End Of An Era

I firmly believe that we are at the end of an era right now. Certainly from a western perspective, the influence of our institutions is crumbling, our internal discourse has become bitter and our 'power' in the world is fading. The 'moral high ground' that the west once appeared to hold, especially at the height of the Cold War, is now all but lost. In this 21st century information age it is up to us all as individuals to carve out an identity and a living for ourselves, and those that do not will be left behind.

I do not claim to be a leading authority on the political and social changes that we have lived through over the last century, but all my reading and studying of literature and documentary films leads me to a certain understanding of how we have arrived at this precipice. I can see that the neoliberal model of capitalism is no longer working for us, and indeed for some time it has actually been destructive. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why it continues to pervade is the absence of large-scale motivation for a new and better system.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have found the work of visionaries like Adam Curtis, Peter Joseph and The Zeitgeist Movement, and Noam Chomsky fairly early in life. There have been others, and there is bound to be more, but so far these sources have illuminated the causes of the current state of affairs to me the most. Chomsky's writings deftly highlight the US drive towards imperialism and hegemony, whilst the films of Curtis reveal how the west has packaged and sold us capitalism on a plate. Both identify how the western military-industrial complex has rampaged across the world to serve purely its own interests, and how politicians and mainstream media have manufactured our consent for their actions.

For many people, capitalism is very much tied up in the concepts of freedom and democracy. They cite failed states and dictatorships of the past as evidence that capitalism is the only way. The old 'us and them' thinking seems to permeate. Chief among these is the perverse logic that if you aren't a capitalist then you must be a socialist (read communist). Clearly this is, at best, the outdated thinking of an older generation. The legacy of the Cold War obviously cuts deep in some minds. They come unstuck when China is mentioned however, a communist economic superpower just doesn't fit into their mindset.

For me, freedom and democracy are concepts that only truly exist relative to one's situation. You either deal with the boundaries and limitations placed upon you by the government of the country you live in or you emigrate to a more favourable country. It is ironic that those countries so often championed as bastions of free speech and freedom of the press are now enacting some of the most draconian mass-surveillance programs in living memory. It is the very same countries who adopt the most militant policies on the world stage against whatever is the current chosen 'evil regime', whilst completely ignoring other despots because they are 'allies'.

The Zeitgeist Movement offers us a vision of one possible future model for civilisation. The resource-based economy is an attractive concept and certainly worthy of further study, but I fear that the change necessary to achieve anything close to it is a very long way off. It is hard to imagine the idea as anything more than a utopian dream at present, however one can extract some parts of the model and apply them to the near future. Certainly, the issue of increased automation and resulting changes to human employment and the economy, along with climate change and how we can deal with it, are matters so pressing that we definitely need systemic change.

Ultimately, I believe that there is no one system which can carry humanity forward, but there are positive parts to the existing models and definite benefits to some new thinking. The very worst thing that we can do is to continue to get bogged down with the thinking of the past. We have to discard our prejudices, dispense with traditions and reform all our institutions if we are to thrive. Sadly, the current crop of politicians and their rich backers are unlikely to share this view. After all, it is in their best interests to maintain the neoliberal capitalist doctrine that keeps them in power.

"Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That's the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Copyright ©2018 Richard C. Greenlow. All rights reserved.