I wrote this for the Insurgent. It's uhhh, well rated R for offensive content so read on at your own risk. You wouldn't believe how strongly people feel about this
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I appreciate your response. It is not often that I get a thoughtful response to my cynicism. Most just choose to avoid it all together and deny that they agree on any level. I'd be interested to know what made you agree in part after reading once more...
What I will say about your response is that I think we are basing our arguments on different assumptions. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that you assume that this "mass society" is something that SHOULD be maintained. That, our government is probably just about the best we can do with the cards we are dealt. And you are right, if we choose to maintain this civilized lifestyle we will continue to consume the natural world, oppress animals and each other. And frankly, there is no way to maintain our world population of 7 billion without centralized government, agriculture, deforestation and the like. This is the reality of our situation. I think that the best we can do is try to do as little damage as possible and hope that we do not completely destroy the earth. Okay, so I've gotten off track.
My assumption is that for things to improve in the long run, civilization as we know it needs to fall. More to the point, this government, this way of life is temporary, simply because it is not sustainable. We simply take more than we give back.
I'll switch tracks again to say that you made me realize more fully the point of my article. It was to shake people's blind faith in the government. The faith they have because they have never known anything else, and are taught consistently in school that it's a government of the "gods." I want people to look around themselves and really ask, "is this way of life making me truly happy?" Maybe for some the answer is yes. For me it is no. I'm not asking people to come to a particular answer, just one that is true for them.
For me personally, I have never once felt as though the government was a representation of me, or anyone I know and care about. Much more, I feel as though the government, even the people I have voted for in the past stand for something that I am now completely against. If I vote for someone who is less bad than someone else, I'm still in a minor way validating their actions and the institution they are a part of. In the same way I cannot bring my self to eat animal products anymore because of the suffering it causes, I can no longer put my stamp of approval on the thing that is killing the earth.
And I don't think that even if everyone who felt the same way I did somehow got into "the machine" things would improve. This is because for Americans, or any other first world country to maintain this lifestyle, to stay on top, they have to trample on the rest of the world. "My people" could not, and would not do this. The result would not be a utopia of liberalism but complete chaos.
So, this leaves me much alone and without the typical tools of change. I don't know what I can do to fix this. I am basically helpless against this "machine" and so, I choose to do as little bad as possible, and hope that someday I find a way to do good.
I'm sure that's much more than you ever cared to now about my view of the world. You can take it or leave it but in the least I hope I made you think honestly about it.
What I will say about your response is that I think we are basing our arguments on different assumptions. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that you assume that this "mass society" is something that SHOULD be maintained. That, our government is probably just about the best we can do with the cards we are dealt. And you are right, if we choose to maintain this civilized lifestyle we will continue to consume the natural world, oppress animals and each other. And frankly, there is no way to maintain our world population of 7 billion without centralized government, agriculture, deforestation and the like. This is the reality of our situation. I think that the best we can do is try to do as little damage as possible and hope that we do not completely destroy the earth. Okay, so I've gotten off track.
My assumption is that for things to improve in the long run, civilization as we know it needs to fall. More to the point, this government, this way of life is temporary, simply because it is not sustainable. We simply take more than we give back.
I'll switch tracks again to say that you made me realize more fully the point of my article. It was to shake people's blind faith in the government. The faith they have because they have never known anything else, and are taught consistently in school that it's a government of the "gods." I want people to look around themselves and really ask, "is this way of life making me truly happy?" Maybe for some the answer is yes. For me it is no. I'm not asking people to come to a particular answer, just one that is true for them.
For me personally, I have never once felt as though the government was a representation of me, or anyone I know and care about. Much more, I feel as though the government, even the people I have voted for in the past stand for something that I am now completely against. If I vote for someone who is less bad than someone else, I'm still in a minor way validating their actions and the institution they are a part of. In the same way I cannot bring my self to eat animal products anymore because of the suffering it causes, I can no longer put my stamp of approval on the thing that is killing the earth.
And I don't think that even if everyone who felt the same way I did somehow got into "the machine" things would improve. This is because for Americans, or any other first world country to maintain this lifestyle, to stay on top, they have to trample on the rest of the world. "My people" could not, and would not do this. The result would not be a utopia of liberalism but complete chaos.
So, this leaves me much alone and without the typical tools of change. I don't know what I can do to fix this. I am basically helpless against this "machine" and so, I choose to do as little bad as possible, and hope that someday I find a way to do good.
I'm sure that's much more than you ever cared to now about my view of the world. You can take it or leave it but in the least I hope I made you think honestly about it.
Happy election day.
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