Twenty-First Century Socialism Saves the World
If Medium were an echo chamber, I wouldn’t be here, so I shouldn’t be surprised that there could be some apolitical animals out there, i.e. ones that don’t see all problems as being political and in need of a political solution (theirs). There could even be some humans out there who view climate change as a distraction (from our meta-problem of overshoot).
The author of Twenty-First Century Socialism: What It Will Become and Why isn’t among them as he doesn’t even see climate change as an issue (words like “climate” or “population” are non-issues), as when the “real left” triumphs over the lackey right, then all problems (e.g. our underpopulation problem) will be solved.
Mentioning that technology is causing problems to a techno-optimist has the same outcome: What, really? If so, then the solution is more technology, stupid. All problems have political solutions, as all political animals agree.
I did benefit from reading this missive. From the first sentence I knew I was going to learn about “the real left” as distinct from “the real right.” But all I know and still know is that real wolves look like wolves (e.g. “we must grow the economy, stupid”) and progressive wolves (aka real wolves) dress themselves in multiple layers of well-obfuscated sheep’s clothing (e.g. “we must grow the economy to feed the hungry and end poverty socialistically for all NOW!”).
Those on the real right are united by their believe in capitalism (see last 300 years of exponential growth in energy slaves for all but naturally some more than others) and those on the real left are all united by anti-capitalist certitudes (see last 300 years of unintended harm to humanity and the biosphere).
Both sides, however, are united in their human centrism and human exceptionalism, i.e. they are all wolves (the expansionist form of human that spread within and out of Africa 50k to 60k years ago, who saw Earth as an illimitable plane for the taking).
In 1971, Pogo Possum understood what no political animal can grasp. The condition of being political is foundational to our problematique, i.e. “we have met the enemy and he is us.” Where you are on the political spectrum really doesn’t matter. Getting out of the box (the prattleverse) may.
Whether Tweedledee or Tweedledum is elected to city counsel or President or as World Dictator doesn’t change our overshoot trajectory other than at the margins. Ending politics, replacing the political system with a nature centric, systemic management (of humans via sustainable human interactions with ecosystems and the biosphere) system could change things (but no political animal will vote for real systemic change).
Not saying good or bad, or that you should or should not get right with Mother (just that if you don’t, your species will go extinct, hu-man). And I suppose having to pay our overshoot debt is not good news for 10 year olds and sorry about that (says one animal to another).
As a reality check for political animals (Aristotle’s name for all expansionist type humans), consider a thought experiment to explode your politized mind (after which you might be able to become a normal apolitical human like your hominin ancestors were for over six million years or the San are today).
Imagine the year is 37 CE and Caligula is poised to become the new emperor of Rome. You think he could make a worse emperor (for We the People) than Donald Trumpus, the other contender. So you work tirelessly with confederates (who believe what you believe to create an echo chamber of true believers) to change the outcome of the succession. Clever beyond believe, you manage to get Bernius Sanderus made emperor. Surely, his wise governance will have a far better outcome than that of even Trumpus.
Okay, Sanderus’ rule would be different. but in complex systems it is impossible to foresee outcomes (even if you are God or think you are). What Sanderus did (predictably) was end slavery. But wage slavery hadn’t been invented yet, so the Roman Empire fell sooner that it did. The Roman control of Judaea failed. The Romans never made Christianity the State Religion, and all the heretics (Christians) were martyred by members of the Judaea People’s Party (and the People’s Party of Judaea).
Or Sanderus would have been assassinated even sooner (for failure to serve the economy, stupid) than Caligula was (or Trumpus would have been), slavery would have been restored, and the name of today’s Pope might be different, but otherwise we would being doing business as usual (the worst possible future imaginable in the 1st century, unless, of course, Trumpus had been made Emperor to make Rome great again.
Imperious Caesar, dead and turn’d to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
O, that that earth which kept the world in awe
Should patch a wall t’ expel the winter’s flaw! — Bill Shakespeare
So the first thing we do, let’s kill all the politicians and their wordsmith ideologues (the ones who can’t be reformed) and turn them into clay…. Now that’s a solution that could have a viable outcome. There would have to be more to it, but as a start….
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Of course, political animals must demur, but as mine is an extreme minority view, I do not see them as dangerous (though I would if I ever achieved the condition of not being able to be ignored/dismissed as a lune), nor are they at risk of being “handled with a chain” by me.
Any claim to being “apolitical” is merely a confession of self-delusion given that all humans are as Aristotle noted, “political animals.” If Aristotle is wrong, then what? Whose next? Noam Chomsky? George Monbiot? Jason Hickel?
So, do I imply Aristotle is wrong (and maybe 99.99% of modern techno-industrial Anthropocene enthusiasts too)? Maybe, he/they/me could be, but what do I know? I’m okay with not knowing, with just saying what I see in front of my pugged-nosed prattling rouge primate face by endeavoring to read the tea leaves of evidence.
My conjecture (which could be wrong or not even wrong) is that the political animal arose with the Great Expansion some 50k years ago. How could such a patrifocal animal not have become one? I don’t know (and you don’t either). I’m a storytelling animal who endeavors (by listening to Nature) to tell likely stories, because I’d rather know than believe (I don’t know why). As for my epistemology, ontology, axiology…, I just make it up as I go along.
I don’t believe in belief as a way of finding things out, so believers could view me as an abeliever, but defining myself in terms of what I don’t believe in would be as absurd as calling myself an atheist.
I just happen to view all positions on the political spectrum as an expression of a cognitive disorder. All potentially viable outcomes to our overshoot condition are unthinkable, i.e. outside the Overton window of political animals, hence there are no political solutions. One symptom of overshoot is climate change.
