We are conditioned to accept incremental change. There is a certain logic to urging patience. After all, evolution happens so slowly as to be imperceptible, geomorphology takes place over epochs. Canyons are not made in a day, nor was Rome built in that interval, so it is cast as impertinent to expect our society to move any more quickly than the natural world that surrounds us. This is an effective tactic employed by those that sit in power to remain there, but quelling the energy and distrust of the populace does not actually serve the people, only the status quo.
As we tumble further off our axis, the impetus to remain placid in the face of insanity is hard to pinpoint, let alone capture. The geologic and biological analogies underpinning the rationale for measured expectations are quickly becoming irrelevant. Glaciers no longer move glacially, evolution is being undercut by extinction, storms rage and fires burn with a terrifying fervency. Meanwhile, we are encouraged to twiddle our thumbs and sit idle while our lives are increasingly subject to the hostile whims of despots and technological hegemony.
Any thinking person is aware that the course of one’s life is dictated by a system that is created to exploit human and natural resources, that is designed to enrich a select few, that is marvelous at mollifying discontent with the promise of bootstrapping oneself into a better future, that is stupendous at stupefying our minds with empty digital distractions. Most people that hold this knowledge find it to be distasteful, at the very least, and more likely actively disgusting and despairing. And yet, even holding these views, essentially nobody is engaged in the process of doing anything about it.
The sheer enormity of the system is a massive deterrent for effectuating improvement. One person, possessed and fiery, feels that one alone can only do so much, that it takes a groundswell to make an actual difference. But the complacencies of groupthink tend to dissuade most from doing anything other than that which serves their own immediate interests. This is understandable, but ultimately counterproductive. Taking refuge in the easy trappings of a cushy life is how we as a population are easily corralled.
Functionally, with minor tweaks, we have been living within the same paradigm for centuries. The Revolutionary War has excellent branding, but it was far from revolutionary – replacing one glutton with a small group of gluttons did not fundamentally alter the lives of the entire country. Indeed, slavery was still legal for almost another hundred years and subjugation is still rampant. We are a nation that espouses humanitarian and democratic ideals, but fails to abide by them, a hypocrisy that drives me mental.
Ironically, it is the accelerated destruction of our country at the hands of our current President that gives me hope. If he can ignore all mores and laws in the service of his own enrichment and get away with it, then there is hope for the countervailing impulse. Reclaiming this country for the people is within our grasp. We need not be vulgar, we need not be mean, we can be kind and polite while also firmly going for the proverbial jugular. There is nothing more intimidating than a mob of happy revolutionaries, smiling in your face as they reclaim (or claim for the first time) the power which is their birthright as human beings.
The need to make bold and gigantic moves courses like a current through our bodies, our physical selves knowing intuitively that plodding along hoping for marginal gains is a recipe for a slow, unsatisfying, but maybe comfortable death. I would rather explode in a starburst than wither away, armed at least with the knowledge that I stepped up to challenge that which I knew was wrong. It is an invigorating feeling to be in tune with the larger harmonies that should guide our world, to see humanity as it exists within the larger arc of space and time.
With our hearts and brains aligned in pursuit of freedom and safety for all, it is only fear that prevents radical action – a fear purposefully engendered by the ruling class to keep the people at bay. The time has come to face those fears, to transcend them, to use the full force and numbers of the righteous to defeat those that will trade our environment, our self-determination, our entire lives for the sake of illusory wealth.