Then and now
Looking back at myself and how I felt and thought about the world, I see a dramatic change in awareness.
My 16 year old self thought that democracy, despite its serious imperfections, was more or less what it appeared to be, that progress and political change could be achieved by voting and that politicians, despite their human shortcomings and their all too frequent yielding to the temptations of power, still by and large meant well. I also believed that there was no power beyond the nation states, and that international progress (in such matters as preventing war and environmental destruction) would eventually come about by persistent, more or less good faith negotiation between nation states.I believed that war was really the last option to resolve conflicts, when all other options had been exhausted.
Today, I recognize all of these views as delusions. I know now that nation states are mere puppets whose strings are pulled by transnational financial and corporate interests, that democracies operate only at the pleasure of these powers and that voting cannot and will not lead to real change. I know that corruption in politics is not the exception, but the general rule, and that political negotiations between opposing factions, be they domestic or international, are usually theater to make the masses believe that the outcome hasn't already been fixed. I recognize that the cause of international reconciliation, of achieving world peace and protecting the environment has for so many years gone nowhere not because nation states can't agree on how to achieve these goals best, but because the real powers behind the nation states have an entirely different and diametrically opposed set of goals. They profit from war, social disruption and environmental destruction, and for them, things are perfect just the way they are.
I think this realization, this letting go of the delusions we grew up with and were taught in school, about how the world works, is shared by many people now, and it is what animates many in the Occupy movement.
My 16 year old self thought that democracy, despite its serious imperfections, was more or less what it appeared to be, that progress and political change could be achieved by voting and that politicians, despite their human shortcomings and their all too frequent yielding to the temptations of power, still by and large meant well. I also believed that there was no power beyond the nation states, and that international progress (in such matters as preventing war and environmental destruction) would eventually come about by persistent, more or less good faith negotiation between nation states.I believed that war was really the last option to resolve conflicts, when all other options had been exhausted.
Today, I recognize all of these views as delusions. I know now that nation states are mere puppets whose strings are pulled by transnational financial and corporate interests, that democracies operate only at the pleasure of these powers and that voting cannot and will not lead to real change. I know that corruption in politics is not the exception, but the general rule, and that political negotiations between opposing factions, be they domestic or international, are usually theater to make the masses believe that the outcome hasn't already been fixed. I recognize that the cause of international reconciliation, of achieving world peace and protecting the environment has for so many years gone nowhere not because nation states can't agree on how to achieve these goals best, but because the real powers behind the nation states have an entirely different and diametrically opposed set of goals. They profit from war, social disruption and environmental destruction, and for them, things are perfect just the way they are.
I think this realization, this letting go of the delusions we grew up with and were taught in school, about how the world works, is shared by many people now, and it is what animates many in the Occupy movement.