it’s a post-policy presidency
e.g. reopening Alcatraz isn’t “policy” it’s just red meat for the base
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I largely agree, especially in that the only reasonable position one can really hold is “well, it’s complicated.” Because yes, the pendulum cannot swing cleanly. Any deviation from the path, at least where economic growth is concerned, will bring suffering in the short term. But at the same time, so will the current path (anyone interested can read more here). So I guess I didn’t have a point as much as I just wanted to say it’s been making me think about things on a more holistic scale.
@pasquinelli for sure! I was mostly referring to the exploitation and abuse of the working body as well as the earth in some cases like mining or oil drilling. That said, while I believe in the dignity of work for all humans, I will state my official position in regards to myself is as follows:
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Sounds like a coherent policy to me. Where else are we gonna put Hannibal Lecter and real tough guys like this:
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The question of what ought to be in the economy, productively as well as ecologically, is such a frustrating one, because, thought one may come to these conclusions from a cynical thought process, there is one fundamental, undeniable truth, which is that the individual people with all of the control over the situation, whose names and addresses we know, personally benefit from this overall situation, and whether they’re in denial or just acting cynically in their own benefit of how obviously immoral what is done in their name and for their benefit is, there are so many things devoted to enabling them to get away with it, from the material, like phalanxes of riot cops or security systems in their homes and now even shit like paramilitary companies for providing individual people their own security details, to the systemic, like regulatory capture, and the weakness of international courts, and offshoring and outsourcing.
If I had to guess at what material reality would look like if we actually committed to degrowth in a way that would be minimally harmful, well, first it would necessitate some kind of planetary government, or at least some kind of international body or binding international legislation like a real international criminal court and even an international environmental court, but it would need real teeth, up to and including total expropriation of the private property of individuals and corporations for the good of the planet. Then we’d probably need world peace, which would also necessitate total, condition free, and simultaneous nuclear disarmament. Then at that point we could maybe start figuring out how to let underdeveloped countries industrialize according to some reasonable upper limits for emissions and pollution, which would probably then also necessitate at least some kind of partial dismantling of intellectual property law, so that it could be performed according to the most technologically advanced and thus ecologically friendly method. And developed nations would have the opposite responsibility to render their economic production as ecologically responsible as possible, doing every possible thing to reduce emissions and pollution and overconsumption. And if all of that sounds idealistic, well, it’s because it’s obviously all totally impractical within this current geopolitical climate, where we have all of this baggage from the colonial era and have all but totally squandered all of the real material benefits that could have come from modern scientific advancement.
I suppose my greatest fear in life is that we won’t actually get there without some kind of single global-paradigm-interrupting catastrophe, like if a massive portion of the Antarctic ice sheet suddenly slips away off of whatever is holding it there and it falls into the ocean and starts breaking up and melting all at once (as depicted in Kim Stanley-Robinson’s Mars trilogy, which I am thinking about as I am currently re-reading it), and there is a dramatic increase in global sea levels over the course of weeks rather than years, and the problem of the climate catastrophe comes to the imperial core just as hard as it comes to the periphery, all at once. Worse situations would be something like some kind of Cold War doomsday scenario where nuclear powers blow up half the world or something, or either that or a gigantic meteorite causes a short to medium term artificial ice age, and there is a global collapse of agricultural production.
The frustrating thing is that the problem is not complicated, and the solutions are myriad, and even if the average person would not choose short term tribulation to ensure the wellbeing and long term future of our global society, it would be the responsibility of our central authorities to choose that route regardless. But, you know, our heroes are dead and our enemies are in power and all that.
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Cheaters
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Hearing word that the next Dr Who will be American
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He really lays it all out.
The way we separate homeless is because homeowners have far more power to oppress non home owners and de-residentify them. if someone lives outside on the street, and they’ve been doing it as long or longer than you have, they’re as much of a resident of that street as you are in your home.
Also the way he’s explaining economic mobility va housing affordability, that’s something I try to describe when I explain why I lived in a van for 7 years straight in Venice, but had a great life. Because I benefit from economic proximity.
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Was thinking today about how sad it’s going to be when fourth term Trump allows DraftKings to hire private militias to hunt and kill their debtors and all of my straight male friends die unceremoniously at 38 
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The real expedition 33
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it’s giving me and @yeso
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Who’s who
It’s been three days, and I cannot stop thinking about this billionaire white paper pitch to turn Guantanamo Bay into a charter city/largely unregulated labor camp/United States immigration purgatory with WeWork branding:
Trashfuture starts unraveling a breakdown of this, leading in with context at about 16:30
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Listened to that TF last night and I could scarcely believe it. Sounds beyond parody that a Hapsburg is involved
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yeah, among the hundreds of moments that have made me say “we have arrived at dystopia” over the past eight or so years, some of the direct quotes from the paper here just really drove that beyond-parody aspect right into my skull. the lack of self-awareness, or maybe it’s the lack of the need or desire to be self-aware, the sci-fi villain language – whatever it is, the extremeness of this one is a real brick
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