'Before the sunrise’ Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels walking in night-time London (Mikhail Dzhanashvili)
From our Special Correspondent
From time to time, thoughts and reflections will be added to this incisive and radical perspective on contemporary events.
Stolen Opulence
After the completely ridiculous display following the death of Liz last year, I have tried to avoid any engagement with these absurd royal displays, other than to laugh. The pomp and ceremony really doesn't translate well in the age of HD cameras, making all their stolen opulence look straight out of a made for TV movie. Never mind the extreme over reach of our increasingly fascistic police state where even potentially carrying a sign is a terrorist offence. Although that did lead to a rather amusing tale of a royal 'super fan' who was detained for 13 hours for the heinous act of standing next to some other protestors.
Never Forgiven
Learning about what the Soviets went through in WW2 and just what a remarkable achievement it was for them to emerge victorious was one of the most eye opening things to learn about for me. Very different from the western front centric viewpoint I learned about growing up. In a very rare secret recording of Hitler, he was especially confused about how the USSR could have so many tanks. Unfortunately, given the subsequent rejuvenation of fascism across the world as capital shows no limits to what it will do to maintain this rotten system, I am reminded of a quote by Soviet General Georgy Zhukov - "We liberated Europe from fascism, but they will never forgive us for it."
Learning while Working Out
I believe it was Barry who asked about countries who included Marxism as part of their curriculum and I said that Vietnam was one I knew about. Well, coincidentally, part 1 of the first English translation of the course that Vietnamese students study has just been made available online. I haven't had a chance to read through it myself yet, as I've been rather slacking in my reading recently. Although I have just discovered that audiobooks and exercise are a good combination.
Blackshirts and Reds:
Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti. Available as a Kindle, I hope you find the book as informative as I did. It has become one of the key works that is recommended these days for "leftist" reading (after, of course, Marx, Engels, Lenin and such), because of how it gives a clear insight into the unfolding of the twentieth century, especially how fascism is so closely intertwined with capitalism and the lengths to which the system will go in order to protect itself. As well as how communists of the future can avoid the mistakes of the past but also not be afraid of rejecting the established western propaganda and to celebrate the successes as well.
History Repeats Itself First as Tragedy than as Farce
As levels of institutionalised delusion have reached fever pitch in Great Britain, the veneer of pomp, ceremony, and fake civility only serves to add to the tragic farce at the heart of the nation. Hiding, in plain sight, the deep cruelty and viciousness of centuries of oppression and exploitation that the aristocracy and bourgeois have wrought upon the world. And now, even questioning the legitimacy of these systems seems to be beyond the pale.
The whole thing is so bizarre as to be comedic, if it wasn't so tragic
Monty Python asked: Who voted for the king, anyway?”
To be Seen as Others See Us
There is a post doing the rounds on social media recently which made me think about your experience of coming back to the UK. It seems for a lot of people, an outside perspective really does drive home the state of this nation.
World War and Capitalism as a Hyper-Reality Religion
While I'm here, there are a couple of other articles I've found interesting. First, a piece about how American Neo-liberal policy, via Ukraine, is driving us toward cold, and potentially world war. Second, a more speculative column about capitalism as religion, reinforced by our good friend, hyper-reality, and what it will take to wake people up.
Russia Invades Ukraine
Profound sadness is an appropriate way of describing the situation. Even after years of back-and-forth aggression between Russia and NATO in Ukraine, to see Putin make the absolutely horrendous decision to turn it into a hot war has been very shocking. At a time when our civilisation is facing an existential environmental crisis due to our insatiable economic system, instead of making any kind of move to correct course, or perhaps because the system itself comprehends that is has no such ability, we are now being thrown headfirst into a new Cold War and the only strategy it does know, profit from suffering. Only this time round, there isn't even any battle of ideology. Just imperialist capital on both sides spurred on by toxic nationalism and fighting for control of the very tools, capital and fossil fuels, that are bringing about its demise. As usual, the people who will suffer most, this time in Ukraine, are the regular people caught in the middle.
The Longer View
Here are two articles which I found useful in bringing a larger context to the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
Ending the War in the Ukraine and Constructing a Lasting Peace
In These Days of Great Tension
The Written Word
With regard to writing, I seem to find it very hard to come up with things to write about. Also, there is already such a vast trove of critiques and visions of how our civilisation is and can be that it's hard to think what there is to be added. I suppose apathy of thought is a key tool to keep people agreeable to their subjugation but it does feel like trying to argue for atheism at the height of the Holy Roman Empire. Cultural hegemony is such a powerful force of human society. I have heard that Antonio Gramsci has a lot of good writing on this subject and that is an area I would like to investigate.
Unusually Honest
I recently heard about a journalist at COP26 who met an oil company middle management person while standing in line at a PCR test site. Seeing their press badge, the manager asked what they were writing about recently. The journalist told them about a gas platform off the coast of Mozambique which was causing massive disruption and pollution for the people of the local province and how terrible it was that this was allowed to happen. The oil man, with surprising candour, replied "Everything you've told me is right. It's correct. But nobody cares." The journalist could only be left rattled by a rare moment of honesty from such a person.
Does Anyone Care?
In a decaying orbit circling a black hole, where it is quite clear what is happening but we are waiting for enough people to care about it before we reach the event horizon. As a proverb I only learned a few days ago puts it, "You cannot wake someone who is only pretending to sleep.", and our current invented reality does a very good job of lulling people to sleep.
The Origins of Economic Relations
If you like The Dawn of Everything, there is a earlier book by David Graeber in a similar vein called 'Debt: The First 5000 Years' which explores the convoluted origins of human economic relations.
The Breakthrough in Understanding
I do remember always being staunchly anti-religion (or at least what I would now think of as magical or idealistic thoughts), very much viewing the world through the lens of science and interacting complex systems. Until recently I suppose I was unwittingly shrouded in the capitalist realism mindset, where the current hegemony of liberalism was simply all that there was, so I didn't even think about the underlying nature of society beyond a vague feeling that, considering our wealth and scientific knowledge, things should be a bit better. Even after learning to question that, it was only when discovering dialectical materialism that I was able to find a practical application of how to think about the world. The scientific and philosophical side of Marxist theory has been the most interesting to me. The economic side is of course very enlightening, but I never would have thought there would also be a whole different way of looking at the world in there as well. It seems clear why, above all, Marxism must always be demonised and obfuscated by our current hegemony.
Conspiracy Theories and Delusional Thought
Tracing it back to the shock of Brexit/Trump and questioning how people could be so misguided, that may well have been my 'penetration' moment which led me to actually look into alternatives and how/why we are in such a mess. Thus began my journey left, aided by having access to such a wealth of quality knowledge and sources which wasn't always the case on the internet. With the way the right wing has been captured by conspiracy theories and delusional thought, which I've found is not remotely a new phenomenon (a lot of even the more innocuous theories are straight up recycled fascist/eugenicist propaganda from 100+ years ago), I've thought about how rife this was on the early internet. In the late 1990s and early 2000s there were shapeshifting reptilians running the world, flat earthers, ancient aliens, faked moon landings, hidden messages in reverse speech, 9/11 truthers, and many more running wild across the more shadowy parts of the web. These kinds of rabbit holes captured many people and primed them to be drawn first into being generically anti-establishment and later into forming a significant part of the new-wave fascist movement.
Down the Rabbit Hole
One of the faster growing demographics being funnelled into right wing ideology by way of Q Anon and anti-vax movements is coming from what could traditionally be considered well-meaning liberals: people who believe in things like new age spiritualism, alternative medicine, self-help gurus and things like that. It is an interesting phenomenon to witness. With the deep alienation felt at this stage of capitalist development, and with the left thoroughly downtrodden after decades of virulent anti-communist propaganda, there was almost nowhere else for a lot of these people to turn, knowing there was something deeply wrong with the world but lacking any coherent framework to offer a response beyond the easy answers offered by conspiracies. I feel quite fortunate to have kept these ideas at a comfortable distance. It would have been very easy to disappear down the wrong rabbit hole myself with little chance of climbing out again.
Writing
On this subject, I find it very difficult to just sit down and just go. Normally that results in the lasting imprint of a blinking cursor on my retina after 10 minutes. I tend to think through ideas and sentence structure in my head, going through it until it can emerge, mostly fully formed, on the page. This is probably very inefficient and seems to lead to a lot of extra thinking and delay in starting the writing process. I've learned about 'stream of consciousness' writing experiments where you keep writing the first thing that comes into your mind, but I've not had much success with it.
Baudrillard's Theories Concerning Hyperreality
Looking back to the pioneering of mass media, advertising and propaganda in the early 20th century to sell people an entirely artificial reality, where happiness is only achieved through the capitalist lens of consumerism (which coincidentally accompanied the rise of the first wave of fascism), it's hard to refute that it is still where we are. Perhaps there is an element of the human psyche that responds to this kind of thing, be it through religion, myths or superstitions that act as a means to frame people’s reality. Now, with ever-more detailed and interactive media, from newspapers to radio to TV to the internet, the means of strengthening and reinforcing the simulation of reality go far beyond what any ancient story tellers or cult leaders could dream of.
Contradictions in the Free Access to Multiple Realities
All this culminates in a situation where most people have a direct window into the ultimate form of hyperreality through the seemingly innocent little device in their pocket, where the next personal reality-reinforcing simulacrum is only a fingertip away. The stark irony, of course, is that those same devices also give us access to the largest repositories of human knowledge in history. But it seems to be very hard to fight with that knowledge when an endless number of realities can be conjured up at a moment's notice as a counter measure. Something which, as the ludicrous contradictions of the capitalist system become more and more difficult to defend rationally, seems to now form a cornerstone of the reactionary movement.
Climate Inactivism
I recently read an article which goes into a bit more detail on the topic of climate nihilism, or climate inactivism, as they call it. It's hard to think, even given all the dastardly acts committed in the history of humanity, of a more despicable bunch then those in the fossil fuel industry and their various hangers on in politics and the media. Wilfully bringing about mass extinction of life on earth is a whole other level of evil. They should be on trial for crimes against nature but, instead, will live out their lives in comfort and opulence.
Hyperreality
Concerning false consciousness and how people's behaviour is shaped in modern society, I found French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's theory of 'Hyperreality', how modern forms of media and consumer capitalist culture have fundamentally undermined the concept of reality, to be an intriguing take on the topic.
After the completely ridiculous display following the death of Liz last year, I have tried to avoid any engagement with these absurd royal displays, other than to laugh. The pomp and ceremony really doesn't translate well in the age of HD cameras, making all their stolen opulence look straight out of a made for TV movie. Never mind the extreme over reach of our increasingly fascistic police state where even potentially carrying a sign is a terrorist offence. Although that did lead to a rather amusing tale of a royal 'super fan' who was detained for 13 hours for the heinous act of standing next to some other protestors.
Never Forgiven
Learning about what the Soviets went through in WW2 and just what a remarkable achievement it was for them to emerge victorious was one of the most eye opening things to learn about for me. Very different from the western front centric viewpoint I learned about growing up. In a very rare secret recording of Hitler, he was especially confused about how the USSR could have so many tanks. Unfortunately, given the subsequent rejuvenation of fascism across the world as capital shows no limits to what it will do to maintain this rotten system, I am reminded of a quote by Soviet General Georgy Zhukov - "We liberated Europe from fascism, but they will never forgive us for it."
Learning while Working Out
I believe it was Barry who asked about countries who included Marxism as part of their curriculum and I said that Vietnam was one I knew about. Well, coincidentally, part 1 of the first English translation of the course that Vietnamese students study has just been made available online. I haven't had a chance to read through it myself yet, as I've been rather slacking in my reading recently. Although I have just discovered that audiobooks and exercise are a good combination.
Blackshirts and Reds:
Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti. Available as a Kindle, I hope you find the book as informative as I did. It has become one of the key works that is recommended these days for "leftist" reading (after, of course, Marx, Engels, Lenin and such), because of how it gives a clear insight into the unfolding of the twentieth century, especially how fascism is so closely intertwined with capitalism and the lengths to which the system will go in order to protect itself. As well as how communists of the future can avoid the mistakes of the past but also not be afraid of rejecting the established western propaganda and to celebrate the successes as well.
History Repeats Itself First as Tragedy than as Farce
As levels of institutionalised delusion have reached fever pitch in Great Britain, the veneer of pomp, ceremony, and fake civility only serves to add to the tragic farce at the heart of the nation. Hiding, in plain sight, the deep cruelty and viciousness of centuries of oppression and exploitation that the aristocracy and bourgeois have wrought upon the world. And now, even questioning the legitimacy of these systems seems to be beyond the pale.
The whole thing is so bizarre as to be comedic, if it wasn't so tragic
Monty Python asked: Who voted for the king, anyway?”
To be Seen as Others See Us
There is a post doing the rounds on social media recently which made me think about your experience of coming back to the UK. It seems for a lot of people, an outside perspective really does drive home the state of this nation.
World War and Capitalism as a Hyper-Reality Religion
While I'm here, there are a couple of other articles I've found interesting. First, a piece about how American Neo-liberal policy, via Ukraine, is driving us toward cold, and potentially world war. Second, a more speculative column about capitalism as religion, reinforced by our good friend, hyper-reality, and what it will take to wake people up.
Russia Invades Ukraine
Profound sadness is an appropriate way of describing the situation. Even after years of back-and-forth aggression between Russia and NATO in Ukraine, to see Putin make the absolutely horrendous decision to turn it into a hot war has been very shocking. At a time when our civilisation is facing an existential environmental crisis due to our insatiable economic system, instead of making any kind of move to correct course, or perhaps because the system itself comprehends that is has no such ability, we are now being thrown headfirst into a new Cold War and the only strategy it does know, profit from suffering. Only this time round, there isn't even any battle of ideology. Just imperialist capital on both sides spurred on by toxic nationalism and fighting for control of the very tools, capital and fossil fuels, that are bringing about its demise. As usual, the people who will suffer most, this time in Ukraine, are the regular people caught in the middle.
The Longer View
Here are two articles which I found useful in bringing a larger context to the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
Ending the War in the Ukraine and Constructing a Lasting Peace
In These Days of Great Tension
The Written Word
With regard to writing, I seem to find it very hard to come up with things to write about. Also, there is already such a vast trove of critiques and visions of how our civilisation is and can be that it's hard to think what there is to be added. I suppose apathy of thought is a key tool to keep people agreeable to their subjugation but it does feel like trying to argue for atheism at the height of the Holy Roman Empire. Cultural hegemony is such a powerful force of human society. I have heard that Antonio Gramsci has a lot of good writing on this subject and that is an area I would like to investigate.
Unusually Honest
I recently heard about a journalist at COP26 who met an oil company middle management person while standing in line at a PCR test site. Seeing their press badge, the manager asked what they were writing about recently. The journalist told them about a gas platform off the coast of Mozambique which was causing massive disruption and pollution for the people of the local province and how terrible it was that this was allowed to happen. The oil man, with surprising candour, replied "Everything you've told me is right. It's correct. But nobody cares." The journalist could only be left rattled by a rare moment of honesty from such a person.
Does Anyone Care?
In a decaying orbit circling a black hole, where it is quite clear what is happening but we are waiting for enough people to care about it before we reach the event horizon. As a proverb I only learned a few days ago puts it, "You cannot wake someone who is only pretending to sleep.", and our current invented reality does a very good job of lulling people to sleep.
The Origins of Economic Relations
If you like The Dawn of Everything, there is a earlier book by David Graeber in a similar vein called 'Debt: The First 5000 Years' which explores the convoluted origins of human economic relations.
The Breakthrough in Understanding
I do remember always being staunchly anti-religion (or at least what I would now think of as magical or idealistic thoughts), very much viewing the world through the lens of science and interacting complex systems. Until recently I suppose I was unwittingly shrouded in the capitalist realism mindset, where the current hegemony of liberalism was simply all that there was, so I didn't even think about the underlying nature of society beyond a vague feeling that, considering our wealth and scientific knowledge, things should be a bit better. Even after learning to question that, it was only when discovering dialectical materialism that I was able to find a practical application of how to think about the world. The scientific and philosophical side of Marxist theory has been the most interesting to me. The economic side is of course very enlightening, but I never would have thought there would also be a whole different way of looking at the world in there as well. It seems clear why, above all, Marxism must always be demonised and obfuscated by our current hegemony.
Conspiracy Theories and Delusional Thought
Tracing it back to the shock of Brexit/Trump and questioning how people could be so misguided, that may well have been my 'penetration' moment which led me to actually look into alternatives and how/why we are in such a mess. Thus began my journey left, aided by having access to such a wealth of quality knowledge and sources which wasn't always the case on the internet. With the way the right wing has been captured by conspiracy theories and delusional thought, which I've found is not remotely a new phenomenon (a lot of even the more innocuous theories are straight up recycled fascist/eugenicist propaganda from 100+ years ago), I've thought about how rife this was on the early internet. In the late 1990s and early 2000s there were shapeshifting reptilians running the world, flat earthers, ancient aliens, faked moon landings, hidden messages in reverse speech, 9/11 truthers, and many more running wild across the more shadowy parts of the web. These kinds of rabbit holes captured many people and primed them to be drawn first into being generically anti-establishment and later into forming a significant part of the new-wave fascist movement.
Down the Rabbit Hole
One of the faster growing demographics being funnelled into right wing ideology by way of Q Anon and anti-vax movements is coming from what could traditionally be considered well-meaning liberals: people who believe in things like new age spiritualism, alternative medicine, self-help gurus and things like that. It is an interesting phenomenon to witness. With the deep alienation felt at this stage of capitalist development, and with the left thoroughly downtrodden after decades of virulent anti-communist propaganda, there was almost nowhere else for a lot of these people to turn, knowing there was something deeply wrong with the world but lacking any coherent framework to offer a response beyond the easy answers offered by conspiracies. I feel quite fortunate to have kept these ideas at a comfortable distance. It would have been very easy to disappear down the wrong rabbit hole myself with little chance of climbing out again.
Writing
On this subject, I find it very difficult to just sit down and just go. Normally that results in the lasting imprint of a blinking cursor on my retina after 10 minutes. I tend to think through ideas and sentence structure in my head, going through it until it can emerge, mostly fully formed, on the page. This is probably very inefficient and seems to lead to a lot of extra thinking and delay in starting the writing process. I've learned about 'stream of consciousness' writing experiments where you keep writing the first thing that comes into your mind, but I've not had much success with it.
Baudrillard's Theories Concerning Hyperreality
Looking back to the pioneering of mass media, advertising and propaganda in the early 20th century to sell people an entirely artificial reality, where happiness is only achieved through the capitalist lens of consumerism (which coincidentally accompanied the rise of the first wave of fascism), it's hard to refute that it is still where we are. Perhaps there is an element of the human psyche that responds to this kind of thing, be it through religion, myths or superstitions that act as a means to frame people’s reality. Now, with ever-more detailed and interactive media, from newspapers to radio to TV to the internet, the means of strengthening and reinforcing the simulation of reality go far beyond what any ancient story tellers or cult leaders could dream of.
Contradictions in the Free Access to Multiple Realities
All this culminates in a situation where most people have a direct window into the ultimate form of hyperreality through the seemingly innocent little device in their pocket, where the next personal reality-reinforcing simulacrum is only a fingertip away. The stark irony, of course, is that those same devices also give us access to the largest repositories of human knowledge in history. But it seems to be very hard to fight with that knowledge when an endless number of realities can be conjured up at a moment's notice as a counter measure. Something which, as the ludicrous contradictions of the capitalist system become more and more difficult to defend rationally, seems to now form a cornerstone of the reactionary movement.
Climate Inactivism
I recently read an article which goes into a bit more detail on the topic of climate nihilism, or climate inactivism, as they call it. It's hard to think, even given all the dastardly acts committed in the history of humanity, of a more despicable bunch then those in the fossil fuel industry and their various hangers on in politics and the media. Wilfully bringing about mass extinction of life on earth is a whole other level of evil. They should be on trial for crimes against nature but, instead, will live out their lives in comfort and opulence.
Hyperreality
Concerning false consciousness and how people's behaviour is shaped in modern society, I found French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's theory of 'Hyperreality', how modern forms of media and consumer capitalist culture have fundamentally undermined the concept of reality, to be an intriguing take on the topic.
Hol(e)d Up
About writing, for a while I haven't felt the urge to do so. Having gone from political apathy to a somewhat decent (still much to learn, of course!) understanding of the hows and whys we are here and what needs to be done, it's hard to read and watch so much insightful and thoughtful views on the machinations of the world be met by apathy, if not outright hostility by any people with even a tangential ability to change anything.
Round in Circles
Of course, this kind of thinking leads to its own feedback loop, contributing to the lack of change. I have noticed a growing trend in what seems to be the latest stop on the climate denialism propaganda train (especially following the IPCC report) where, given outright denial is clearly ludicrous when we can see the world literally on fire around us, instead climate nihilism is becoming a new frontier of misinformation. Where it is argued that it's too late to do anything anyway so you may as well just keep consuming now while you still can. Anything to keep the money machine grinding away and people's minds distracted from any kind of alternative. This kind of mindset is something I definitely want to avoid!
The 'Carbon Footprint' Sham
For now, we seem to be in a holding pattern while the capitalists and their politicians play at business as usual while the opposition tries to figure out how to gum up the gears. In what form that can be, I don't know but it will have to change in quite dramatic ways as the last 40+ years of green activism has been extremely ineffective. In a microcosm of this, I remember the big deal being made about carbon footprints and then how it ended up being a PR campaign by BP to distract from its own inaction on emissions. https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sham.
Not that we shouldn't take what measures we can to reduce our environmental impact, but it's pure idealist thinking to believe that kind of behaviour could be harnessed on such a collective level to be successful. Even if it somehow could, it would involve the breakdown of global capitalism anyway because it cannot function without widespread exploitation of nature.
Seeing the World through a Screen
I hope your own holding pattern can be broken soon and you can once again roam free. Those Greek fires were something else, the footage of people escaping onto a ferry while the mountainside burned around them was very troubling. My first instinct was to write that it was dramatic, or that it looked like something from a movie, perhaps pointing to the way many people (including me, it seems!) are conditioned to relate to the world through the unreality of the media we consume.
About writing, for a while I haven't felt the urge to do so. Having gone from political apathy to a somewhat decent (still much to learn, of course!) understanding of the hows and whys we are here and what needs to be done, it's hard to read and watch so much insightful and thoughtful views on the machinations of the world be met by apathy, if not outright hostility by any people with even a tangential ability to change anything.
Round in Circles
Of course, this kind of thinking leads to its own feedback loop, contributing to the lack of change. I have noticed a growing trend in what seems to be the latest stop on the climate denialism propaganda train (especially following the IPCC report) where, given outright denial is clearly ludicrous when we can see the world literally on fire around us, instead climate nihilism is becoming a new frontier of misinformation. Where it is argued that it's too late to do anything anyway so you may as well just keep consuming now while you still can. Anything to keep the money machine grinding away and people's minds distracted from any kind of alternative. This kind of mindset is something I definitely want to avoid!
The 'Carbon Footprint' Sham
For now, we seem to be in a holding pattern while the capitalists and their politicians play at business as usual while the opposition tries to figure out how to gum up the gears. In what form that can be, I don't know but it will have to change in quite dramatic ways as the last 40+ years of green activism has been extremely ineffective. In a microcosm of this, I remember the big deal being made about carbon footprints and then how it ended up being a PR campaign by BP to distract from its own inaction on emissions. https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sham.
Not that we shouldn't take what measures we can to reduce our environmental impact, but it's pure idealist thinking to believe that kind of behaviour could be harnessed on such a collective level to be successful. Even if it somehow could, it would involve the breakdown of global capitalism anyway because it cannot function without widespread exploitation of nature.
Seeing the World through a Screen
I hope your own holding pattern can be broken soon and you can once again roam free. Those Greek fires were something else, the footage of people escaping onto a ferry while the mountainside burned around them was very troubling. My first instinct was to write that it was dramatic, or that it looked like something from a movie, perhaps pointing to the way many people (including me, it seems!) are conditioned to relate to the world through the unreality of the media we consume.
The Line Must Go Up
The line in question is the graph representing the stock market and the obsession, particularly for Donald Trump and his ilk, that it is the one true sign of a strong economy. The sad truth of course being that it is largely disconnected from reality and is just another tool for the rich to manipulate. Perhaps the most jarring sign of this disconnect could be seen in a screenshot from a CNBC news broadcast in the middle of the first wave of Covid in the US where the main story showed record highs for the stock market while the ticker along the bottom reported 16 million becoming unemployed.
The line in question is the graph representing the stock market and the obsession, particularly for Donald Trump and his ilk, that it is the one true sign of a strong economy. The sad truth of course being that it is largely disconnected from reality and is just another tool for the rich to manipulate. Perhaps the most jarring sign of this disconnect could be seen in a screenshot from a CNBC news broadcast in the middle of the first wave of Covid in the US where the main story showed record highs for the stock market while the ticker along the bottom reported 16 million becoming unemployed.
Wall Street Bets
This manipulation must of course be kept under strict control, as seen in the 'wallstreetbets' saga, where some 'poor' people got together on an internet forum and figured out a way to artificially boost certain stocks, make themselves a decent amount of money and, more importantly, cause certain Hedge funds to lose billions. All of a sudden, the free market capitalists were very quick to cry foul, even getting stock trading apps shut down and crying for government intervention. The invisible hand at work. Not that they are averse to corporate welfare when their manipulated bubbles inevitably fail because, I suppose, just like profit itself, the line must go up or the capitalist is very sad! https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-federalreserve-mar-idUSKCN24E13G - Let the cycle begin anew.
This manipulation must of course be kept under strict control, as seen in the 'wallstreetbets' saga, where some 'poor' people got together on an internet forum and figured out a way to artificially boost certain stocks, make themselves a decent amount of money and, more importantly, cause certain Hedge funds to lose billions. All of a sudden, the free market capitalists were very quick to cry foul, even getting stock trading apps shut down and crying for government intervention. The invisible hand at work. Not that they are averse to corporate welfare when their manipulated bubbles inevitably fail because, I suppose, just like profit itself, the line must go up or the capitalist is very sad! https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-federalreserve-mar-idUSKCN24E13G - Let the cycle begin anew.
Who Knows Capitalism Best?
While I am far from an expert, it does seem striking to me how Marxist economics generally does a much better job of understanding how capitalism works than the capitalists themselves do. But then, trifling things like stability or sustainability are irrelevant when you can profit off almost any outcome as long as you have the influence to rewrite the rules as you go. Add in some state-sanctioned violence and imperialism and you can keep things running for a good while. And when that fails, there is always a healthy dose of propaganda you can fall back on. Even now, with the wealth of human knowledge and history at our fingertips, when the failures of our global system are laid bare by Covid, the hyper-individualised artificial reality experience of late-stage capitalism has left many people so alienated from the material world that they find it preferable to descend into a world of propaganda and deranged conspiracy theories on social media. Forever locked in to nebulous 'culture' wars against invisible enemies to preserve a society that has long since stopped caring about them.
Understanding the Concept of 'Value'
When it comes to the meaning of value, it is indeed hard to pin down in our current world as it diverges from the material. Certainly, wellness seems well and truly confined to history. Something so shockingly unproductive must surely have negative value! In the past, an object's value could easily be seen in a new tool that could save time or be more efficient, or in clothing that would provide more warmth or comfort. Moving through the industrial age and into the age of consumption, where everything has become fully commodified, value has to become more and more abstract. Where providing for people’s needs is not profitable enough. Where an object’s value must be almost completely detached from its materials, labour and even practicality and instead become the only symbol by which to measure a person’s self-worth. Is it the right colour? Does it have the right logo? Is it a limited edition? Will this make people think I'm special? Most importantly, Will it make me feel good? All the classic sales pitches of modern marketing keep people ever chasing the next thing which will magically improve their life. Where this was once the preserve of upper classes of society, now everyone can buy in to the dream and with it the accompanying veil of false reality and ego that keeps the real nature of the world they have created obscured. A Brave New World where the only drug required is clicking [Buy Now].
Value made Abstract
For the capitalists themselves, value seems even more abstract. Wellness, again, is of no concern. Even the health of human civilisation is irrelevant to them, despite most having long since passed the point of feasibly spending much of their ill-gotten gains. Like a drug addict who has become numb to the high and is now just stuck chasing the dragon because the line not going up is incomprehensible. Even the system itself seems to have become autonomous; even if anyone could conjure up the will to try and stop it, the controls will have long since been sheared off, leaving just algorithms in their wake. Since the crash of 2008, any pretence of the system actually working was abandoned in favour of central banks propping it up by the constant printing of money. Not to do any good, but as fuel just to keep the engine running. Profit being engineered mostly through increasingly ludicrous and convoluted ways of moving money around. Totally detached from the traditional means of production and seemingly any accountability except, of course, to the environment, which will exact a heavy toll on us all.
While I am far from an expert, it does seem striking to me how Marxist economics generally does a much better job of understanding how capitalism works than the capitalists themselves do. But then, trifling things like stability or sustainability are irrelevant when you can profit off almost any outcome as long as you have the influence to rewrite the rules as you go. Add in some state-sanctioned violence and imperialism and you can keep things running for a good while. And when that fails, there is always a healthy dose of propaganda you can fall back on. Even now, with the wealth of human knowledge and history at our fingertips, when the failures of our global system are laid bare by Covid, the hyper-individualised artificial reality experience of late-stage capitalism has left many people so alienated from the material world that they find it preferable to descend into a world of propaganda and deranged conspiracy theories on social media. Forever locked in to nebulous 'culture' wars against invisible enemies to preserve a society that has long since stopped caring about them.
Understanding the Concept of 'Value'
When it comes to the meaning of value, it is indeed hard to pin down in our current world as it diverges from the material. Certainly, wellness seems well and truly confined to history. Something so shockingly unproductive must surely have negative value! In the past, an object's value could easily be seen in a new tool that could save time or be more efficient, or in clothing that would provide more warmth or comfort. Moving through the industrial age and into the age of consumption, where everything has become fully commodified, value has to become more and more abstract. Where providing for people’s needs is not profitable enough. Where an object’s value must be almost completely detached from its materials, labour and even practicality and instead become the only symbol by which to measure a person’s self-worth. Is it the right colour? Does it have the right logo? Is it a limited edition? Will this make people think I'm special? Most importantly, Will it make me feel good? All the classic sales pitches of modern marketing keep people ever chasing the next thing which will magically improve their life. Where this was once the preserve of upper classes of society, now everyone can buy in to the dream and with it the accompanying veil of false reality and ego that keeps the real nature of the world they have created obscured. A Brave New World where the only drug required is clicking [Buy Now].
Value made Abstract
For the capitalists themselves, value seems even more abstract. Wellness, again, is of no concern. Even the health of human civilisation is irrelevant to them, despite most having long since passed the point of feasibly spending much of their ill-gotten gains. Like a drug addict who has become numb to the high and is now just stuck chasing the dragon because the line not going up is incomprehensible. Even the system itself seems to have become autonomous; even if anyone could conjure up the will to try and stop it, the controls will have long since been sheared off, leaving just algorithms in their wake. Since the crash of 2008, any pretence of the system actually working was abandoned in favour of central banks propping it up by the constant printing of money. Not to do any good, but as fuel just to keep the engine running. Profit being engineered mostly through increasingly ludicrous and convoluted ways of moving money around. Totally detached from the traditional means of production and seemingly any accountability except, of course, to the environment, which will exact a heavy toll on us all.
No Time to be Born
I understand the sentiment about people born today. I certainly wouldn't want to be growing up right now. I suppose it depends on if there is still the will and, more relevantly, the means to fight for a better world. That 'will' has been in a slumber for a while but is showing some signs of life. Even if it may well be to rebuild what will be lost, rather than save it.
Privatise Climate Change?
While it's not something I subscribe to, it does make me think of the very fringe leftist ideology of Posadism which claims that the only way to bring about a communist society is the complete destruction of capitalism, most likely through nuclear war (although a modern perspective of climate change could fit the bill). Some even turned to Ufology as a means to save humanity. Delving into fiction for a second, even Star Trek's luxury, space communism, required the old capitalist society to be apocalyptically destroyed. Like I said, definitely not something I would agree with but it's hard to see where the change will come. Looking back at the last 150 years or so there have been so many opportunities to steer humanity on a better course, but instead we have been completely ensnared by the web of capital, whose solution to the potential end of human civilisation is to wait for it to become profitable to do so. Very nice. John Kerry, who was recently appointed 'Climate Tsar' in the Biden administration, also wants to perpetuate this strategy.
Viral Capitalism
It is a tribute to the insidious brilliance of capitalism (and the extensive propaganda and military campaigns the 'West' has waged in the last 70 years and beyond) that it has woven its tendrils so completely into society. Especially its latest mutant strain, Neoliberalism, which seeks to commodify and market-ise every aspect of life. Where all human interaction can be defined by a transaction. It becomes clear how people growing up in this system can see it as inescapable. Where every struggle only tangles you further in its web, until it seems like the only course of action is to simply allow yourself to be consumed. Where even the mildest reforms as proposed by the likes of Corbyn and Sanders can be seen as dangerously subversive. An appropriate quote about this is referenced in Mark Fisher's book on the topic 'Capitalist Realism'. "Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. We can now revise that and witness the attempt to imagine capitalism by way of imagining the end of the world."
I understand the sentiment about people born today. I certainly wouldn't want to be growing up right now. I suppose it depends on if there is still the will and, more relevantly, the means to fight for a better world. That 'will' has been in a slumber for a while but is showing some signs of life. Even if it may well be to rebuild what will be lost, rather than save it.
Privatise Climate Change?
While it's not something I subscribe to, it does make me think of the very fringe leftist ideology of Posadism which claims that the only way to bring about a communist society is the complete destruction of capitalism, most likely through nuclear war (although a modern perspective of climate change could fit the bill). Some even turned to Ufology as a means to save humanity. Delving into fiction for a second, even Star Trek's luxury, space communism, required the old capitalist society to be apocalyptically destroyed. Like I said, definitely not something I would agree with but it's hard to see where the change will come. Looking back at the last 150 years or so there have been so many opportunities to steer humanity on a better course, but instead we have been completely ensnared by the web of capital, whose solution to the potential end of human civilisation is to wait for it to become profitable to do so. Very nice. John Kerry, who was recently appointed 'Climate Tsar' in the Biden administration, also wants to perpetuate this strategy.
Viral Capitalism
It is a tribute to the insidious brilliance of capitalism (and the extensive propaganda and military campaigns the 'West' has waged in the last 70 years and beyond) that it has woven its tendrils so completely into society. Especially its latest mutant strain, Neoliberalism, which seeks to commodify and market-ise every aspect of life. Where all human interaction can be defined by a transaction. It becomes clear how people growing up in this system can see it as inescapable. Where every struggle only tangles you further in its web, until it seems like the only course of action is to simply allow yourself to be consumed. Where even the mildest reforms as proposed by the likes of Corbyn and Sanders can be seen as dangerously subversive. An appropriate quote about this is referenced in Mark Fisher's book on the topic 'Capitalist Realism'. "Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. We can now revise that and witness the attempt to imagine capitalism by way of imagining the end of the world."
Craziness Rewarded
The same people who work extremely hard to perpetuate this system then have the temerity to tell us this is just human nature, rather than a system designed to constantly reward sociopathic behaviour. Where, instead of people receiving treatment for this mental illness, they are promoted into the highest echelons of society. I am reminded of another quote I read recently by Noam Chomsky: "I don't know what word in the language, I can’t find one that applies to people of that kind, who are willing to sacrifice the literal existence of organized human life, not in the distant future, so they can put a few more dollars in highly overstuffed pockets. The word 'evil' doesn't begin to approach it."
A related picture of the Brazilian 'Environment Secretary' Ricardo Salles posing in front of some recently harvests logs in the Amazon.
The same people who work extremely hard to perpetuate this system then have the temerity to tell us this is just human nature, rather than a system designed to constantly reward sociopathic behaviour. Where, instead of people receiving treatment for this mental illness, they are promoted into the highest echelons of society. I am reminded of another quote I read recently by Noam Chomsky: "I don't know what word in the language, I can’t find one that applies to people of that kind, who are willing to sacrifice the literal existence of organized human life, not in the distant future, so they can put a few more dollars in highly overstuffed pockets. The word 'evil' doesn't begin to approach it."
A related picture of the Brazilian 'Environment Secretary' Ricardo Salles posing in front of some recently harvests logs in the Amazon.
Out of the Time Machine
Anyway, I kind of went off a bit hard there. I hope it isn't too far. I just can't shake the vision of the descendants of billionaires emerging, Morlock like, from their underground bunkers, with the only thought on their minds being to check how their stock portfolios have been doing.
Anyway, I kind of went off a bit hard there. I hope it isn't too far. I just can't shake the vision of the descendants of billionaires emerging, Morlock like, from their underground bunkers, with the only thought on their minds being to check how their stock portfolios have been doing.
Capitalist Greed
I had my first jab of AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday. Felt a bit rough yesterday but fully recovered today. One small step toward normality. At least science can still help us in the face of capitalist malpractice. Sadly, it seems like even the roll out of life saving (dare I say economy saving) vaccines are still at the whims of patents, profiteering and a healthy sprinkling of nationalism.
Politics in England
With the level of political discourse in England among the general public, the media and far too many politicians being so shockingly low and reactionary, I fear we will be in for the long haul to remove our own infestation of conservatism.
Politics in America
For America, it must certainly be a great relief to be rid of the Orange Menace. The rest of the world can breathe easier as well! This time I hope that the Democrats will, after failing in their response to the 2008 crash, reflect and reverse a lot of the neoliberal economic policies that led to Trump in the first place.
A Marxist Perspective of Contemporary America
I found this recent lecture by Professor Richard Wolff to be very informative. It covers the hows and whys, from a Marxist perspective, of what led America down this torturous path. The main topic starts at 25:00 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1489&v=0EC1KMfUECw
Deeper Learning and Meaning
I like to ponder for a while before coalescing my thoughts but perhaps I pondered a bit much this time. While I would like to think I have a decent grasp of the current 'political reality', as you put it, and the events and conditions which set it in motion, I would say I still lack a deeper knowledge of theory and history, but I am slowly delving more into that. Most recently by learning the basics of Dialectical Materialism.
Consciousness
Human consciousness is a very strange concept to nail down, but I think it is ultimately just the biological machinery inside our brains trying to process and organise the data it receives to make sense of the bizarre circumstances that have emerged in the universe. Assigning anything more to it, be it in terms of channelling of some nebulous energy or a kind of linked unconscious seems to be rather undermining the remarkable circumstances of evolution that got us to the point of even contemplating these things.
The Work of Wilhelm Reich
About Reich and his use of psychoanalysis, he is not someone I am familiar with. I have only read the Wikipedia summary in order to comment about this. Personally, I would tend to favour a materialist explanation about the successes and failures of the communist revolutions in Russia and Germany, rather than a suppression of unconscious thoughts and desires.
The Rise of Fascism in Germany
The conditions under the Tsar of mass oppression, poverty and an essentially pre-industrial, feudal society were much more conducive to being overthrown. While devastated by WW1, Germany still had a very industrialised society and a capitalist class which had a lot more to lose from a communist revolution than Russia. It's no surprise to me that the government of Germany turned to the far right in order to quash the revolution in 1918/19 in order to maintain the status quo. That same status quo led to worsening material conditions and, with a much weakened left, the fascists were more than able to step in to exploit the downtrodden population with insidious propaganda and to eventually seize control of the country. A scenario which is worryingly similar to the present day in the US and UK.
Cycling in England
It's terrible the contempt people have for cyclists in this country. With the hyper individualised society we have been transformed into, it is depressing how little the concerns, safety or even the existence of other humans (other than to complain about) seem to matter to many people. Barely even registering a small blip on many people’s radar of conscience.
School Books
Perhaps a sign of the times but what would have been my book reading time as a child was taken up more with other forms of media. While I missed out on the classics, I do remember establishing a lifelong love of sci-fi through reading Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and later, Philip K Dick.
Current Reading
These days my reading time is spread between theory and history. About to start 'Debt: The First 5000 Years' by David Graeber.
Animal Farm
It is striking how relevant Orwell still is today and how people are still fighting the same battles. How quickly the dangers of capitalism and fascism are forgotten. Or perhaps buried?
A House Pictured in a Remote Rural Setting
The house on the card is indeed very idyllic. Perhaps it is telling of my generation, but I think I would require more in the way of modern technological comforts before living there!
Consumerism
Going back to our early discussion of consumerism, which complements this individualist mindset, I recently saw an interesting documentary by Adam Curtis called 'The Century of the Self' which addresses the rise of consumer capitalism as a means to control the masses. All of which is available on YouTube:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsPOt8MG7E
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub2LB2MaGoM
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VouaAz5mQAs
Black Friday
I have stayed away from any Black Friday type shenanigans. Doing my small bit by following the call from Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister of Greece, to boycott sales on that day. A small and most likely fruitless gesture, but we have very little tools with which to fight back.
Christmas
As for Christmas, I certainly have no connection with the 'Christ' part. Thankfully, even when forced to sing hymns every morning in primary schooI, those kind of ideas always felt very empty to me.
Social Media
I tend to stay away from larger scale writing like blogs or things like Twitter. I like to absorb knowledge but I prefer to leave the spread of it to people I feel are more qualified when it comes to the practice of ideas. I also like to keep mostly anonymous on the internet.
Addiction to Consumption
I used to be a little bad when it came to being a consumer. "It would be so terrible if I couldn't have this." "If only I bought that, everything would be much better" and so on. But it comes to a point where you realise it is just another coping mechanism, whether it is addiction, hoarding, or some other basic human behaviour. Not that I can claim too great a moral high ground now. Plenty of white vans have roamed the roads on my behalf.
Scotland
The Scottish Isles seem like a good place to be in the midst of a pandemic. I hope you are keeping safe and well.
Coping in a Pandemic
This whole crisis hasn't particularly affected me, other than accelerating my speedrun through the leftist political spectrum over the last year or so. Seeing behind the curtain on how so much of society is fundamentally broken can be quite depressing, especially considering how far away we are from fixing things. Ultimately though, given the massive failure of democracy in the face of the overwhelming propaganda of capital, all we can do is hang on, enjoy what we have and see where this crazy ride takes us. It's hard not to develop some existential nihilism at the absurdity of it all.
Dominic Cummings et al
From what I understand, Dominic Cummings and his fellow band of ghoulish Anarcho-Capitalists have a long term vision of Britain that is, indeed, one of a deregulated, exploitative corporate dystopia. Brexit is very much the first step in that regard. Dismantling of the civil service seems to be next. We only need to look at how the government contracts have been handed out during this pandemic to companies who have no idea what they are doing, but happen to know the right people, to see the beginnings of this move for power.
Britannia Unchained
Apparently there is quite an eye opening book on what form this new order would take called Britannia Unchained, written by several members of the current Tory front bench, including Dominic Raab, Kwasi Kwarteng, Liz Truss and, of course, Priti Patel.
Plague and Brexit
It sounds like you are adapting well to such a sudden, drastic change of lifestyle that this tiny yet pervasive virus has wrought upon us. Or perhaps it would be better to say that our capitalist society has been utterly unable to cope with. Given the various deadly plagues that have swept through humanity down the ages, it's impressive that a relatively minor virus can bring our economy to its knees because the people at the top are completely incapable of making slightly less money for a relatively short period of time. It's hard to see where things go from here, where every move to salvage their mess just opens up new avenues of failure. It was almost amusing to see Brexit pop up in the news again this week, with the Tories still happily pursuing their oven ready deal straight into no deal at all. The fun ride is only just beginning.
Watching the Takeover
Looking back at history, I have wondered how various highly unsavoury regimes have come to power, often with popular support, but to be seeing it happening in real time is very revealing. Managed democracy seems to be in full effect now, where any threat to the status quo won't be tolerated.
Climate Change under a Thatched Roof
The heat of the last few weeks has been a good reminder of the most important self-inflicted wound of our time, climate change. Something I read which made me chuckle is to not think of this as the hottest summer of the last century, but rather the coolest of the century to come. Thankfully, one of the advantages of a thatched cottage is it does a good job of keeping out the heat. Coupled with lots of cold water and a fan it has worked well.
Keeping Busy whilst Locked Down
I have been working on my culinary skills, I built a new computer with parts I've been slowly gathering for a while, put up some new curtains, and made steps to inform myself better about various socialist/left wing ideas.
When did ‘Customers’ become ‘Consumers’?
As an aside, when did 'consumer' replace the word 'customer' in general usage? Quite a different, and insidious, meaning to ascribe to people's role in our capitalist driven society.
Civilisation on the Mainland of Europe
I've had a fondness for Germany and the Netherlands since visiting them. I was immediately struck by how clean and dare I say more civilised they felt. I also have great memories of back in the late nineties, when I was heavily involved in online gaming to the extent of competing in competitions involving teams across the UK and Europe. After the team I was playing in, to great success, eventually folded, I was asked to join a German team that was regarded as one of the best on the continent at the time. I spent a very enjoyable year with them. Early on, the internet did a great job breaking any silly nationalist tendencies.
The Tories: Worst of Both Worlds
It must be good, as seasoned travellers, to feel out a return to the road, even under such peculiar circumstances. I was going to say, as I often find myself doing, that it is amazing or shocking or unbelievable that the Tories would do such and such. But of course, when giving it a modicum of thought, nothing they do at this point is any of those things. Managing to have the worst of both worlds by letting tens of thousands die and completing trashing the economy seems all par for the course.
The Joys of the German Language
From several viewings of an excellent German language Netflix show called Dark, I have developed a rudimentary (and I do mean rudimentary) vocabulary of German words. Nowhere near enough to form or understand whole sentences but it's nice to pick up words here and there. Two particular favourites are Krankenwagen (ambulance) and Atomkraftwerk, a great way of describing a nuclear power plant.
Clarity in Writing
When it comes to my own use of language, I can't say I ever went out of my way to "learn" to write. Certainly, I didn't get much out of my time in school, beyond the basics of grammar. I suppose I have spent a large amount of time reading and absorbing information through the internet and I can appreciate well written prose. Given that text is my most used method of communication, I have always made a concerted effort to come across as clearly and, I suppose, "intelligently" as I can.
The Nature of Intelligence
Numerical intelligence would probably be a weaker aspect for me, but it is also an area I haven't felt the need to study in much depth. Spatial intelligence, on the other hand, is something I'd like to think I'm good at. Some of the key aspects that computer games train and reward is navigation, spatial awareness and visual problem solving. I have generally found I picked up on these aspects quicker than a lot of other people I have encountered online. I also enjoy assembling and disassembling various mechanical objects and figuring out how they work.
Picture Hanging in a Mud and Thatch Cottage!
When it comes to nails and cottages, getting the nails in is less of a problem than them staying there, amidst moving walls and flaking plaster.
Keeping in Touch
Glad you're up and running with fibre. I am having the other problem with disconnections and low speeds for the last couple of weeks. It seems some neighbours are also in the same boat and so we are now in the process of trying to persuade BT to find the fault and that "turning it off and on again" doesn't actually help!
The End of Lockdown
It's sad to hear that treatment of cyclists is returning back to the same old thing. I remember in the middle of the lockdown there was a narrative that this shared experience was bringing us together and could herald a new era of kindness and community spirit. It sounded like bullshit then and no different now. News about large crowds descending on our beaches and parks and trashing them in some strange lockdown ending ritual makes me particularly angry. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52928561
George Monbiot
I've been reading and watching George Monbiot's stuff for a few years. He is one of the best voices speaking out about the problems of the world at the present time. I remember many years ago he would have to debate various climate change deniers on the BBC in their strange version of impartiality and George would often be the one portrayed as the "crank" with his ideas. Madness.
The End of Comparative Statistics
Thankfully, according to the government the R rate doesn't matter any more, which is convenient now that it is starting to go up again. Like it's useless to compare the UK's death rate to other countries, just as our total surpasses theirs. I am waiting for reporting of statistics to stop completely. It's not like those in charge bear any mind to reality anyway.
Changing Broadband Providers
For broadband, yes you generally have to switch at the end of each contract to get the best deals. Often the provider you are with will offer a new deal to keep you if you want to switch. If not the process of switching is painless. Depending on the provider, they will send a new hub before switchover and you just plug it in on the day your service changes, with almost no down time for your connection.
What to Look for in Broadband
For broadband, checking your postcode shows you can get Superfast Fibre broadband which is very nice and what I would recommend. Make sure to get unlimited fibre as well, which means you can use as much data as you want. When regularly using the internet, having to deal with data caps, especially if you get into streaming video services like Netflix, I-player and such, is very frustrating. I had to live through that in the early days of the internet and never looked back once unlimited became the norm.
Weaponising Covid
The whole co-opting of WW2 "Blitz Spirit" by people who seem to give no thought to what it would be like to actually be bombed and see thousands of people die, not to mention the millions in mainland Europe, is utterly bizarre. But it seems like catnip to a particular brand of right-wing people who lap it up, the same ones who will happily clap for the NHS as well. Tone deaf doesn't even begin to cover it. For me, the best comment I saw which summed up this latest VE day was this: "What better way to thank those that achieved victory in WW2 than for us to have a street party and sing Vera Lynn while they die alone in care homes."
The End of World War II – May 1945
Strangely enough, yesterday I was reading about the Soviet victory in Berlin and how they were not happy with the circumstances of the initial peace treaty signing on the 7th, and wanted it done again the next day in Berlin. The ceremony didn't take place until late on the 8th, German time, which was after midnight Moscow time and thus the 9th became the official VE day for the USS.
Herd Immunity?
The sheer incompetence, greed, selfishness and, frankly, evil of some of these people should surprise me, but I am almost numb to it at this point. The best description I have read for the UK/US during this crisis is them being akin to a death cult. Ready to sacrifice large swathes of the population to their money God to keep the line going up. The Mayans would be proud! Worse might be that a significant part of that population are so indoctrinated into the cult that they would happily comply. This photo in particular really struck me - https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/trump-protests-coronavirus-lockdowns.jpg It's like a scene from a zombie movie.
Time
It fascinates me how humans have come to measure time. Especially those ancient civilisations that managed to study the cosmos and build grand structures to measure it, even with such rudimentary technology. Little did they know (or perhaps they knew more than we give them credit for) that we are all strapped to a giant rock spinning at 1,000 mph, orbiting a massive ball of burning hydrogen at 60,000 mph, itself orbiting a galaxy of fellow stars at over 400,000 mph. Not even taking into account how fast our parent galaxy is moving on its own cosmic journey, that is very rapid indeed!
Here to Understand
Our human matters seem very insignificant on this scale but I comfort myself that at least we are around to think about these kind of concepts. Plus, boiling down a planetary orbit to a measurement of time gives a nice excuse for a celebration!
One Tory Less
France would be more than welcome to also take Mark Francois with them on Jan 31st. Though that would be extremely cruel on the French.
Immersion
To my shame, I never really took much interest in politics, beyond being somewhere on the left and having a deep disgust of Conservatism and right-wing ideology in general. I am still very much dipping my toes into the deep ocean of socialist ideas. It resonates very strongly with me and has made the last few years quite eye opening with regard to parts of society that you just assume work a certain way, only for it to actually be utterly broken. I can appreciate much more the struggle there has been, and will continue to be, in the world, let alone the UK.
The Hope for Corbynism
It has also been refreshing to see, for all Labour's recent failings, that for the first time in my lifetime there is an actual mainstream alternative to the destructive forces of capitalism and neoliberalism which has such a cast iron grip on the planet. Albeit now crushed by equal amounts of ruthless propaganda, and incompetence of leadership and naivety from Corbyn. I hope the spark they have lit will not be snuffed out as easily as he was.
The Sound of Silence
Silence can be deafening and also a surprisingly resistant barrier to break through. It seems like a significant part of England has found a way to break through its own silence, but the tool it has chosen to use is so staggeringly awful. I suppose that, given how the EU and the nebulous concept of "foreigners" has been weaponized to such an extent by the right to hide their own shortcomings, it comes as no surprise, but to see it play out live is very shocking.
The End of Civilisation
The worst may be that I don't see how things can recover from here for the left. In a world of fake news, unchecked lies, lack of empathy and where the powers that be are willing to do and say almost anything to keep in power, people keep voting for more of the same. Now we have most of the press, including the BBC, acting as a propaganda wing of the Conservative Party. This global trend is very worrying. Coupled with the threat of climate change, it seems we are more likely to see an end to human civilisation before we see an end to such destructive capitalism and hateful ideology.
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The Scariness of Brexiters
The whole Brexit debacle has been very eye opening for me. I knew the Tories and their cohorts generally set very low standards of humanity, but some of them have truly plumbed the depths during this ordeal. When you have prominent MPs speaking in the house about "bringing Europe to heel", it is very scary that these people actually have positions of power at all.
I had my first jab of AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday. Felt a bit rough yesterday but fully recovered today. One small step toward normality. At least science can still help us in the face of capitalist malpractice. Sadly, it seems like even the roll out of life saving (dare I say economy saving) vaccines are still at the whims of patents, profiteering and a healthy sprinkling of nationalism.
Politics in England
With the level of political discourse in England among the general public, the media and far too many politicians being so shockingly low and reactionary, I fear we will be in for the long haul to remove our own infestation of conservatism.
Politics in America
For America, it must certainly be a great relief to be rid of the Orange Menace. The rest of the world can breathe easier as well! This time I hope that the Democrats will, after failing in their response to the 2008 crash, reflect and reverse a lot of the neoliberal economic policies that led to Trump in the first place.
A Marxist Perspective of Contemporary America
I found this recent lecture by Professor Richard Wolff to be very informative. It covers the hows and whys, from a Marxist perspective, of what led America down this torturous path. The main topic starts at 25:00 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1489&v=0EC1KMfUECw
Deeper Learning and Meaning
I like to ponder for a while before coalescing my thoughts but perhaps I pondered a bit much this time. While I would like to think I have a decent grasp of the current 'political reality', as you put it, and the events and conditions which set it in motion, I would say I still lack a deeper knowledge of theory and history, but I am slowly delving more into that. Most recently by learning the basics of Dialectical Materialism.
Consciousness
Human consciousness is a very strange concept to nail down, but I think it is ultimately just the biological machinery inside our brains trying to process and organise the data it receives to make sense of the bizarre circumstances that have emerged in the universe. Assigning anything more to it, be it in terms of channelling of some nebulous energy or a kind of linked unconscious seems to be rather undermining the remarkable circumstances of evolution that got us to the point of even contemplating these things.
The Work of Wilhelm Reich
About Reich and his use of psychoanalysis, he is not someone I am familiar with. I have only read the Wikipedia summary in order to comment about this. Personally, I would tend to favour a materialist explanation about the successes and failures of the communist revolutions in Russia and Germany, rather than a suppression of unconscious thoughts and desires.
The Rise of Fascism in Germany
The conditions under the Tsar of mass oppression, poverty and an essentially pre-industrial, feudal society were much more conducive to being overthrown. While devastated by WW1, Germany still had a very industrialised society and a capitalist class which had a lot more to lose from a communist revolution than Russia. It's no surprise to me that the government of Germany turned to the far right in order to quash the revolution in 1918/19 in order to maintain the status quo. That same status quo led to worsening material conditions and, with a much weakened left, the fascists were more than able to step in to exploit the downtrodden population with insidious propaganda and to eventually seize control of the country. A scenario which is worryingly similar to the present day in the US and UK.
Cycling in England
It's terrible the contempt people have for cyclists in this country. With the hyper individualised society we have been transformed into, it is depressing how little the concerns, safety or even the existence of other humans (other than to complain about) seem to matter to many people. Barely even registering a small blip on many people’s radar of conscience.
School Books
Perhaps a sign of the times but what would have been my book reading time as a child was taken up more with other forms of media. While I missed out on the classics, I do remember establishing a lifelong love of sci-fi through reading Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and later, Philip K Dick.
Current Reading
These days my reading time is spread between theory and history. About to start 'Debt: The First 5000 Years' by David Graeber.
Animal Farm
It is striking how relevant Orwell still is today and how people are still fighting the same battles. How quickly the dangers of capitalism and fascism are forgotten. Or perhaps buried?
A House Pictured in a Remote Rural Setting
The house on the card is indeed very idyllic. Perhaps it is telling of my generation, but I think I would require more in the way of modern technological comforts before living there!
Consumerism
Going back to our early discussion of consumerism, which complements this individualist mindset, I recently saw an interesting documentary by Adam Curtis called 'The Century of the Self' which addresses the rise of consumer capitalism as a means to control the masses. All of which is available on YouTube:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsPOt8MG7E
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub2LB2MaGoM
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VouaAz5mQAs
Black Friday
I have stayed away from any Black Friday type shenanigans. Doing my small bit by following the call from Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister of Greece, to boycott sales on that day. A small and most likely fruitless gesture, but we have very little tools with which to fight back.
Christmas
As for Christmas, I certainly have no connection with the 'Christ' part. Thankfully, even when forced to sing hymns every morning in primary schooI, those kind of ideas always felt very empty to me.
Social Media
I tend to stay away from larger scale writing like blogs or things like Twitter. I like to absorb knowledge but I prefer to leave the spread of it to people I feel are more qualified when it comes to the practice of ideas. I also like to keep mostly anonymous on the internet.
Addiction to Consumption
I used to be a little bad when it came to being a consumer. "It would be so terrible if I couldn't have this." "If only I bought that, everything would be much better" and so on. But it comes to a point where you realise it is just another coping mechanism, whether it is addiction, hoarding, or some other basic human behaviour. Not that I can claim too great a moral high ground now. Plenty of white vans have roamed the roads on my behalf.
Scotland
The Scottish Isles seem like a good place to be in the midst of a pandemic. I hope you are keeping safe and well.
Coping in a Pandemic
This whole crisis hasn't particularly affected me, other than accelerating my speedrun through the leftist political spectrum over the last year or so. Seeing behind the curtain on how so much of society is fundamentally broken can be quite depressing, especially considering how far away we are from fixing things. Ultimately though, given the massive failure of democracy in the face of the overwhelming propaganda of capital, all we can do is hang on, enjoy what we have and see where this crazy ride takes us. It's hard not to develop some existential nihilism at the absurdity of it all.
Dominic Cummings et al
From what I understand, Dominic Cummings and his fellow band of ghoulish Anarcho-Capitalists have a long term vision of Britain that is, indeed, one of a deregulated, exploitative corporate dystopia. Brexit is very much the first step in that regard. Dismantling of the civil service seems to be next. We only need to look at how the government contracts have been handed out during this pandemic to companies who have no idea what they are doing, but happen to know the right people, to see the beginnings of this move for power.
Britannia Unchained
Apparently there is quite an eye opening book on what form this new order would take called Britannia Unchained, written by several members of the current Tory front bench, including Dominic Raab, Kwasi Kwarteng, Liz Truss and, of course, Priti Patel.
Plague and Brexit
It sounds like you are adapting well to such a sudden, drastic change of lifestyle that this tiny yet pervasive virus has wrought upon us. Or perhaps it would be better to say that our capitalist society has been utterly unable to cope with. Given the various deadly plagues that have swept through humanity down the ages, it's impressive that a relatively minor virus can bring our economy to its knees because the people at the top are completely incapable of making slightly less money for a relatively short period of time. It's hard to see where things go from here, where every move to salvage their mess just opens up new avenues of failure. It was almost amusing to see Brexit pop up in the news again this week, with the Tories still happily pursuing their oven ready deal straight into no deal at all. The fun ride is only just beginning.
Watching the Takeover
Looking back at history, I have wondered how various highly unsavoury regimes have come to power, often with popular support, but to be seeing it happening in real time is very revealing. Managed democracy seems to be in full effect now, where any threat to the status quo won't be tolerated.
Climate Change under a Thatched Roof
The heat of the last few weeks has been a good reminder of the most important self-inflicted wound of our time, climate change. Something I read which made me chuckle is to not think of this as the hottest summer of the last century, but rather the coolest of the century to come. Thankfully, one of the advantages of a thatched cottage is it does a good job of keeping out the heat. Coupled with lots of cold water and a fan it has worked well.
Keeping Busy whilst Locked Down
I have been working on my culinary skills, I built a new computer with parts I've been slowly gathering for a while, put up some new curtains, and made steps to inform myself better about various socialist/left wing ideas.
When did ‘Customers’ become ‘Consumers’?
As an aside, when did 'consumer' replace the word 'customer' in general usage? Quite a different, and insidious, meaning to ascribe to people's role in our capitalist driven society.
Civilisation on the Mainland of Europe
I've had a fondness for Germany and the Netherlands since visiting them. I was immediately struck by how clean and dare I say more civilised they felt. I also have great memories of back in the late nineties, when I was heavily involved in online gaming to the extent of competing in competitions involving teams across the UK and Europe. After the team I was playing in, to great success, eventually folded, I was asked to join a German team that was regarded as one of the best on the continent at the time. I spent a very enjoyable year with them. Early on, the internet did a great job breaking any silly nationalist tendencies.
The Tories: Worst of Both Worlds
It must be good, as seasoned travellers, to feel out a return to the road, even under such peculiar circumstances. I was going to say, as I often find myself doing, that it is amazing or shocking or unbelievable that the Tories would do such and such. But of course, when giving it a modicum of thought, nothing they do at this point is any of those things. Managing to have the worst of both worlds by letting tens of thousands die and completing trashing the economy seems all par for the course.
The Joys of the German Language
From several viewings of an excellent German language Netflix show called Dark, I have developed a rudimentary (and I do mean rudimentary) vocabulary of German words. Nowhere near enough to form or understand whole sentences but it's nice to pick up words here and there. Two particular favourites are Krankenwagen (ambulance) and Atomkraftwerk, a great way of describing a nuclear power plant.
Clarity in Writing
When it comes to my own use of language, I can't say I ever went out of my way to "learn" to write. Certainly, I didn't get much out of my time in school, beyond the basics of grammar. I suppose I have spent a large amount of time reading and absorbing information through the internet and I can appreciate well written prose. Given that text is my most used method of communication, I have always made a concerted effort to come across as clearly and, I suppose, "intelligently" as I can.
The Nature of Intelligence
Numerical intelligence would probably be a weaker aspect for me, but it is also an area I haven't felt the need to study in much depth. Spatial intelligence, on the other hand, is something I'd like to think I'm good at. Some of the key aspects that computer games train and reward is navigation, spatial awareness and visual problem solving. I have generally found I picked up on these aspects quicker than a lot of other people I have encountered online. I also enjoy assembling and disassembling various mechanical objects and figuring out how they work.
Picture Hanging in a Mud and Thatch Cottage!
When it comes to nails and cottages, getting the nails in is less of a problem than them staying there, amidst moving walls and flaking plaster.
Keeping in Touch
Glad you're up and running with fibre. I am having the other problem with disconnections and low speeds for the last couple of weeks. It seems some neighbours are also in the same boat and so we are now in the process of trying to persuade BT to find the fault and that "turning it off and on again" doesn't actually help!
The End of Lockdown
It's sad to hear that treatment of cyclists is returning back to the same old thing. I remember in the middle of the lockdown there was a narrative that this shared experience was bringing us together and could herald a new era of kindness and community spirit. It sounded like bullshit then and no different now. News about large crowds descending on our beaches and parks and trashing them in some strange lockdown ending ritual makes me particularly angry. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52928561
George Monbiot
I've been reading and watching George Monbiot's stuff for a few years. He is one of the best voices speaking out about the problems of the world at the present time. I remember many years ago he would have to debate various climate change deniers on the BBC in their strange version of impartiality and George would often be the one portrayed as the "crank" with his ideas. Madness.
The End of Comparative Statistics
Thankfully, according to the government the R rate doesn't matter any more, which is convenient now that it is starting to go up again. Like it's useless to compare the UK's death rate to other countries, just as our total surpasses theirs. I am waiting for reporting of statistics to stop completely. It's not like those in charge bear any mind to reality anyway.
Changing Broadband Providers
For broadband, yes you generally have to switch at the end of each contract to get the best deals. Often the provider you are with will offer a new deal to keep you if you want to switch. If not the process of switching is painless. Depending on the provider, they will send a new hub before switchover and you just plug it in on the day your service changes, with almost no down time for your connection.
What to Look for in Broadband
For broadband, checking your postcode shows you can get Superfast Fibre broadband which is very nice and what I would recommend. Make sure to get unlimited fibre as well, which means you can use as much data as you want. When regularly using the internet, having to deal with data caps, especially if you get into streaming video services like Netflix, I-player and such, is very frustrating. I had to live through that in the early days of the internet and never looked back once unlimited became the norm.
Weaponising Covid
The whole co-opting of WW2 "Blitz Spirit" by people who seem to give no thought to what it would be like to actually be bombed and see thousands of people die, not to mention the millions in mainland Europe, is utterly bizarre. But it seems like catnip to a particular brand of right-wing people who lap it up, the same ones who will happily clap for the NHS as well. Tone deaf doesn't even begin to cover it. For me, the best comment I saw which summed up this latest VE day was this: "What better way to thank those that achieved victory in WW2 than for us to have a street party and sing Vera Lynn while they die alone in care homes."
The End of World War II – May 1945
Strangely enough, yesterday I was reading about the Soviet victory in Berlin and how they were not happy with the circumstances of the initial peace treaty signing on the 7th, and wanted it done again the next day in Berlin. The ceremony didn't take place until late on the 8th, German time, which was after midnight Moscow time and thus the 9th became the official VE day for the USS.
Herd Immunity?
The sheer incompetence, greed, selfishness and, frankly, evil of some of these people should surprise me, but I am almost numb to it at this point. The best description I have read for the UK/US during this crisis is them being akin to a death cult. Ready to sacrifice large swathes of the population to their money God to keep the line going up. The Mayans would be proud! Worse might be that a significant part of that population are so indoctrinated into the cult that they would happily comply. This photo in particular really struck me - https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/trump-protests-coronavirus-lockdowns.jpg It's like a scene from a zombie movie.
Time
It fascinates me how humans have come to measure time. Especially those ancient civilisations that managed to study the cosmos and build grand structures to measure it, even with such rudimentary technology. Little did they know (or perhaps they knew more than we give them credit for) that we are all strapped to a giant rock spinning at 1,000 mph, orbiting a massive ball of burning hydrogen at 60,000 mph, itself orbiting a galaxy of fellow stars at over 400,000 mph. Not even taking into account how fast our parent galaxy is moving on its own cosmic journey, that is very rapid indeed!
Here to Understand
Our human matters seem very insignificant on this scale but I comfort myself that at least we are around to think about these kind of concepts. Plus, boiling down a planetary orbit to a measurement of time gives a nice excuse for a celebration!
One Tory Less
France would be more than welcome to also take Mark Francois with them on Jan 31st. Though that would be extremely cruel on the French.
Immersion
To my shame, I never really took much interest in politics, beyond being somewhere on the left and having a deep disgust of Conservatism and right-wing ideology in general. I am still very much dipping my toes into the deep ocean of socialist ideas. It resonates very strongly with me and has made the last few years quite eye opening with regard to parts of society that you just assume work a certain way, only for it to actually be utterly broken. I can appreciate much more the struggle there has been, and will continue to be, in the world, let alone the UK.
The Hope for Corbynism
It has also been refreshing to see, for all Labour's recent failings, that for the first time in my lifetime there is an actual mainstream alternative to the destructive forces of capitalism and neoliberalism which has such a cast iron grip on the planet. Albeit now crushed by equal amounts of ruthless propaganda, and incompetence of leadership and naivety from Corbyn. I hope the spark they have lit will not be snuffed out as easily as he was.
The Sound of Silence
Silence can be deafening and also a surprisingly resistant barrier to break through. It seems like a significant part of England has found a way to break through its own silence, but the tool it has chosen to use is so staggeringly awful. I suppose that, given how the EU and the nebulous concept of "foreigners" has been weaponized to such an extent by the right to hide their own shortcomings, it comes as no surprise, but to see it play out live is very shocking.
The End of Civilisation
The worst may be that I don't see how things can recover from here for the left. In a world of fake news, unchecked lies, lack of empathy and where the powers that be are willing to do and say almost anything to keep in power, people keep voting for more of the same. Now we have most of the press, including the BBC, acting as a propaganda wing of the Conservative Party. This global trend is very worrying. Coupled with the threat of climate change, it seems we are more likely to see an end to human civilisation before we see an end to such destructive capitalism and hateful ideology.
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The Scariness of Brexiters
The whole Brexit debacle has been very eye opening for me. I knew the Tories and their cohorts generally set very low standards of humanity, but some of them have truly plumbed the depths during this ordeal. When you have prominent MPs speaking in the house about "bringing Europe to heel", it is very scary that these people actually have positions of power at all.