Western Civilization Won't Solve The Polycrisis Notes 1

Soft-pedaling the crisis

Hope rhetoric often downplays the severity and urgency of climate and ecological crises, creating a significant "urgency gap" between the reality of the situation and public awareness—leading to a lack of appropriate response.

Magical thinking

The "rhetoric of hope" frequently employs a flawed syllogism—"we should, therefore we must; we must, therefore we can; we can, therefore we will." This ought-is teleology is unlikely to inspire meaningful change. Examples of people engaged in this form of communication are David Suzuki, Jane Goodall, Thomas Homer-Dixon, and all the greenwashing infotainers on the webs and tubes.

Ignoring the lineage of the crisis

Hope-centric messaging often fails to acknowledge that even with immediate and comprehensive action, the consequences of past environmental damage will continue to unfold. This omission contributes to despair and helplessness when promised positive outcomes don't materialize quickly.

Political parties won't solve problems because it would end the need for them. The Uniparty in the USA creates problems they can't and won't solve, keeping their cultural scam going in perpetuity.

Dishonest comparisons to past victories

The environmental movement's tradition of drawing parallels between past successes (like banning DDT or the Ozon layer) and the current, much larger-scale crises is dishonest (PFOS, Microplastics, Forever Chemicals, Global Heating). The term' polycrisis', which refers to the interconnected and multifaceted nature of the current environmental, and ideological challenges, is much larger, more pervasive, and more pernicious. The accelerating pace and increasing scale of environmental degradation driven by neoliberal, techno-industrial, financialized capitalism, and consumerism constitute a violent omnicidal heat engine.

Generating resentment

When older generations express hope based on younger people's dedication to the climate crisis, the youth may perceive this as a passing of responsibility and a recognition of past failures without any current action from the older generations, breeding resentment and hindering collective action. "Boomers did this to us!" The truth is civilization started it and Modern Techno-Industrial Financialized Capitalism will end it (the destruction of all life, or perhaps only our species).

Flawed definition of hope

Environmental writers often redefine hope to include action and engagement, contrasting it with "passive wishful thinking". However, the conventional definition of "to hope" implies "wishful thinking," which might not inherently lead to action.

Misleading anecdotes

Even inspirational stories used to promote hope can be misinterpreted, as illustrated by the anecdote of the Auschwitz prisoner who dies when her hope of liberation by Christmas is not realized. Unfounded hope is dangerous.

The impracticality of "long hope."

John Collier's concept of 'long hope', which envisions Western societies adopting Indigenous worldviews, is unrealistic given the immediate urgency of the polycrisis and the deeply entrenched nature of the 'Christian-zioniast-industrial-capitalist complex.' A fundamental shift of this magnitude is no closer now than it was in Collier's time, and the Earth-sacralizing elements of existing non-Western religions have already been overwhelmed by Western forces.

The West is a self termanating system of beliefs that ends when civilization crashes. This is a greater catastrophy than the fall of Empires.

Psychological barriers

Numerous psychological biases (bystander apathy, normalcy bias, and compassion fade) hinder effective responses to overwhelming crises—simply instilling hope is unlikely to overcome these deeply ingrained human tendencies.

'I just want to fit in!' Groupthink, motivated reasoning, and evil incentives ensure that our 'best' people are not good people and only serve pathological structures and systems.

Our way of life regularly commits genocide, total war, and perpetual ecocide, perpetuating a culture of exploitation and destruction. It is definitively evil even if most people are not inherently inclined towards evil behaviors, they are nevertheless indoctrinated in narratives that at the scale of Nation States behaves in evil, sick and demented ways.

Limitations of government action

Relying on hope for effective government policies is misplaced due to the short-term nature of pseudo-democratic election cycles and the conflict between politically feasible and environmentally sufficient actions.

Governments serve oligarchs, profits, and the kind of exploitation that is baked into our socioeconomic proto and quasi-religious traditions. Civilization depends on stories of Big Gods that rationalize human exceptionalism. Nature is for "Man" to exploit for the benefit of Kings and their support structures, systems, and service providers.

The historical inaccuracy of "without hope, all is lost"

The assertion that hope is necessary for action is challenged by historical examples of individuals and groups who have fought and persevered without hope, driven by duty, love, or other motivations. Palastinians.

People will often revolt when there is no hope.

Contradictory research findings

Research on the relationship between hope and climate action yields inconsistent results, partly due to varying definitions of hope. In practice, the claim that there is still hope can lead to denial and cognitive dissonance when it conflicts with the overwhelming evidence of environmental decline, techno-industrial-financialized war, inequality, externalities, collateral damage, ecocide, the sixth extinction, global heating, pollution, mental illness, addiction, and social diseases, etc.

In contrast to hope-based messaging, The Long Defeat (JRR Tolkien) is a more effective narrative for our time. This perspective acknowledges the likelihood of significant and ongoing environmental devastation but calls for courage and valor in the face of it, focusing on fighting a continuous battle even without guaranteeing ultimate victory. Reality-based narratives rooted in biology, physics, complex systems science, and complex, mysterious human nature can offer psychological relief, inspire action based on heroism rather than hope, and align with a more honest and robust assessment of our situation.