If anyone tells you that they can explain all of the craziness of the world in a single theory be skeptical. The world is complex and many factors drive history.
I do think there is one vector of pressure that we don't talk about directly very often that is playing a role in a lot of political edginess. From nativism, to the rightward swing of the UK and US the silent actor is climate change.
Because at this point wealthy people know that it is real and I think some of them are panicking.
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myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Their panic takes two forms, one more apocalyptic than the other.
The first is the sobering realization that if there were wider public awareness of climate change it would mean that people would expect their governments to "do something" and this would disrupt a balance of power that is currently working for them.
The more extreme version of this panic is a kind of bunker mentality.
There will be more refugees in the future, not fewer. Food prices will be higher.
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myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Some people find this terrifying. Their first thought is: close the borders! invade greenland!
And to some degree I think the wider public is becoming more aware, it won't help when they realize that they have been tricked that the seriousness of the problem has been hidden from them and downplayed.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I think we can do this.
I'm not scared of climate change. I'm scared for biodiversity and I'm scared of the short-sighted frightened men in power and how their fear could lead to catastrophic suffering.
But humans are gonna thrive if we can get them out of the way and simply focus on the problem.
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myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •They don't even want people to realize that the problem is real.
That's not leadership.
Diane
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I have references!
We know the super rich are worried, they straight up asked a tech futurist about their bunker plans.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff
Or from "we're not in this together: There is no universal politics of climate change "
"Tillerson and those he works with are not in some kind of shadowy conspiracy. The Rex Tillersons of the world have taken a look at the same data, the same trends, the same underlying social and political conditions, and they have noticed that in the probable world in which nothing changes for them, business-as-usual, they end up on the “winning” side of a sharp global and local dividing line. Every structural incentive serves to reinforce such thinking. The best outcome in such a position is to push on with business-as-usual; the costs of climate change will largely be borne by those who already bear the cost today. Indeed, as I will argue, that other people will be bearing those costs helps keep the system going as long as possible and makes the Rex Position of maximal extraction for maximal maintenance, or cashing out, that much better. Even modestly successful climate mitigation and adaptation for the vast majority of people would require socioeconomic and political changes that would pose a steep loss to the Rex Position.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/were-not-in-this-together-chaudhary
The Trump administration makes so much more sense as a smash and grab trying to steal many resource for the super rich as they can, while letting the ordinary people die.
Heck even the push for AI, fits in with this story of the super rich looking to replace their dependence on the working class they're trying to kill off.
(edit fixed sentence that was incompletely edited)
The super-rich ‘preppers’ planning to save themselves from the apocalypse
Douglas Rushkoff (The Guardian)Neil E. Hodges reshared this.
Neil E. Hodges
in reply to Diane • •like this
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myrmepropagandist
in reply to Neil E. Hodges • • •@tk @alienghic
Underestimating the effectiveness of crowbars.
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Neil E. Hodges
in reply to myrmepropagandist • •like this
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Diane
in reply to Neil E. Hodges • • •I sometimes dream of lava covering Zuckerberg's Hawai'ian bunker.
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Cedar Fen Farm Cedar Fen Farm
in reply to Diane • • •more fun to watch him starve to death
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RebelGeek99
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •😀🚲
in reply to RebelGeek99 • • •rk: it’s hyphen-minus actually
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I am reasonably sure anywhere from 20-30% of the American public will jump straight from “it’s not real” to “Jewish space lasers to turn children gay misfired and that’s why it’s so hot now” without stopping at the “we were tricked” station.
I take no pleasure in this assumption.
😀🚲
in reply to rk: it’s hyphen-minus actually • • •TinJar
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I try to explore mass #migration scenarios via fiction. In case anyone is interested, check it out: https://tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith
#bookstodon #climatechange #solarpunk
A New Faith
TinJar