The last thing I wrote was a bit dark. While I do not regret anything about it (because it’s the truth), I do feel it is probably a good idea to offer you a solution. The following is the only way I think civilizational collapse can be avoided.
I have given it a lot of thought, and the only way I see anything awful that’s coming being avoided is if everyone participating in this capitalist society on the so-called “lowest levels” has a protest. By the “lowest levels” of society I’m talking about everyone who isn’t a CEO of some kind. People that have nothing really to lose. The people that aren’t in the wealthy 1%. The people with jobs that are important, yet still aren’t paid very highly. I’m talking about convenience store clerks, all delivery people, teachers, healthcare workers, etc, all quitting their jobs en masse. Ideally, we would need to have a larger portion of the population quitting their jobs to draw attention to the protest, but at first these jobs would be a good start. The point is to have enough people dropping out of society in a way that mainstream media cannot possibly ignore, because it’s for a good purpose: saving the planet, and hopefully changing the system as we know it.
We have already begun to see the beginnings of this kind of protest, with young people in China and the “lying flat” movement. Instead of being tricked into working stupid, meaningless jobs for rich people that will never make them anywhere nearly as rich or nourish their souls, Chinese youth are rejecting the whole sham of working at all by doing nothing. They have seen through the ruse: it makes no sense to work so hard when, firstly, good jobs are practically impossible to get now. Even if you could get a job, it would never furnish you with enough resources to get everything boomers got, like a house and a car, a nice married life with a baby, a European vacation once a year, etc. And secondly, even if you do somehow get rich, the earth isn’t even going to look the same by 2030 (or earlier). We are headed towards environmental disaster regardless of how rich you are or not.
There’s really no point in trying to become a great big success anymore when your whole planet is going to hell. It means nothing: it’s like having the best suite on the Titanic. Congratulations, you’re living in luxury….just don’t look out your window. Earlier generations were at least promised some kind of retirement period where they got to live a nice lazy life with their money after working for decades. This generation knows we don’t have that kind of time anymore, so it’s better to enjoy the lazy life now in an act of protest at least.
The brilliance and beauty of the “lying flat” approach is that there is really nothing illegal about it. It’s not a violent protest, it’s not even peaceful…it’s nothing. What can someone in charge do about the fact that someone doesn’t want to work in a broken society leading to hell? Absolutely nothing, because it’s a logical, level-headed response. They can’t arrest someone for not working, and if everyone joins this movement at the same time, are they supposed to arrest everyone? It’s the best approach to what is going on currently because it’s a very serious philosophical and moral response to this system that only requires you to do nothing.
Now, I know all of that sounds crazy. Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying I actually think any of that will happen. What I am trying to say is that it’s the only way to change anything coming regarding the climate emergency hypothetically speaking. Of course, none of that will happen beyond that very minor Chinese movement no one is really paying much attention to at the moment. People will never quit their jobs en masse because they are deeply entrenched in this system, I’m not a dreaming idiot, I get it. The Marshall McLuhan quote about people marching backwards into the future comes to mind: the majority of people don’t realize they are working towards a version of the world that won’t even exist. There are still too many people who don’t understand what is coming for this to ever work out. Or people who are still heavily invested in this society because they’ve convinced themselves they are happy, etc. For a number of reasons: the protest approach would never ultimately work. It’s just not feasible when we have so many stupid people still cucked by capitalism so hard.
But I still mention it because it’s really the only way I see any kind of dent against the climate emergency happening. The idea behind it is that, if enough people refused to participate in society as we know it currently, it would slow the system down to the point that something important could possibly be done. The whole reason why the climate emergency is happening is because we’re allowing it to happen. People should quit their jobs because we’re all perpetuating a system that is leading to hell. If everyone at the “lowest levels” of capitalism (specifically: the folks who are not rich, and never will be) were to take responsibility first, it might shake things up just enough for something to be done by people at the top.
Again though, I get it. The reason why this would never work is due to the greatest trick of capitalism: everyone secretly thinks they will somehow become a billionaire one day. Everyone participating in Western life believes they will be able to climb the ladder of success somehow, and if they’re not thinking billions, they all believe a version of that on some level. Thankfully, more people are starting to see the dream for what it is, a dream. It makes more sense at this point in time to reassess the entire system before it kills us than to keep doing what we’re doing and wait for it to kill us.
I know the protest stuff is crazy, but like I said: it’s really the only logical way I see anything that is coming for us being avoided. And it seems like lots of people are starting to feel the same way, aside from the movement in China. There have been recent reports about employees thinking of quitting their jobs, and lots of employees that already have. Some are calling it a result of life under covid, and having more time to evaluate the way they want to spend their lives. More people than ever are choosing not to work, and I think this is a very good sign. I don’t think the level of protest I described above will ever be fully realized, but I do think the work sentiment in our culture is changing for a reason people may not even be aware of themselves. It’s not just because the work itself is unfulfilling, it’s because it is literally leading us all to hell. The only way to protest collapse is by not participating in this society to the best of your abilities. It’s not entirely possible, but not working for rich people and limiting your spending as much as you can is probably the best form of it. Remember: by perpetuating this system, you are also partly responsible for leading us to our inevitable downfall.