or, they genuinely live in a different reality. the trouble it seems to me is that they are driven to accept that one by feelings of bitterness and despair that grow out of those very forces that have broken the back of the system set up at the start. which was always always designed to provide for those with advantages like white skin and male bodies, the two factors that no longer reward them. it's the bitterness of their crushed entitlement that blows back at us. i totally agree with you, people like biden can only put a finger in the hole in the ship we're sinking in, and we do need a deep renewal. i feel like there are good signs, the strength of the rising labor movement, the way people are working to build more livable communities in shattered cities, the way lucy's trans colleague can go into the courtroom wearing anything she wants, and win cases. things will be different when my generation bows out, which we don't seem inclined to do. but it trump wins, all bets are off for sure, which is why, old fashioned as it sounds, much as biden drives me nuts, i think we really have to get out the vote....
i got fired up reading this, first one way, then another... finally, i feel like i fully understand your hunger/passion to begin anew with better building materials... but maybe on account of having lived so long (that's not a compliment, like, i know more, oh no) i feel i've had time to ponder why the societies a lot of us come from and the one we've created, haven't succeeded better at including humane fairness among our core values. but really, through out history, haven't people fought over power? and often in the name of religion (the "holy" roman empire, crusades, etc). i don't think there's any such thing as starting over, i think it's more about recognizing the kind of ugly realities history offers us to think about, and see how, knowing that people want power to protect themselves, or get me, and that power corrupts, how do we build systems that take those forces into account. starting over i think would lead to the same mistakes...
that's a good point—starting over requires everyone being on the same page, and also so many resources we don't currently have. at the same time, everything is just so broken. I think whatever happens does have to be radical, and minds ultimately do have to be changed, but there's so much fear and stubbornness and resistance to that, and we're all so tired of trying to change the minds of people who just refuse to live in reality.
or, they genuinely live in a different reality. the trouble it seems to me is that they are driven to accept that one by feelings of bitterness and despair that grow out of those very forces that have broken the back of the system set up at the start. which was always always designed to provide for those with advantages like white skin and male bodies, the two factors that no longer reward them. it's the bitterness of their crushed entitlement that blows back at us. i totally agree with you, people like biden can only put a finger in the hole in the ship we're sinking in, and we do need a deep renewal. i feel like there are good signs, the strength of the rising labor movement, the way people are working to build more livable communities in shattered cities, the way lucy's trans colleague can go into the courtroom wearing anything she wants, and win cases. things will be different when my generation bows out, which we don't seem inclined to do. but it trump wins, all bets are off for sure, which is why, old fashioned as it sounds, much as biden drives me nuts, i think we really have to get out the vote....
i got fired up reading this, first one way, then another... finally, i feel like i fully understand your hunger/passion to begin anew with better building materials... but maybe on account of having lived so long (that's not a compliment, like, i know more, oh no) i feel i've had time to ponder why the societies a lot of us come from and the one we've created, haven't succeeded better at including humane fairness among our core values. but really, through out history, haven't people fought over power? and often in the name of religion (the "holy" roman empire, crusades, etc). i don't think there's any such thing as starting over, i think it's more about recognizing the kind of ugly realities history offers us to think about, and see how, knowing that people want power to protect themselves, or get me, and that power corrupts, how do we build systems that take those forces into account. starting over i think would lead to the same mistakes...
that's a good point—starting over requires everyone being on the same page, and also so many resources we don't currently have. at the same time, everything is just so broken. I think whatever happens does have to be radical, and minds ultimately do have to be changed, but there's so much fear and stubbornness and resistance to that, and we're all so tired of trying to change the minds of people who just refuse to live in reality.
Wow Henry such hard and painful truths and so eloquently put. I don’t know what to believe sometimes but I definitely believe in Spencer Tracy!