Once we understand our role, then can we begin to accept our responsibilities and move towards an existence where it’s not all about us.
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I would like to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming of Democracy Now!, TED Talks and the Bernie Sanders political revolution to discuss the role liberals play in our global predicament. Converging catastrophes have brought us to the brink of oblivion and all we can do is continue to put our efforts into fighting the right wing, pursuing the new green economy and periodically divesting.
Liberals are the demographic and population that simply continue to reform a machine that devours lives. At least conservatives have the conviction to destroy and devour by claiming it is their God given right. Liberals want their cake, and to eat it too, as long as it’s gluten-free and made with organic ingredients.
As the clock on our way of life (and ultimately our species) inches closer to midnight, I thought this might be a good time to point out a few inconsistencies in liberal logic. I take aim from a radical point of view and as a former liberal, progressive thinker. The lunacy on the right is clear-cut but on the left it’s much more clever and ultimately insidious.
You see, the liberal left thinks of itself as righteous. Not righteous like conservative zealots but rather in regard to how they believe they understand injustice. These are people dedicated to environmental and social justice causes. They love non-profits, petitions and voting. They believe deeply in governmental reform and renewable resources. They shop locally or find chain stores with an organic flare. They drive electric cars, have clever bumper stickers and read labels.
Most importantly, they believe deeply that what they are doing is good and what they offer are solutions to our problems. What they fail to understand is that this approach is nothing other than a feel-good attitude and that our problems are actually predicaments. This approach feels great but continues perpetuating injustices on every level. It’s a very privileged way of thinking.
Privilege is something some liberals own up to but refuse to go all the way down the rabbit hole. If they did go down this hole they would quickly realize that their lives of eco-friendly consumption and social justice awareness are nothing more than a complete and utter fraud. They, like me, are living a life built upon fiction. I may be radical in thought but have miles to go in practice. What I do possess is the ability to at least admit it and the vision to see the “culture of make believe” (as laid out in Derrick Jensens’s book of the same name), as it is.
Liberals love our culture and would never abandon it. Instead, they will tweak it, remold it and reform it until every last drop of what is worthwhile is dead and gone. They will never turn their backs on the very structure which continues to import their wants and needs. I call it civilization. They mistakenly call it life. Civilization is a predicament because it’s all we know, it’s what keeps most of us alive but abandoning and dismantling it it will preserve life … just not our own.
So as we celebrate graduations (indoctrinations), prepare for political conventions (our Circus Maximus) and attend justice conferences please keep in mind that in doing so, we are all propping up – not dismantling – our own demise. Until we can, at the very least, admit our way of life (civilization) is a fairytale for some and a nightmare for many, then the very injustices we believe we are addressing will continue.
Once we understand our role, then can we begin to accept our responsibilities and move towards an existence where it’s not all about us. The root of our predicament is staring us in the face. The identity we’ve built, via the narrative we’ve been handed, is where this predicament stems. What’s the first step towards understanding?
Let go.
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Photo: Getty Images
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