Ours is the only era that has come face to face with its imminent destruction and knows how to stop it but won't.
In the Before Times, the ending days of summer had a last of Christmas week weary sentimentality to them. The gentle sadness that came on the winds that carried the cries of cicadas at the end of August is a memory for us not to return. Covid and Climate change have seen to that no matter how many still refuse to see the reality of our new existence. Wishful thinking is as deadly for our society as it was for the people of Pompeii on the 23rd of August, 79 AD.
I know I can't afford wishful thinking because cancer during COVID-19 and now a diagnosis of lung fibrosis sobered my optimism for both personal and societal happy endings.
Since 2020, COVID has always been the other shoe that drops repeatedly, killing millions, primarily ordinary or marginalised people- from around the world. It has weakened democracies that were already fragile from the excesses of neoliberalism. Privatisation of public healthcare in nations that once prided themselves on having a Welfare State has sped up because of it. Life expectancy in Western nations has decreased because of how governments handled the each phase of the pandemic with more concern for business than the lives of its workers.
Despite numerous reports of new variants of COVID gathering strength and promising to wreak havoc on society again, few wear masks or take any precautions. People find the N95 impinges on their freedom more than the cost of living crisis, book banning, racism, or the end in many places in America and around the world to a woman's right to a safe abortion. The refusal to mask up isn't ignorance but selfishness on a civilisation-ending degree of self-destructiveness. Ours is the only era that stands face to face with its imminent destruction and knows how to stop it but won't. The ancient Egyptians, The Mayans, Babylon or the myriad of other civilisations that fell into chaos had no clue how to stop their demise. We have no such excuse. If there is a history after us, how will it explain our failure to rise to the occasion except as, “Well, they liked to shop.”
Everything in this world is either on fire or being flooded by an environment ruled more by the anarchy of climate change than the ebb of flow of the seasons. These are not interesting times we live in; they are apocalyptical. Saudi Arabia murders close to a thousand refugees on their borders, and the Western world, which purports to be the bastion of civilisation, shrugs a "Whatever." Eighteen months in, Europe's war and ours by proxy still haven't run out of young people to kill or older people from the comfort of far away to either enable or encourage the killings with talk about "preserving democracy" without realising that democracy is a bit deeper than the ability to choose a latte at Starbucks made with oat milk.
It's a brave new world out there that we lack the derring-do to face. We just rinse and repeat, hoping that somehow neoliberalism can fade into something new. But it can't because Liberal America placed all their hopes in the geriatric- Joe Biden the way 1930s liberal Germany once placed their hopes in their over-the-hill Chancellor Hindenburg to save them from Hitler's fascists. It's pretty simple; you can't save a democratic republic with a plutocrat.
Even if Trump loses or somehow ends up being convicted of the high crimes and misdemeanours he has committed, he or what he represents has won.
Fascism, right-wing extremism and corporate autocracy are so entrenched in American society and globally that real democracy died some time ago. What we have now no longer resembles the one the greatest generation fought for in the Second World War, where after Nazism was defeated everyone had the right to a life free of want, ill health and free of ignorance.
The days are growing shorter as we wend our way towards autumn both seasonally and for society. The light of decency, civility, civic-mindedness, intellectual honesty, and kindness have all grown dim.
Will they ever again come back on? Perhaps. But only after a long darkness, where in that black of night, people are heard fumbling to strike a match and find their way out of the pitch black of authoritarianism.
As always, thank you for reading my sub stack posts. Your subscriptions are needed now more than ever to keep me and Harry’s Last Stand going. August has been a killer month for medical expenses and coming up with the scratch for my rent. Few days left and I am still slightly short of my next month’s rent. Your subscriptions to Harry’s Last Stand keep the legacy of Harry Leslie Smith alive and me housed. So if you can join with a paid subscription which is just 3.50 a month or a yearly subscription or a gift subscription. I promise the content is good, relevant and thoughtful. Even sharing my posts helps the cause. Take Care, John
Agh! Keep trying to send something but it wants your email address. Help?!
Thanks JM, I always appreciate your posts & think of them a lot afterwards, but this one really hit home. Really feels like the days are shortening & darkening indeed.