American Oligarchy: Moving from Denial to Effective Action

In the United States of America, there has been a long tradition of trust—especially among the groups of people who haven't been systemically marginalized and discriminated against. Trust in this country, this government— trust that through all the tragedies, slavery, wars, economic depressions and recessions, that somehow, it will all turn out okay in the end. Trust that perhaps there is no end—that we are an immortal, endless empire, a country of vampires. But over the last few decades we have seen the aftermath of unchecked growth: insatiable hunger for power and wealth, reactionary reversal of social and environmental progress, and the rise of demagogues who mock empathy, equality, and ecological thinking. Even resistance has changed—the very meaning of dissent has changed. Once, large, disruptive protests once caught the attention of those in power and perhaps affected outcomes. Now, they are, at best, a display to show other countries, other states, that we are here and we are not who you think we are. For many who march, the intent is still to sway the opinions and actions of the powerful, but this isn't going to be as effective as it once was. In an oligarchy, the rules change. In a reality such as ours, those in charge treat protestors as unruly children, crisis actors, or subhuman criminals. The powers that be aren't chastened by moral outrage. Rather, they seek to control the message and silence opposition. In this climate, many of us are paralyzed by fear. Many are marching and posting their opinions on social media. And many others have chosen ignorance, to settle into that familiar sense of trust that everything will go back to "normal". Unfortunately, we are way past that. We have entered new, more unsettling reality.

Fictitious Predictions

Every once in awhile, a social media post about a prophetic piece of fiction goes viral. The 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar is set in 2010. The author foresaw the adoption of electric cars, legalization of same-sex marriage, and decriminalization of weed. Dystopian aspects include (but are not limited to) an overpopulated planet of 7 billion people, the decline of Detroit, and the rise of mass shootings (especially in schools). In Parable of the Talents, written in 1998, Octavia Butler describes an authoritarian political figure very similar to Trump campaigning with the slogan "Make America Great Again". 1984 by George Orwell predicted an era of widespread surveillance, facial recognition technology, propaganda, mind control, and censorship. William Gibson's Neuromancer foresaw the invention of (and addictive pull of ) the internet and augmented reality. The list goes on. All of these works have one thing in common: they successfully predicted a dystopian world that, in many ways, echoes our own. So many of us, however are still doing the same things waiting for the same outcomes, retracing our steps until our shoes burn. Anything to avoid facing that fact— that we are, in many ways, living in a dystopian reality.

"Reality cannot be ignored except at a price; and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid."

—Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

The Antidote to Despair Is Effective Action

What happens when we do accept the deteriorating state of the world, of civilization, of our planet's environment? If we don't do what we've always done, if we don't just rely on a broken democracy, then what is left? First, we must realize that discovering that the world around us is slowly descending into chaos is not anything to be taken lightly; the process we go through can only be described as a grieving process. Therefore, despair is a perfectly normal reaction and a necessary stage. But despair is meant to be overcome, to transform into something more useful, more tangible—effective action. Effective action is not just any action that you take as a result of despair. It's important that the actions you take will propel you forward, eventually bringing you to resilience. For example, getting wasted as a way to "deal with" despair is an action, but not an effective one. You often end up in a more miserable space than you began. Going into denial is even worse. In fact, it isn't an action at all, just a way to temporarily blind yourself.

But undertaking a creative act that will (even in the smallest of ways) help you and/or others adapt to our new world and the world to come is empowering. If you are concerned about the increasing power of the surveillance state, install Signal on your phone and switch to an end-to-end encrypted email service. If you are in a state of anguish about the climate emergency, take steps to make your home and life more sustainable. You can prepare for storms, erratic weather, and natural disasters. If you are worried about the possible collapse of the economy, stop paying for so many extra things that you don't need, or if you don't have much money at all, consider growing your own food. Get livestock. Start your own side business, if you can. If you are simply in despair about all of this, take small steps. Teach yourself or have someone else teach you new skills. Start exercising more. Take responsibility for your own health. If your first step is tiny, that's okay. Focusing on things we can control, the people we can help face-to-face, and the changes we can make to our own lives can be a way out of despair and into resilience.

Resilience doesn't come when you are waiting, motionless, for someone else to save you. It doesn't lie at the bottom of a shopping bag. It isn't something that is gained by relying on brute strength or intimidation. It is not, nor will it ever be, something you can buy or cheat your way to achieve. And above all, resilience is not gained by refusing to accept or adapt to the circumstances unfolding around you. Yet, we are all capable of it. It isn't some unachievable or transient state, like Zen enlightenment. Once you begin to build resilience, it stays within you and fortifies itself. Like a rock, it keeps you grounded and adaptable to each chaotic, harrowing, uncertain, beautiful day, no matter what comes.