All In This Together

In a review of Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O'Connell, Robert Jensen finds honest, solid reporting on the state of the world. But Jensen faults O'Connell for not considering "the question of how we are going to struggle collectively with the problem of excessive wants".

Jensen says we must turn to an expanded notion of politics if there is to be any hope of maintaining a "remnant" of humanity.

O’Connell observes, accurately I think, that "everything is falling apart, coming to an end, precisely because we are unable to believe in the possibility of change." The comforts that come with dense energy (such as fossil fuels) and high technology (from the industrial and digital revolutions) are hard for most of us who have them to give up. For many of those who labor without those comforts, the goal is to acquire them.

That fear of change is evident even in most of the environmental movement, which in its campaigns often suggests that renewable energy and increased efficiency can support First World living standards indefinitely, rather than push for dramatic reductions in consumption that are necessary.

[A]nyone living in the First World should be aware of the suffering required for our lifestyles, and that’s bound to produce some anxiety in a morally conscious person—which should be the beginning of the story, not the end.

What’s missing from O’Connell’s book is any discussion of collective action, beyond one’s home and family, any thoughts about political activity. It’s no surprise that someone who includes no mention of that possibility sees only dead-ends and counsels that the only thing we can do is accept that.

If we reject the revanchist desires of preppers and resist the reactionary tendencies of those with the libertarian escape fantasies, is there not much that can be done in trying to imagine a saving remnant? What will be required of people in an uncertain future—life on the down-slope of our high-energy/high-technology world? Coming together to wrestle with those questions is politics.

It does no good to harbor illusions over our modern predicament. But a certain kind of hope seems essential--there are positive actions to be taken, if only for the sake of making our lives worth living now.

Update (April 3):  Emma Gray reflects on how the pandemic exacerbates existing inequalities.

[I]t becomes increasingly clear that things aren’t great for anyone, but those most vulnerable among us certainly are not OK. The coronavirus has laid bare the economic inequalities and systemic inadequacies that have always existed.

There is hope that some good will come out of this tragedy. Perhaps people will finally understand why fighting climate change right now is so imperative. Perhaps more employers will extend paid sick leave to their contract employees. Perhaps there will be greater support for policies that decouple health insurance from employment altogether. Perhaps many of us will take a beat and learn to be a little kinder, a little more grateful, a little more thoughtful about the way we move about the world and interact with the people in it.

Update (April 5):  Katie Halper and Matt Taibbi interview Johann Hari author of Lost Connections. Hari explains that depression and anxiety are not malfunctions of individuals, they are signals of unmet social needs. Studies have shown that doing things simply for yourself does not increase happiness, while doing things for others (more typical outside the United States) does increase happiness. Hari mentions that Russians tend to think the "pursuit of happiness" is nonsense--happiness comes and goes; we don't have much control over it. Rather, it is the collective pursuit of meaning that will carry us through pain.

Update (April 6):  As Richard Wolff shows how the pandemic highlights the failures of capitalism, Graham Peeples argues that the crisis calls a movement toward unity.

Fragmentation constitutes the normal, if totally unnatural, way of things; it characterizes virtually every aspect of life and describes the state of mind of most, if not all of us.

Generations have been systematically conditioned into believing that this is the way to live, that we are separate and must compete with one another to survive; that greed, selfishness, social division and tribalism are part of who and what we are as human beings, and that there is no alternative.

If we are to move out of the crumbling chaos of the old and create a new and just civilization in which humanity can live peacefully together for the first time in our long and painful history, we must, first of all, recognize that we are one; that all of life is interconnected ... . The new forms and ways of living that must emerge need to be based on and encourage expressions of brotherhood and compassion.

The creation of a fertile ground in which harmony can come into being is a great deal easier than might be imagined. As humanity collectively demonstrates (excluding the minority) in times of need, underneath the outward shows of cruelty and selfishness, mankind is good; remove the obstacles (fear, desire, competition etc.) to compassion and that unifying force – love, which is our very nature, will naturally and spontaneously express itself.

Update (April 16):  As protests emerge over stay-at-home orders, Amanda Marcotte notices how some people manage to "fall apart completely at the first sign of even the slightest hardship".

Right-wing Americans have little sympathy for millions of their fellow citizens who face real hardship, but an endless amount of self-pity because they have to skip a fishing trip. No wonder they love [Dear Leader], a man who can't be bothered to care about Americans dying, but is in full-blown panic mode because he might not get re-elected.

In reality, this pandemic has exposed how we're all in this together and none of us are "rugged individuals." We need those health care workers and grocery store employees and teachers. We are all dependent on each other, not just for the basic necessities of life, but the luxuries like boating and gardening. Right wingers have spent decades denying this fact, clinging to their Ayn Rand fantasies that they're not dependent on the rest of us and are under no obligation to pay their taxes or by treating others with decency and compassion.

But it turns out that conservatives are more dependent on the system than all the people they deplore as weak, so much so that a minor interruption in their daily life causes a full-blown temper tantrum like the one we witnessed in Michigan this week. More are coming, we can be sure of that.

Update (May 7):  Paul Rosenberg sees opportunity in the crisis.

When push comes to shove — as it has with the pandemic — the majority of Americans reject the neoliberal worldview that has led us to this state, where our nation is vastly under-resourced to deal with catastrophes. They reject its contradictory definition of freedom, which tells us we can only do what the market allows — especially when the market says you can't invest in basic life protection. Most Americans believe that we're all in this together, because that's what they see every day with their own eyes. Strengthening our democracy to meet the challenges we face is the most sensible pathway before us.

Update (May 18):  Jonathan Cohn examines the dismal U.S. response to the Covid-19 crisis.

[T]here’s only so much that even the most determined policymakers can do right now. What the U.S. really needs to do is reimagine what the government does and how it operates ― to build a new state edifice, starting with its foundation, in a way that it has done only a few times in its history. And it’s not clear the political system is capable of that.

Update (June 8):  Matthew Rozsa argues that the pandemic and climate change illustrate two points: we ignore science at our peril; capitalism is "inherently unsustainable". Rozsa quotes Michael Mann:

[W]hat COVID-19 has laid bare is the fragility of this massive infrastructure which we've created to artificially maintain consumption far beyond the natural carrying capacity of the planet. And continued exploitation of fossil fuels, obviously, is inconsistent with a sustainable human society.

Update (June 24):  Amanda Marcotte details how the Republican-led quick reopening experiments have failed as the U.S. heads back toward an even greater peak in new Covid-19 cases.

The economic theory behind reopening was that because the lockdown had shuttered so many businesses and caused a huge recession, then surely ending the lockdown would mean those businesses and all the economic activity they generate would come roaring back to life.

The problem is that restaurants and stores don't magically make money by opening their doors. They need actual customers to come in and spend money. Getting back to work is an empty promise if people show up and find there's little or no work to be done.  

But then they had their reasons for rushing things.

[T]his catastrophe cannot be laid solely at the feet of [Dear Leader] and his delusions. A huge part of the problem was that Republicans, for all their chatter about "the economy," have always been far more invested in gutting the social safety net and slashing taxes than in the genuine economic well-being of Americans. Reopening fast was largely a dodge used to justify the Republican refusal to pass more bills to protect workers and businesses from economic catastrophe, since those bills would require increased government spending and, most likely, raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for it.

There can be no economic recovery until we contain and control the pandemic. Reopening was a feint, an excuse to kick people off unemployment but never an actual plan to get the economy functioning again. Republicans sacrificed people's health — in fact, they literally killed people — for an economic recovery that was never going to happen.

Update (July 21):  In the face of disaster, has Fuckface actually come around to reality?

It will get worse before it gets better.

Or, as Amanda Marcotte explains, will he revert to his go-to strategy of gaslighting that he learned from his father?

This strategy works not by actually convincing people to believe [Dear Leader's] lies, which now average about 12 a day. Rather, it works the same way [his father's] gaslighting about the heating worked — by inducing a sense of helplessness in the victim, and by making clear there's nothing the victim can say or do to persuade the gaslighter to recognize reality. [Manbaby] yelled "no collusion" like a parrot for months until the public essentially gave in to the lie, in a "Have it your way, just stop screaming at me" reaction.

[Agent Orange] clearly hopes he can pull the same trick off one more time with the coronavirus, insisting that everything is fine — in the face of all evidence to the contrary — at such length and with such stubbornness that his opponents eventually just give up.

Update (December 17):  Megha Bahree reports on countries looking beyond Gross Domestic Product when they plan for the economic well-being of their citizens.

[This example] shows what can be achieved when an economy is set up around the idea of improving people’s lives rather than the pursuit of endless growth. It pokes huge holes in the conventional wisdom that GDP ― a broad, crude measure of economic success ― is the only metric that counts.

It’s a lesson some economists are hoping the world heeds as countries embark upon the monumental challenge of rebounding from our current pandemic-related economic meltdown. It’s a chance to rethink who economies are for and how to rebuild them; to give people meaningful lives and take us off the path of climate destruction.