Yesterday I posted on this blog in the first time in months. I hadn’t read my blog in months either. After I published the post I re-read (rather, perused) a few of my earlier posts. I was rather embarrassed with a few of the things I had said in them. Since this is my blog I could go back and edit or delete previous posts if I wanted. However, that seems rather dishonest to me. It would feel as though I was re-writing history to make my historical self look the way I want rather than the way I was. Instead, I’ll keep the earlier posts as they were. However, I’d like to mention a few points about which I no longer agree with some of the things I had written months ago.
The thing that really stood out for me was that I actually referred to the United States government as “our” government, as though I actually acknowledged its legitimacy and right to rule, as if I accepted it as having legitimate power over me and the other inhabitants within the region known as the United States of America. That jumped out at me and felt painful to see that only months ago I would have said such a thing. I do not acknowledge any government’s legitimacy or right to rule, not over me and not over anyone else. I find that governments are inherently oppressive and destructive to life. Some are worse than others. Yet all are tyrannical, eventually seeking to impose their control over every aspect of the lives of those who live within their sphere of dominance. Even in a supposedly democratic republic such as the United States the government oppresses the vast majority of the humans, even those who vote. Plus there are many who cannot vote either because they are not old enough, because they have been deemed felons by the state, because they don’t want to be known/owned by the system, or because they are not acknowledged by the state as having sentience or the capacity to vote (meaning that as far as I know no governments accept the votes of white-tailed deer, black bears, cows, or turkey vultures, much less cedars, ferns, moss, or anyone else.) Governments have consistently shown that they will wield their power granted to them by the acquiescence of the majority, the votes and backing of the minority, and the relative powerlessness of the remainder, in order to destroy life. The United States government wields its power to consistently create and back policies of war of every sort. Wars against nations. Wars against humans through legal systems, economic systems, educational systems, and bureaucratic systems. Wars against wolves. Wars against forests. Wars against waterways. Wars. Wars. Wars. Wars.
That brings me to the next point, which is that I actually said that I felt that the U.S. government should wage peace, not war. While I don’t think I actually believed that was a possibility, I still feel it was naive to even have uttered such nonsense. Governments are for the purpose of waging war. That is what they do. They have no other purpose. They are running a racket. They just happen to usually have the best racket going, and everyone is too intimidated or bought off to do anything about it. Even if we don’t admit it to ourselves, or even if we cannot see it, that doesn’t mean the wars aren’t still be waged. Governments are about war.
In the same post I pointed out how in the calculations of average “carbon footprints” of people living even in the least developed countries are above sustainable levels. From that I then went on to say that we must each, and that I specifically must reduce my own “carbon footprint” to sustainable levels before I complain about anything else. I completely missed the point, though. The point is that we live in a world in which the dominant systems are forcing even those who don’t want to, to live in an unsustainable fashion. From that it should be obvious that the primary cause of unsustainability is not at an individual level. The primary cause is at a systems level. The primary cause is at the level of governments and corporations. I didn’t turn the Midwest into a poisoned, monocropped wasteland. Monsanto is much more responsible for that. That is, Monsanto, in cahoots with the federal and state governments, a few greedy agricultural corporations, and a bunch of universities (influenced by the funding they receive from Monsanto, agricultural corporations, and federal and state governments.) I can reduce my own carbon footprint to 0 and it won’t put a dent in the systems that are causing the unsustainability. While reducing my own carbon footprint might make me feel good about myself, it’s essentially a waste of time if I’m trying to improve things in the world.
There’s a myth of personal purity as salvation that too many of us have fallen into believing. I have. I still fall into believing it far too often. It’s not true, though. The idea is that if I personally reduce my carbon footprint or live my life in accordance with what I believe to be right and good then that is the only thing that is necessary. It’s not true. I can go live in the woods with nothing but my bare hands, creating no pollution personally, and the world will still be killed by the same systems that are killing it today. I might be able to feel better about myself. I might feel as though I’m personally pure. I might be able to feel that I’m better than everyone else. I can feel as though I have the answers. If everyone else just did as I did then everything would be okay. The point, though, is that everyone else won’t be doing as I did. Even if they did, it wouldn’t solve anything because individuals aren’t doing the killing. At least not individuals like you and me. The killing is being done by the individuals who perpetuate and run the governments and corporations that are killing. Personal purity isn’t going to solve anything. In fact, it’s probably just going to cause the personally pure to lose their friends because the personally pure are too smug and self-righteous. We don’t need smug and self-righteous. We need an end to the killing. To end the killing we must end the systems, not be more personally pure.
Another point is that there’s an irony in striving for personal purity while the systems still stand. Personal purity is actually impossible in such a scenario. The whole point of the systems is to turn everyone (every form of life) into a product, a commodity, a dead thing. Everyone wants to be personally pure by not driving or by shopping with canvas bags or whatever the case. What is it that is supporting everything necessary for us to live in a world where we have choices such as driving or taking public transportation, walking or biking, paper or plastic, plastic or canvas, urban or suburban? There are systems required for those choices. Things don’t just magically appear in stores. They are grown or manufactured and transported at a minimum. Even on the level of personal health it’s not possible to be personally pure while the systems still stand. I used to live in southern California. Consider what it means to be health conscious in southern California. It’s absurd. If you can’t see the absurdity in that then either you’ve never been to southern California or you’re a southern Californian. The point is that the entire situation in which we are living is unhealthy. We’re breathing toxic air and the water is toxic. We can’t reach personal purity while the systems still stand.
There’s a reason we believe in the myth of personal purity, though. There are at least two reasons, actually. One reason is the feeling of powerlessness. The second reason is propaganda. These two reasons are actually two side of the same reason. We feel powerless to stop the killing and the unhealthy situations. Instead, we turn to where we feel we do have power, which is the personal. Those feelings of powerlessness and the decision to focus on personal purity are encouraged by propaganda. The governments and corporations are motivated to encourage us to focus on personal purity because it takes focus away from that which is actually doing the killing. It shouldn’t be a surprise then that green is the new black. Governments and corporations want “environmental awareness” from the personal purity angle to be in vogue because it distracts us. They point in one direction and say “look.” We look in that direction while they go in the other direction to continue killing. Personal purity won’t solve anything.