The Shape of Rebellion
I'm starting to get sick of the bullshit.
I'm starting to get sick of the lies of those who talk about change but don't want to do anything about it.
I'm sick of hearing that the best option is working with the broken system we have and try to use said broken system to craft a better one.
No.
You can't use a broken tool to craft a new tool. You can't use a warped screwdriver to make a new screwdriver.
You need a different tool. Maybe with a different tool, you can fix the old tool, or maybe that old tool needs to be fully replaced. Either way, you can't advocate for doing things the way we've always done them and expect anything to change.
There was recently a thread on the Solar Punk Subreddit where someone asked about what careers they should pursue in light of a working toward a solar punk vision and away from capitalistic exploitation.
The vast majority of responses were to the effect of, "make as much as you can under capitalism, using capitalistic means, and use what you gain to do good."
That is insane.
Effectively, "do evil, and once you're finished doing evil, use those ill-gotten gains to do a little bit of good to absolve yourself."
At best, this strategy is net neutral. In all likelihood, it is net negative and simply bolsters the status quo.
Participating, in any capacity what-so-ever, contributes to the benefit of the capitalist elites.
Going into the capitalist system and doing your best to extract as many resources from that system to do good with instead of evil, is simply giving those higher on the chain more resources to do evil with than you are taking to do good with.
We don't get to see the solar punk dream become reality by playing a rigged game. We see dreams become reality by rejecting the status quo and begin playing our own game.
Until we start living like our dreams are a reality, they never will be.
It's in living like the would we want to exist does exist that the world takes notice and begins to shape to our will.
The capitalistic elites need us to play their game for them to keep winning.
Nothing's going to change until we stop playing.
I'm reminded of A Bug's Life. The ants don't need the grasshoppers, the grasshoppers need the ants to support their gluttonous life.
We don't need the 1%, the 1% need us to keep buying, keep consuming, keep slaving away, keep being distracted.
We don't see change, we don't see revolution, we don't see revival, by sticking to the status quo.
True change takes rebellion.
No. True change takes True rebellion.
Violent rebellion does not lead to True change.
True rebellion looks like peaceful non-compliance.
We rebel against those oppressing us by first acknowledging that we are being oppressed. The chief goal of the oppressor is to make their subject blind to the fact that they are being oppressed.
This life of gluttonous, mindless consumption and isolation is not what we were made for. We were made to live harmoniously with the people and world around us.
Anything not of love, harmony, and community must be rebelled against. Anyone telling or temping you to otherwise is seeking their own selfish gain. They need you as an object of exploitation. You don't need them for anything.
So, what is the shape of this rebellion?
This rebellion is shaped like an Everything Bagel.
(I swear that reference wasn't my intention when I started this, it just works so well.)
The round, circular shape represents a community of people, joined together, supplying for one another's needs, independent of any institutional system.
The whole in the middle is the representation of less. It represents only having and using enough. It means, not consuming for the sake of consuming.
The everything seasoning is the art and culture that adds the spice of meaning to our life instead of meaningless 'content'.
So what am I practically saying beyond the poetic bullshit? What am I saying we need to do instead of participate in the status quo?
Consume less. Much less.
Choose art over 'content'.
And build communities. Rely on our neighbors instead of overconsumption and mindless entertainment to fill our needs.
There is much more that I could say with regard to the physical things we can do/not do to resist and rebel against the system we find ourselves in, but I'll save those rants for another day.
I'll leave you with this:
Hopper: You let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us a hundred to one. And if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life! It's not about food. It's about keeping those ants in line.
A Bug's Life
~ V