The Enemy of the Good

"We have two paths: either capitalism dies, or Mother Earth dies," said Evo Morales. This is a modern man from a modern country. He is the President of Bolivia and is speaking for the new, modern victim that has to be saved from exploitation.

We have seen a lot of exploitation over the last years and have spent a lot of time, effort and lives in pursuit of the exploiters. It seems the fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves--or, more specifically, in you.

We now know ourselves enough; it is time to put that learning to use and get ourselves some serious villains. Ever since the Enlightenment we have been searching for the prime mover, the linchpin of our discontent. And, aside from a short fling with psychiatry, it ain't us. It is you, or someone very much like you. There have been many likely suspects who have made our hearts beat fast with the anticipation of just revenge. The proletariat learned it was the middle class, the exploiting, rapacious capitalist.  Others opined that some people were just not good enough, not up to the demands of a energetic and joyful nation. Culling those less fit would free the rest for their unexploited destiny. Then there were those colonialists with their oppression of distant people; there seemed to be a lot of exploited people involved and certainly that was a likely source of our problems. Recent statements by President Obama and the EU point some accusing fingers at religion, particularly Christianity, as a spanner in our workings toward happiness and cooperation.

But it may be that these transient oppressors were too limited in scope. There are bigger fish to fry. Killing all the enemies of the proletariat did not seem to work and what emerged simply failed. Killing those not fit for the new state did not work because they fought back. The colonized people have peacefully invaded the colonizers and that is not going well. Of course the religious nut has been tough to crack. So...where to go?

Current coffee house thought points to Mother Earth. Mother Earth is being killed by everyone and she too is fighting back. Bad weather, storms, tornadoes--what could be clearer?  We are destroying ourselves with the illusion of accomplishment. The solution is to walk technology back to a level that can sustain us yet not hurt the planet. Some will not want to give what they have up. Some will see their losses as defeats. But such a decline in many nations will be rewarding for others.

The homogeneity that we have tried to create in revolution or extermination we can create in shared poverty. "Better" used to be the enemy of "good". Now anything that is an improvement is the enemy. 

Pol Pot is gone but the Year Zero is back.