---------- Forwarded message --------- From: r kanth <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 3:52 PM Subject: The State of the World To: Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> *Nature of the Real Crisis* I have argued that humans are, above all, *myth-making* animals. We are story-tellers, *par excellence.* Stories about who* we* are, who *Others *are. Cultural stories, religious stories, racial stories, *et. al.* No, we don’t *All* get to make up myths. That’s for *some,* only. The few, the proud, the *ruling castes*: *they* do it all - for us. And we lap it up, faster than they can ladle it. * The most outstanding myths pertain to the dominant tropes in economics, politics, and religion: the three *prime * domains of societal governance. In our own society, they go, more or less, * thus*. In the *first*, *laissez-faire*, and free trade have taken, thus far, pride of place; in the *second,* democracy, equality, *etc.,* occupy public attentions in the *last,* it’s a renewed , recharged , latter-day evangelism that has moved from the fringe to the center, in recent times. The most powerful may well be the *last,* whose longevity will be a telling index of our critical intelligence, * or lack thereof.* * So, when such myths work, society trundles on under the guise of ‘normalcy’. But when they don’t , there is a rift within the lute. *That’s where we are today.* The negation of any *one* of the myths listed would be bad enough, but we live In times where *all three* are, quite obviously , tottering. The *economy* itself – not just its myths - went down in 2008, and has never really recovered (despite much propaganda to the contrary ). The *polity *has exposed its *oligarchical *nature blatantly, even defiantly.
From rigged elections, to voter- registration fraud, and big-time lobbying monies in Congress, the veils have been brutishly ripped (with only 6% expressing any faith in it, about the same level as in official Media).
Only the intellectually-challenged still sustain the idea that we subsist in a working *democracy.* Religion has also taken a tumble: the Church of Rome has shown itself to be a sanctum for malignant abuse, of various kinds; the Southern Baptists appear to be not far behind. Religious bigotry has, further polarized communal discord: far from being an *opiate,* it is now a powerful *amphetamine,* which only adds to the rifts. * To sum up: we face a generalised crisis of *legitimacy *in Western societies. The old bromide is wearing thin: the new power-elites seem to lack the maturity to wish to stabilize public opinion, being quite content to resort to the more familiar , if hoary, ploys of *divide et impera.* As the old adage has it, Caesar’s wife must not only be chaste, but needs also be *above suspicion*. Who, in power today, can wear that latter crown of laurels? *No one*. We live with *Unscalable* Corruption (is $21 trillion enough to scale it? That’s what went ‘unaccounted for’ , within but a few years in the DOD). There is – apparently -* nothing* one can pin faith on. Except, perhaps, a little noticed quirk in our natures. We putatively ‘higher’ mammals – good, bad, and ugly - seem to yet nurture a craving for a higher truth, despite being immersed, daily, in a treacherous world of lies. It’s odd, but true. That might account for the legions of ‘*truthers*’ that are on the internet , night and day, globally, arguing *against the stream.* In the *long run – *if such a state exists at all, given the various extinctions we face: of war, atomic weapons, and climate change* - * I think they are likely to prevail. *For Critical Insights, once released , may not be , easily, crammed back into Pandora’s Box.* And Power, without *Legitimation*, lacks lasting potency. *Whence, the good old days may be gone – for good.* *** So, if you are a toady or a humbug, or a gull or a shill, of a teetering system, you are simply out of luck. For truth, like murder, methinks, *will ‘out’.* That’s what wannabe Caligulas – of which there is no dearth - also need to know. *[©R.Kanth, 2019]* -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens