I see no solution available within the current political system.
We are forced to live within the endlessly corrupted left-right paradigm, which is desperately continuing to pump out the threadbare illusion of democracy. Many are still drawn in by the spectacle and theatre of it all, still believing on some level that their vote makes a difference and that they have a real stake in deciding what happens.
Among the many things that has been laid bare over the last two years is that never more than now has the truth of the observation that whichever party gets into office, the real governing principles of a nation as corrupt as many in the West are, will not change significantly. The interests and profiles of the global puppet masters actually controlling nations grow ever more apparent as even the pretence of democratic process drains away.
The cancerous effect of this creeping globalisation is compounded by the centuries old problem of party politics. Ben Greene successfully identified this issue many years ago. If political parties are permitted, as a means of representing the interests of constituents, to exist, the unavoidable outcome is that, due to the competitive nature of the political process an MPs loyalty will always be first to the political party to which they belong.
It has subverted parliament as a genuine means of representing the interests of the people. It also makes the system much more vulnerable to corruption by outside interests. With the party system, only a few top officials need to be co-opted in order to achieve quite significant influence.
While I think the whole system of government here in the UK is most probably beyond repair and too fundamentally flawed to ever produce a solution for the people by the people, one last roll of the dice might be to ban membership of a political party, with only demonstrably independent MPs, who verifiably have the support of a majority of their constituents, permitted to represent them in parliament.
If their employment depended on genuinely representing the views of their constituents, even if they themselves did not necessarily agree with them, then we might, just might, see some real change for the better...
That's a very apt summary. I think the past two years, as you say, have really accentuated these problems (which have been recognized at least since Tocqueville). What you observe regarding political parties was identified by Joseph Schumpeter around 1910, I think it's in his work Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, but still, the problem of local autonomy is further compounded by this radical global interconnectedness which I think makes the situation qualitatively different from even half a century ago.
The notion of representation is also destabilized by how production and consumption is organized in modern mass society. There is no competent, rational citizen as per the ideal of classical Athenian democracy anymore. We have specialists under a constant barrage of complex propaganda, so to even discern something like the "general will" is questionable at best.
I don't even know why/when I subscribed to your posts. However...this I like.
The sense of something very bad going on around us, something that is necessary for globalism to survive, is palpable in the air and captured in your writing.
And this I write whilst being also prepared to launch myself into the Web3 / crypto space that is presumably intended to become the safe vessel for people to produce without consuming, to become those beings in the matrix. Even though I've red pilled in a way that I couldn't imagine before the whole covid thing.
I enter Web3 because I know a future worth living requires a great unravelling, a reset perhaps, but not the reset that the global crew would like to see. It requires these international supply chains, this pared back redundancy, this detached living to become sharply rooted in the local. This will hurt. A lot.
I believe/hope (in my boundless optimism) that it can be navigated, that community can be built online and locally to achieve this. If nothing else, the world of covid has seen me ejected from the normal narrative (quite explicitly, my job requires a vaccination that I am not prepared to take), and so there is no choice.
Perhaps this machine can be dismantled and the human restored to grandeur. Perhaps.
I agree with almost every word you write, which is interesting. Am also entering into these digital spaces for the same reasons, and I firmly believe that a relocalization in parallel with the transition town network initiative from ten years ago is inevitable. And will be both costly and painful. But as you say, some form of hybrid networking is probably the only realistic solution if we are to build something resilient that can survive what's coming.
Feel free to check out our podcast at soundcloud.com/aestheticresistance where we talk about these issues about every two weeks as well, and keep in touch.
I am, right at this moment, in a space of utter exhaustion with the whole covid nonsense and my mood is suffering as a result. I know that it will pass, and I know that I need to focus on the new world that needs to created, however it right this moment I'm finding the attack unrelenting.
The machine world that we live in needs to be taken down, completely and utterly, and replaced with a new, human, local world.
I think it's inevitable to encounter these low periods in a situation like this. I had a difficult spell about a year ago. They do pass, but one needs to pace oneself and take time off when needed. It's extremely stressful to diverge from a strong and almost unanimously held narrative, especially when dissenters are branded as the enemy, a stress which probably has significant evolutionary reasons.
I tried to reflect on these issues specifically from a Catholic perspective here, which might be of some interest:
I agree - this fear of being outcast has deep roots. Once being outcast from the tribe meant death, alone, in the wilderness. Charles Eisenstein writes eloquently of this.
Thank you for sharing your article. Whilst not Catholic (but raised inside the presbyterian faith), I do acknowledge the wisdom contained within it, and the insights in relation to the current situation. These are truly trying times, but equally, times that we are here, with our life experiences, to overcome.
Incidentally, I love the fusion of black metal and the Christian faith. I have long loved black and death metal, and always been bemused by the confusion of friends when they learn this. Because, yes, the more obnoxious forms of metal music hold a very clear mirror to society, and people do not want to know it.
Life gets that little bit easier for knowing that there are like-minded people, such as yourself, who can come together in some rough sort of a community. Today has been better as I caught up with friends for a coffee (a Friday morning ritual) and the reality of a world outside my career feels less daunting. I'm sure this will continue to come in waves.
Thank you for everything you are doing. Your podcast, your writing, your being an articulate voice when the world seems to be going utterly mad. We shall, I am sure, rebuild a new world from the ashes of the old. Or, in the words of the Christian faith, a New Jerusalem. This is the vision I am lifting my gaze toward.
I see no solution available within the current political system.
We are forced to live within the endlessly corrupted left-right paradigm, which is desperately continuing to pump out the threadbare illusion of democracy. Many are still drawn in by the spectacle and theatre of it all, still believing on some level that their vote makes a difference and that they have a real stake in deciding what happens.
Among the many things that has been laid bare over the last two years is that never more than now has the truth of the observation that whichever party gets into office, the real governing principles of a nation as corrupt as many in the West are, will not change significantly. The interests and profiles of the global puppet masters actually controlling nations grow ever more apparent as even the pretence of democratic process drains away.
The cancerous effect of this creeping globalisation is compounded by the centuries old problem of party politics. Ben Greene successfully identified this issue many years ago. If political parties are permitted, as a means of representing the interests of constituents, to exist, the unavoidable outcome is that, due to the competitive nature of the political process an MPs loyalty will always be first to the political party to which they belong.
It has subverted parliament as a genuine means of representing the interests of the people. It also makes the system much more vulnerable to corruption by outside interests. With the party system, only a few top officials need to be co-opted in order to achieve quite significant influence.
While I think the whole system of government here in the UK is most probably beyond repair and too fundamentally flawed to ever produce a solution for the people by the people, one last roll of the dice might be to ban membership of a political party, with only demonstrably independent MPs, who verifiably have the support of a majority of their constituents, permitted to represent them in parliament.
If their employment depended on genuinely representing the views of their constituents, even if they themselves did not necessarily agree with them, then we might, just might, see some real change for the better...
That's a very apt summary. I think the past two years, as you say, have really accentuated these problems (which have been recognized at least since Tocqueville). What you observe regarding political parties was identified by Joseph Schumpeter around 1910, I think it's in his work Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, but still, the problem of local autonomy is further compounded by this radical global interconnectedness which I think makes the situation qualitatively different from even half a century ago.
The notion of representation is also destabilized by how production and consumption is organized in modern mass society. There is no competent, rational citizen as per the ideal of classical Athenian democracy anymore. We have specialists under a constant barrage of complex propaganda, so to even discern something like the "general will" is questionable at best.
Thanks for the input.
You might want to learn about the peak story a bit further... https://canadianpatriot.org/
I don't even know why/when I subscribed to your posts. However...this I like.
The sense of something very bad going on around us, something that is necessary for globalism to survive, is palpable in the air and captured in your writing.
And this I write whilst being also prepared to launch myself into the Web3 / crypto space that is presumably intended to become the safe vessel for people to produce without consuming, to become those beings in the matrix. Even though I've red pilled in a way that I couldn't imagine before the whole covid thing.
I enter Web3 because I know a future worth living requires a great unravelling, a reset perhaps, but not the reset that the global crew would like to see. It requires these international supply chains, this pared back redundancy, this detached living to become sharply rooted in the local. This will hurt. A lot.
I believe/hope (in my boundless optimism) that it can be navigated, that community can be built online and locally to achieve this. If nothing else, the world of covid has seen me ejected from the normal narrative (quite explicitly, my job requires a vaccination that I am not prepared to take), and so there is no choice.
Perhaps this machine can be dismantled and the human restored to grandeur. Perhaps.
Thanks man, appreciate it.
I agree with almost every word you write, which is interesting. Am also entering into these digital spaces for the same reasons, and I firmly believe that a relocalization in parallel with the transition town network initiative from ten years ago is inevitable. And will be both costly and painful. But as you say, some form of hybrid networking is probably the only realistic solution if we are to build something resilient that can survive what's coming.
Feel free to check out our podcast at soundcloud.com/aestheticresistance where we talk about these issues about every two weeks as well, and keep in touch.
Thanks - I've signed on and am listening now.
I am, right at this moment, in a space of utter exhaustion with the whole covid nonsense and my mood is suffering as a result. I know that it will pass, and I know that I need to focus on the new world that needs to created, however it right this moment I'm finding the attack unrelenting.
The machine world that we live in needs to be taken down, completely and utterly, and replaced with a new, human, local world.
I think it's inevitable to encounter these low periods in a situation like this. I had a difficult spell about a year ago. They do pass, but one needs to pace oneself and take time off when needed. It's extremely stressful to diverge from a strong and almost unanimously held narrative, especially when dissenters are branded as the enemy, a stress which probably has significant evolutionary reasons.
I tried to reflect on these issues specifically from a Catholic perspective here, which might be of some interest:
https://onepeterfive.com/the-heroism-of-faith/
I agree - this fear of being outcast has deep roots. Once being outcast from the tribe meant death, alone, in the wilderness. Charles Eisenstein writes eloquently of this.
Thank you for sharing your article. Whilst not Catholic (but raised inside the presbyterian faith), I do acknowledge the wisdom contained within it, and the insights in relation to the current situation. These are truly trying times, but equally, times that we are here, with our life experiences, to overcome.
Incidentally, I love the fusion of black metal and the Christian faith. I have long loved black and death metal, and always been bemused by the confusion of friends when they learn this. Because, yes, the more obnoxious forms of metal music hold a very clear mirror to society, and people do not want to know it.
Life gets that little bit easier for knowing that there are like-minded people, such as yourself, who can come together in some rough sort of a community. Today has been better as I caught up with friends for a coffee (a Friday morning ritual) and the reality of a world outside my career feels less daunting. I'm sure this will continue to come in waves.
Thank you for everything you are doing. Your podcast, your writing, your being an articulate voice when the world seems to be going utterly mad. We shall, I am sure, rebuild a new world from the ashes of the old. Or, in the words of the Christian faith, a New Jerusalem. This is the vision I am lifting my gaze toward.
Thanks for the kind words. It really means a lot, especially in these trying times when you're either swamped with work or increasingly a pariah.
And yeah, I would consider all Christians as part of the same family, Catholic or not
It's kind of astonishing that you're also into Christian black metal. Here's an old interview with us:
https://www.invisibleoranges.com/reverorum-ib-malacht-interview/
And here's our Bandcamp site:
https://malachtunlimited.bandcamp.com/album/svag-i-d-den
Take care, and keep in touch.