Someone I know posted something on their Facebook page; it was by someone called Matt Haig and it was an excerpt from his book. This is what I saw:
The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn't very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more?How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind.
To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.
It got me thinking about how misery has become the norm. How the 'world' profits from the unhappiness of everyone and how the media - in all forms - is culpable for the general dehumanisation of people. It does appear that capitalism is the most important thing on the planet and ensuring the very very rich become much much richer is by far the most important goal. People are expendable, the rich are not.
Just this alone would be a reason to be scared for the future, especially people with children and grandchildren. What kind of a future will they have if all they're going to be doing is trying to solve the mess their forefathers have dumped on them? This is pretty much how I see it; the people destroying the planet are happy in the knowledge that their children, grandchildren or great grandchildren will come up with a scientific solution because today's wealthy want to be as rich as Croesus and in a twist on that fable are happy to turn everything they touch into shit to get that wealth.
People have always been expendable and what makes that worse is that so many of us are quite happy to be. The people who say shit like, 'That's the way it is, what's the point in moaning about it' should be the first people tipped into the meat grinders (and probably will be when all the rich have left to eat is the poor). I am also aware that with over 7 billion people on earth that we need to be expendable because we're the planet's biggest threat. I also think we're entering a crucial stage in the life span of capitalism, because capitalists are not stupid and they're probably aware that everything has a lifespan and capitalism is entering its end life - the tipping point won't be what revolutionists hope, it will simply be an extinction event that stops the flow of money and those with the money will know that their lives will change to the degree that they will have to make do with what they have left while living on their well-stocked islands. Their only problem will be finding idiots to do their bidding for the minimum they can get away with - but rest assured, there will always be some fucking wanker prepared to suck a rich person's cock if it means beans for tea...
The reason I have this particular bug up my arse at the moment is simply because I think we were being conned and the people conning us have essentially stopped the charade and don't care who knows any more. This isn't about politics, but if the Covid enquiry has taught us anything it's that the government - Johnson's government - didn't really give a shit about people and were more than happy to share the country's wealth with all their friends, despite knowing that it would all come out one day. The fact they can stand up and tell us there's no money left after wasting literally £130billion over two years should make people never want to vote for them again. With £130bn you could not only fix the NHS you could build 300,000 affordable houses, abolish child poverty and come up with a reasonable way to prevent migrants from wishing to 'invade' our shores en masse. Yet that would be the last thing any of them would do; why solve a problem when you can exploit it, use it and weaponize it to ensure everyone stays fearful of the problem. Stopping people fear for their lives will stop people from going down the xenophobia route and that means there's less money to pilfer.
Take Cop28 in the United Arab Emirates. Just the fact we're holding an annual climate crisis seminar in one of the biggest producers of oil in the world should be laughed at; factor in the news that both the UAE and the Saudi Arabians are using the conference to sell oil to the poorest nations attending should tell you everything you need to know about how fucking altruistic the governments of the rich world are and how much they care about you. They don't. They simply want to make more money; not to try and solve problems, and that's because once you have everything you still want more.
The biggest existential threat to the planet isn't just climate change it's the effects of climate change on populations - it is expected that up to 1 billion people might have their homes destroyed and that means 1 billion climate refugees seeking new homes. Do you know what the biggest issue with the western world is at the moment? Refugees or economic migrants. The Netherlands, a country most people with intelligence assume is one of the most liberal countries on the planet, have just voted in a right wing anti-immigration zealot. A lot of people might baulk at the rise of the right in politics, but that's because we're constantly having the threat of immigrants shoved down our throats - if it's bad at the moment imagination what another billion people queuing up to get in your country will be like, these people who will steal your jobs and put extra pressure on public services, this is what is going to happen, oh and don't forget to buy more fossil fuel or electric cars or books...
The other biggest threat to the future of mankind, other than the promotion of hate, is actually these yearly climate crisis soirees - an excuse for ministers to jet in from wherever they are to enjoy a week's hospitality before promising nothing and flying home to carry on whatever mass destruction they have planned. And no this isn't a conspiracy theory because this isn't what I believe it's what is going on under your noses at the moment, you just don't choose to see it because your life is already shit and you don't want it to become even worse, even though it always does.
