Well, who is "we"? In the "us vs. them" question, I guess "we/us" are all of those people who don't identify as powerful in the country or the world. Will there arise any true subcultures or countercultures big enough to move beyond performative protest, to move into an unpleasant fight for what "we" believe is the right thing...?
I hate to say it, but we're kinda doomed in our half-population Christian, aspirational/delusional heaven-gazing which rejects the human being as mere animal. As Stevie Wonder sings, "When you believe in things that you don't understand, you will suffer..."
We need a unifying vision. We need to be taught what life could be, eliminating soulless consumption as our purpose. We need education to start at home. We need readers and thinkers. We need real, physical communities again and relationships across generations.
All this disconnection started with fossil fuels. The car allowed us to escape communities. The interstates destroyed small towns. Suddenly, we were off to jobs hundreds or thousands of miles from our families and childhood friends. Then came phones and screens, disguised as connecting us, but a feeble replacement where we have become data points to be manipulated, driven far into opposing corners, when in reality we all need the same things.
Recovering what we had will take generations.
Start by amplifying your children's natural curiosity. Teach them to love books. Love of reading can grow them in a shaky, conformist educational system. Teach them to question everything. Teach them they are powerful. Teach them that taking care of the planet, each other, and all life on it is our united purpose and higher meaning.
Well, who is "we"? In the "us vs. them" question, I guess "we/us" are all of those people who don't identify as powerful in the country or the world. Will there arise any true subcultures or countercultures big enough to move beyond performative protest, to move into an unpleasant fight for what "we" believe is the right thing...?
No, we won't. We had our chance.
I hate to say it, but we're kinda doomed in our half-population Christian, aspirational/delusional heaven-gazing which rejects the human being as mere animal. As Stevie Wonder sings, "When you believe in things that you don't understand, you will suffer..."
Oh, my word. Never a truer statement has been made.
We need a unifying vision. We need to be taught what life could be, eliminating soulless consumption as our purpose. We need education to start at home. We need readers and thinkers. We need real, physical communities again and relationships across generations.
All this disconnection started with fossil fuels. The car allowed us to escape communities. The interstates destroyed small towns. Suddenly, we were off to jobs hundreds or thousands of miles from our families and childhood friends. Then came phones and screens, disguised as connecting us, but a feeble replacement where we have become data points to be manipulated, driven far into opposing corners, when in reality we all need the same things.
Recovering what we had will take generations.
Start by amplifying your children's natural curiosity. Teach them to love books. Love of reading can grow them in a shaky, conformist educational system. Teach them to question everything. Teach them they are powerful. Teach them that taking care of the planet, each other, and all life on it is our united purpose and higher meaning.
so, so very true.