are big statements to make, and stand in the face of "conventional" wisdom. Indeed the implications of all of this is that we as the people of the world cannot solve anything by subscribing to any solution that works within the system. This is slightly unfair, but on the whole true. For charities and releif efforts prolong the pain caused by a system which in its nature involves brutal, cold competition as the basic mechanism for survival. Even as Oxfam or MSF cure and feed the sick and the starving, the tireless cogs of capitalism ar grinding into the dirt countless others. Thanks to these temporary patches, the system lives on, mantaining the illusion that we can all do our bit, and that things will soon be OK.
The world is in trouble, and we need to stop buying into their lies.
The world is in trouble and we need a revolution.
But enough navel-gazing, the world is in trouble.
What? You hadn't noticed? It's fair enough, not many have. Of course everyone kind of knows about climate change (everyone who isn't willfully ignorant about it), most people have at least heard there are a number of wars going on, and a lot of people have at one point or another thought that if the poor-rich gap gets any bigger, we're all going to fall into it.
But how many people actually realize how bad things are?
The vast majority of people out there do not really realize how bad all of these problems really are and how, despite the best efforts of small numbers of dedicated people, these have only gotten worse and will continue to do so.
"But Razboz, i hear you whine, you aren't really offering any new solution! It's clear that the problems we have today are grave, but solutions already exist, we just need to implement them! For example I've stopped taking the car to work and I give money to UNICEF!"
Of course you wouldn't actually say that because there are too many multisyllabic words in that sentence, but if you did the first thing I'd mention is how stupid you are to buy into the cynical lies that has been perpetrated against the peoples of the world.
This lie is that all of us, one by one, by changing our way of life can change the climate and help solve poverty.
I can hear all of you caviar-greens and salmon-reds (yes that is a kind of pink) complaining and whining from here.
First off: shut up. If your way could work we wouldn't be in this increasing mess. That we can all do our bit and that changing our lifestyles will change the climate is simply the way that corporations and governments have found to placate the pressing need for profound change. Indeed if we really did what we needed to do to change our way of life, and by extension our modes of production, transport and governance these people in their cushy (leather) sofas would lose what they prise most: their power.
These elites, which govern the world through force and disinformation, need people to believe that with an introspective approach, one of self-change before global change, there will actually be an important change. This works well for them: it gives them the opportunity to sell the washed and white-collared masses expensive solutions, like hybrid cars, new power plants and funky little gizmos that can play the radio and have a flashlight and need only be cranked to provide power. The people who can afford this feel they've solved the problem, and those who cant feel guilty for not being able to.
In short by buying into the idea that we can all do our bit, by contributing to these corporate and government led environmental and social efforts we are buying into the very system that caused these problems in the first place. Now if this system had ever given any indication that it can be successfully harnessed by good people to do good things, then following these efforts would be, if not acceptable, at least an interesting alternative. As things stand the system is out of the control of any government or corporate interest. It is out of the control of any group, NGO or otherwise, and will always remain that way.
These are big statements to make, and stand in the face of "conventional" wisdom. Indeed the implications of all of this is that we as the people of the world cannot solve anything by subscribing to any solution that works within the system. This is slightly unfair, but on the whole true. For charities and releif efforts prolong the pain caused by a system which in its nature involves brutal, cold competition as the basic mechanism for survival. Even as Oxfam or MSF cure and feed the sick and the starving, the tireless cogs of capitalism ar grinding into the dirt countless others. Thanks to these temporary patches, the system lives on, mantaining the illusion that we can all do our bit, and that things will soon be OK.
The world is in trouble, and we need to stop buying into their lies.
The world is in trouble and we need a revolution.
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