In recent years, and against a mudslide of statistics indicating things are getting better for more people than at any other time in history, some of the most privileged find themselves grappling with irrational fears, unanswerable questions, social divisions, and a feeling of quiescent rage. By and large, the people feeling such disquiet reside in the fading colonial empires of the West. That is not a coincidence.
The message from those we elect to represent us are unequivocal. The mantra is invariably positive. We are assured that we are living longer, healthier lives. Life expectancy has risen dramatically over the past century, from around 30 years in the early 1900s to over 72 years today. Advances in medicine, public health initiatives, and improved living conditions have all contributed to this trend. Meanwhile, infant mortality rates have plummeted, with many countries experiencing sizable declines.
Economically, many regions have seen substantial development. Millions have been lifted out of extreme poverty, particularly in countries like China and India, where economic reforms and globalization spurred astounding growth. According to the World Bank, the percentage of people living on less than $1.90 a day has significantly decreased over the past few decades. However, this economic progress is uneven; while some countries thrive, others struggle with stagnation and indebtedness, leading to rising inequality both within and between nations. Homelessness has markedly increased in the most developed nations.
Education is another critical area where improvements are noticeable. Literacy rates have improved, and access to schooling has expanded significantly, particularly for girls and in marginalized communities. The United Nations reports that around 90% of children worldwide are now enrolled in primary school, which is a remarkable increase compared to previous decades. So generally positive on the learning front then?
I guess so, except that adult literacy is declining in many developed nations. Overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages, as well as funding cuts, are impacting the quality of education, and an overemphasis on standardized testing has led to a narrow curriculum, unable to foster things like critical thinking...
While many indicators suggest improvement, some significant challenges remain. The rise of nationalism, political polarization, relentless warmongering and conflicts are continuing to create a sense of insecurity. Reports from organizations like the Global Peace Index indicate that while some areas have become more peaceful, others have seen increased violence. And of course, issues such as global heating, pollution, and desertification, which disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, pose risks to global stability and well-being.
There is also an underlying societal neurosis that’s of concern. Despite improvements in physical health and economic conditions, loneliness and mental health problems have become more prevalent since the pandemic, especially in developed nations. The pressures of modern life, including the exorbitant cost of living, both intensified by social media and economic uncertainty, have led to increased rates of anxiety and homelessness. This phenomenon is important to note. It suggests that while certain statistics indicate progress, they do not capture the complete picture of human well-being on this planet.
So while there are numerous indicators suggesting life is improving for many people globally, there are also significant challenges that we cannot overlook. Inequality, loneliness, and mental health crises, along with political instability and corruption, remind us that progress (if we can call it that) is not uniform. The official narrative of improvement is as real as it gets in a material sense. But ongoing struggles are faced by many, even in that regard. For example, the US has significant levels of homelessness, especially in cities like Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. The high costs of housing, mental health challenges, and inadequate social services contribute to this crisis, which is also evident in countries like Canada, Australia, the UK and South Africa.
What troubles me is not the accuracy or otherwise of any material indicators skating on the surface of our perceptions; rather it’s a growing inability to think for ourselves (beyond what we’re instructed to believe by personalities, politicians and propaganda) with any sense of confidence or critical thought. However, in a phrase most commonly attributed to Abraham Lincoln - You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time - I believe a few of us are waking from our slumber to the reality of the human condition as it actually manifests.
My convictions are not ill-founded. They arise from ample evidence of individuals and groups controlling how things work at a high level, engineering scams, determining how things should work in the future, all the while being brazenly open about this strategy. Paranoia might persuade us to suspend disbelief that ‘they’ were behind the COVID-19 pandemic, and that this was part of a plan to strip the planet of its non-value-adding humans and activities, while ensuring that the rest of us happily conform to their demands. Given the evidence regarding the ecological crises we face, we must also assume ‘they’ are not concerned about any harm they might inflict in the pursuit of their goals.
This phobia, simultaneously popularized and challenged in the form of conspiracy theories and other forms of disinformation, is real in the sense that it’s an inherent part of how neoliberalism is actually designed to function. Infallible proof comes from paper trails and other documented evidence that lead to only one conclusion. Various ingredients in the phobia represent everything that industrial economism (i.e. capitalism) is supposed not to represent – including predatory behaviour, inequity, collusion, coercion, brutality, ruthlessness, discrimination and socio-economic stratification - while cloaking other ills, such as unrestrained growth and competition, as a respectable part of economic dogma.
An unfortunate side effect of this psychosis is the generation of fringe fictions that bear no relation to the truth but are nevertheless grouped by a guileless audience under the same banner. Ambiguity is created. This suits the authors who can hide their clumsy, often hilariously demented assertions in the library of actual conspiracies, and be taken semi-seriously as a result. The difference between a patent expert like Dr. David Martin, who can produce documented inconsistencies and illegalities which occurred in the funding, marketing and manufacture of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, is entirely different from an ex-footballer and noted nutcase like David Icke who speaks of aliens and secret societies without any actual evidence. The truth is much less sensational, hidden as it is in plain sight. The fictions are more appealing to those who are convinced that the truth is a hidden secret. But we cannot speak about both in the same breath.
The rise of mental health issues, particularly among younger generations, highlights a pressing concern. The pervasive influence of social media deliberately promotes comparison and isolation, contributing to feelings of inadequacy and fueling anxiety. At the same time, the kind of raw political polarization to be seen in the US has fragmented communities, encouraging a zero-sum mentality that pits one individual against another. In such circumstances the capacity for empathy and understanding wilts, leading to a culture steeped in mistrust and division.
Bizarre decision-making has emerged as a consequence of this fraught milieu, characterized by short-term thinking that prioritizes immediate gains over long-term consequences. This is evident in both political and corporate arenas, where the pursuit of profit routinely eclipses any ethical considerations. And then, of course, the manipulation of public opinion, through disinformation, deepens societal rifts, entrenching irrational responses to perceived threats still further.
As global tensions rise, the normalization of aggressive rhetoric and militarization has become alarmingly common. The interplay of fear and competition among major powers propagates an environment ripe for miscalculations, potentially escalating conflicts into catastrophic confrontations. This raises questions about the moral frameworks guiding our actions and decisions.
Almost as a direct consequence of all these factors, a deep-seated sorrow seems to hang in the ether. The collective mood in the West generally is one of profound fear – most evident in the language being used by the Greta Thunberg generation. There’s fear of a future marked by nations fighting each other. Fear of being useless cogs in the machinery of production and consumption. Fear of austerity programs and the siphoning of wealth into the bank accounts of rapacious oligarchs. Fear of a social class that refuses to admit the suffering it choreographs under the guise of neoliberalism. Fear of futile, endless wars, where youths are sent to their slaughter by generals and politicians who are never held to account. Fear of apathy and inaction by the ruling class. Fear of once-democratic systems that have been hijacked by corporate power.
Fear is slowly suffocating us, numbing us to a greater reality. Any sense of community is poisoned by neoliberalism, an erosion of the human soul forged from the combined energies of fear, envy, hatred, and a lust for violence.
This fear has become a tear in the fabric of reality, escapades played out in a post-truth, boys-own world, and on the bodies of the marginalised through opioid addiction, alcoholism, suicide, gambling, obesity, and the investment of our emotional and intellectual life in silly spectacles and a steady supply of publicly orchestrated scandals.
The attraction of magical thinking too - believing that one event happens as a direct result of another without any plausible link of causation - from the absurd promises of religious zealots to the Oprah-like belief that reality is never an impediment to our aspirations, brings us ever closer to a bizarre kind of madness. These are the pathologies of a deeply diseased, non-reality-based world-system, or what Nietzsche called an aggressive despiritualized nihilism.
Oswald Spengler’s predictions in The Decline of the West seem increasingly relevant today. He warned that as Western democracies falter, a class of wealthy thugs would replace established political elites, rendering democracy a sham, while hatred would be nurtured and fed to the masses to encourage them to rip themselves apart.
All of this seems to be coming true in the undercurrents of neoliberal, fascist, techno-delusionism. The surface remains stubbornly fixated on making money. But the social ties that once provided meaning and hope are unraveling. Our institutions – justice, education, media, banking and healthcare - casually exploit those they are meant to serve, intensifying feelings of powerlessness and humiliation. These conditions foster loneliness, frustration, anger, and a pervasive sense of worthlessness. And in the end there is only a shallow facade.
In decaying societies, after the moral code has faded, and the populace is stripped of political, social, and economic power, there’s an instinctive desire to reach out to power-hungry sociopaths to put things back on track. Impulsively, people weave conspiracy fictions to rationalize their discomfort. They disregard laws and social norms in a distracted search for meaning. They misdirect their anger toward others as a way to cope with their frayed pride, and craft stories of intrigue to help explain their discomfort. They flout laws and blame others for their loss of self-esteem. And they routinely misconstrue the signals that might shine a light on the truth.
After the many totalitarian responses to COVID-19 we can no longer claim to be sovereign individuals. We have been captured by the power of the state whose principal roles are now surveillance, social control, and narrative management. While collusions - some well-intended, others menacing - continue to unfold in the plain light of day, conspiracy fictions have implanted themselves in the dark recesses of even the most intelligent of minds. Blame of others is now the order of the day.
These troubling trends, particularly prevalent in the West, reflect an existential crisis. As society navigates rapid change, from technological advancements to geopolitical tensions, it becomes increasingly apparent that our collective thinking needs to undergo a fundamental transformation. As I have insisted on so many occasions, humans need to take a giant leap of consciousness so as to explore new ontological possibilities with an urgency not yet fully appreciated.
First, we must reconnect with our shared humanity and civic duty. But we can only do that from a position of peaceful co-existence. Rediscovering common values and fostering a sense of kinship can help bridge divides, but the bridges themselves can only be constructed through dialogue and the re-emergence of mutual respect. This requires intellectual humility and an empathic appreciation of others. We must be able to question our most fundamental assumptions and engage with profoundly diverse perspectives.
Second, long-term systemic thinking must replace the current obsession with short-term gains, along with our fixation on monetary wealth to the exclusion of all else. By considering the broader implications of our activities, we can foster a shared mindset that values health, security and well-being over mere profit. This will involve recognizing the limitations of growth and consumption, recalibrating what we mean by economic sufficiency, and accepting that true fulfillment lies in equitable and mindful living.
Third, fostering empathy and cooperation will be crucial.The world is too interconnected for any single nation or community to go it alone. If violence remains in the smallest cell it will eventually infect the whole body. As we prioritize collaborative problem-solving, we can heal rifts across cultural, social, and economic divides, irrespective of their depth or history. This holistic approach necessitates a reevaluation of our measures of progress, shifting from GDP and profit to metrics that truly capture human well-being and environmental health.
To facilitate these changes, we need to ensure individuals are equipped to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Encouraging media literacy, foresight, systemic design and strategic navigtation will enable people to move forward with greater purpose, discerning facts from fictions, and mitigating the impacts from misinformation and disinformation. Cultivating a profound sense of global citizenship, stewardship, and a shared responsibility for all life can help us accept and embrace our interconnected nature, fostering cooperation over nationalism.
But our mission is more than all of that. The current state of suppressed fear and inexplicable decision-making signals a pressing need for a radical shift in our collective thinking. By reconnecting the whole of society with moral values, fostering critical engagement, and prioritizing long-term well-being through design, we can achieve almost anything. Embracing our collective responsibility for each other and all life on this planet will enable us to rediscover the core of human purpose and chart a course toward a more equitable and sustainable future for all.
That leaves us with just one overwhelming task. Perhaps it is obvious by now. It is the most urgent and vital task ahead of us. We must expunge the cancer of neoliberalism through sustained acts of peaceful civil disobedience and the dissemination of a more humane narrative. The future is human, not machine. By targeting neoliberalism as the enemy, by focusing our rage on this contemporary form of colonialism, we are naming the true source of power and abuse. We expose the absurdity of blaming our situation on demonized groups we call ‘they’. We also make possible the restoration of an open society, one that serves the common good rather than wealthy individuals and corporations.
We must demand nothing less than robust protection of the natural world and an end to militarism and imperialism. We must create the possibility for a life of dignity, purpose and self-esteem. If we do not, our apathy will ensure our demise. A global mindful uprising must destroy neoliberalism. The succubus which has become the curse of modern civilisation cannot be allowed to endure.