A World in Collapse?

[kpete]

A World in Collapse?

"To be fully alive today is to live with anguish,
not for one’s own condition in the world but for the condition of the world,
for a world that is in collapse."
by Alex Doherty , Robert Jensen
......

To borrow a phrase from a friend, I wake up every morning in a state of profound grief. We humans have been given a privileged place in a world that is beautiful beyond description, and we are destroying it and destroying each other. I cope with that by building temporary psychological damns and dikes to hold back that grief. But the emotion comes so powerfully from so many different directions that life feels like a process of constantly patching and moving and rebuilding those damns and dikes. Some of this is intensely personal, but for me the political work is a crucial part of that coping process. If I weren’t politically active, I would lose my mind. The only way I know how to cope is to use some of my energy in collective efforts to try to build something positive.

.............

Capitalism is the most wildly productive economic system in history, but the one thing it cannot produce is meaning. Even more troubling is the way, through its promotion of narcissism and mindless consumption, that capitalism undermines the larger culture’s ability to create real meaning. Virtually all of what is good in society—solidarity, compassion, creativity, ethics, joy—comes from outside capitalism, giving the illusion that capitalism is a civilized system. It’s a cliché, but important enough that we sing it over and over: Money can’t buy you love. Capitalism cannot create a healthy human community, and it undermines the aspect of human nature rooted in solidarity and love.

The other obvious failure of capitalism is its contribution to the erosion of the health of the ecosystem. Humans have been drawing down the ecological capital of the planet since the invention of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, but that process has intensified dramatically in the capitalist/imperialist/industrial era. Our culture is filled with talk about the success of capitalism even though that system degrades our relationships and threatens our existence. That’s an odd definition of success.

more:
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/a_world_in_collapse/

[snagglepuss]

1. K & R nt

[bobbolink]

2. That's a wonderful piece of writing! Thanks for posting it.

" I cope with that by building temporary psychological damns and dikes to hold back that grief. "

An alternative is to create refuges...sanctuaries. Communities of people, either IRL or online, where one can feel safe to be oneself. Where people know how to listen, and accept each other. Where this isn't the destructive criticism, advice, and scorn.

If we were truly smart, we would be bizzzy creating these sanctuaries.

Like, yesterday.

[Hannah Bell]

3. Virtually all of what is good in society—solidarity, compassion, creativity, ethics, joy—comes from

outside capitalism, giving the illusion that capitalism is a civilized system."

and inexorably. the logic of capital destroys it all.

[Catherina]

4. Rec'd with great sadness. n/t

[femrap]

5. Jensen is a cool

guy...he truly gets it. We need more of people like him.

[earth mom]

6. Huge K & R! Thanks for posting this, even though the truth hurts. nt

[kpete]

7. IT IS TIME FOR MAN TO MAKE A NEW APPRAISAL OF HIMSELF

IT IS TIME FOR MAN TO MAKE A NEW APPRAISAL OF HIMSELF. His failure is abject. His plans for the future are infantile. The varied forms of his civilization in this century are smashing each other. In universality and degree, the war he has finally managed to perpetrate surpasses every past similar social disaster. The United States of America is still intact, but its material safety is by no means guaranteed and its psychological future is in black doubt. Plans for what is called the defense of the democracies involve a city-by-city holocaust resembling an Old Testament act of Jehovah.
...more
http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/book/?GCOI=15647100350240

[Uncle Joe]

8. This is well worth reading.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.:thumbsup:

[phasma ex machina]

9. Humanity needs to evolve into communal capitalism.

Hypothetically speaking, let's say that everybody buys Ms Smith's honey because it is simply the best. When a competitor, Ms Jones, starts offering different sizes, Ms Smith gets a run for the honey money and everybody wins.

Capitalism drives prices down. Holistic communal capitalism promotes job sharing. Work a couple of days a week and spend the rest of your time pursuing arts and sciences.

Communal capitalism requires that humanity drop its infantile "me, me, me," "see what I got," "I own you," "I rule you," "I'm better than you," "you're a loser" ego trips.

The ego trip is the hallmark of psychopathic capitalism that humanity finds itself in today.

[Martin Eden]

10. All too true, I fear.

What kind of world is in store for my innocent and joyful little grandson, not yet two years old?

[chervilant]

11. My Blog Entry of February 1 2008

I've been a closet economic anthropologist since my days at University. I assert that we humans are our own worst enemy, because we blithely and greedily engage in economic behaviors without examining the import or the impact of such behaviors. Our economic behaviors have become more important and more influential than ALL of our other behaviors, comprising the framework within which we do all things political or spiritual. Please note that I mean WE as in our entire species.

Humans are now a systems-stressing economic resource, yet we seem incapable of seeing the forest for the trees. All other economic resources are being taxed beyond the system's capacity, yet we sustain a rhetoric that smacks of the blame and shame game--warring with one another, blaming others without examining our own roles--when we should be seeking ways to fix the problem.

A great philosopher once predicted that capitalism would eventually collapse, and that economic behavior would evolve into a more egalitarian, cooperative means of production. Capitalists, politicians, and others with a vested interest in maintaining an oppressive status quo promoted a pejorative meme that taints this great man's scholarship to this very day. We should take note of the enormous energy expended to denigrate this man's collected works.

We too can attack Karl Marx on the strength of his detractors' red herring meme, or we can emulate his courageous endeavor to examine human economic behavior as it exists today and envision the changes that MUST occur if we are to progress as a species. Do we have to throw out the baby (capitalism) with the bath water (Corporate Megalomaniacs)? Is communism the inevitable alternative to capitalism, and would that really be a bad thing? Can we continue to subsume our spiritual selves in servitude to the almighty dollar?

Change is often a big scary barrier to personal growth, isn't it?

Still, as another great philosopher said, "We MUST be the change we wish to see in the world."

So, this starts with me. My awareness of the core issues described herein above shapes and informs my activism every day. I refuse to buy into the divisiveness that the Corporate Megalomaniacs promote to keep us from examining these real issues, and that includes divisiveness predicated by education, status, or any other hierarchical measure. We The People are on the verge of a major change--perhaps cataclysmic--and we have the intellectual capacity and the spiritual framework within which to propel ourselves into an amazing future.

Despite all that has happened in the last seven years, I anticipate success. I remember how We The People responded after 9/11 and after Katrina and after the BIG Tsunami. We rolled up our shirt sleeves and got to work (well, sans the Corporatists, who seem to view such events as handy ways to thin the masses). I believe that The Human Spirit evident in our times of crisis will prevail. I've only just realized that I always have.

[Joe Fields]

12. It IS unbridled capitalism.

Under stict regulations, this economy could sustain itself.

[sam sarrha]

13. here is why Capitalism DOES NOT WORK..!! >>Link>>

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Here’s why there is an Economic Crisis in this Country..

Financial Wealth
Top ……..1% ……..Next 19%….. Bottom 80%
2007 …..42.7% …..50.3% ………….7.0% ...

the richest 1% possess 6 times the financial wealth of the bottom 80% Americans who also hold 74% of debt..
this is a symptom of Fascism.. the rich rigging the government to enrich them and screw us.. they didn’t get their wealth fairly. this is what the Tea Party should be protesting.. wealth redistribution thru campaign contributions..
1/2 the national debt is caused by a 2.5% tax cut to the richest 1.5% this was done only to destroy SSI for the elderly who paid their taxes all their lives… wake the hell up.!!

[Hugabear]

14. The problem with capitalism is that it's inherently a predatory process

A few people get rich while exploiting the labor and talent of others, whom if it weren't for government regulations, would be little more than slaves or serfs at best.

[creon]

15. not supposed to produce meaning

Capitalism is not supposed to produce meaning. It is designed for buying and selling commosities for a profit. A profit, of course, is not guaranteed. Meaning, ususally, comes other human activity.
The usefulness of capitalism is limited by the fact that many useful and fulfilling human efforts are incapable of being bought and sold for a profit. There is, also, such a thing as 'public' and such a thing as 'public good'. Capitalism does not recognize that.


Capitalism is very unstable and difficult to manage; and, most economists do not know how to manage it. The instability ususally arises from fear < sell until you can sleep> and greed < "bubbles">. People frequently have a problem with calculating risk.

Basically, Capitalism has to be managed by socialists.

[Overseas]

16. Recommended. Lots to think about. //nt

[RainDog]

17. kick n/t