"Anger at the rapid advance of fascism, anger at those who hoard so much they crowd the rest of us out, anger at those who ought to fight for us but wallow in the status quo — all of it is legitimate. But without a channel that anger is merely poison. Without a way to shape hot rage into action and power we wallow in the fire and are consumed. Instead you must discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Instead of burning in our own flames we must organize, build vehicles with one another, vehicles that take our anger and allow it to fuel the reshaping of society.
That work can only be done with others. So set aside your quarrels and come together. It may be anger that first unites us, but as we organize we alchemize our rage. We combine it with love for our neighbors and families and for a life worth living and we radically shake and transform society and find ourselves able to create something new: a society filled with meaning, where life isn’t hard to live and where our anger is, at long last, no longer necessary."
The problem isn’t just the two parties; the problem is the parties. This is not to say that the Democrats and Republicans are a monoparty, as some facile people claim, the problem is money in politics, and the way money subverts politics. The second problem is outmoded economic thinking. Now, the Democrats, to punish Republicans, are threatening to shut down the government, playing right into GOP hands, and furthering NRx goals (RAGE, retire all government employees).
Yes! Once an entity exists it exists simply to exist and will fight to live. So we have two parties that fight to exist without regard FOR ANYTHING BUT WINNING AT ALL COSTS.
"Sweeping the deck of the Titanic while the iceberg punches holes in the ship doesn’t cut it." The most apt metaphor and description for the spineless and ineffective Democratic Party I've ever heard.
"Rage at those who have everything they could ever need for ten lifetimes, but who still dedicate themselves to getting more wealth out of us, all while giving us less and less in return, is eminently reasonable."
The Democrats worked extremely hard to ignore people, make sure Bernie Sanders - the dems populist, was kicked off the map. I hope they die a fast and painful death for pushing us to this point. Stop saying the economy is great MFs when you strip out energy and food as being too volatile. The two things we all need. When I look at my credit card bills it’s all energy and food. Or that jobs are increasing when you intentionally don’t look at the multitude of part-time, second jobs that people are carrying on their backs to pay their rent and their energy and food bills. One person with three jobs. Ignore that too. Dicks.
The anger is good. It is a force that can be channeled to counter this horror show that Trump and Musk are staging. The mistake is to wait for Democratic leadership to lead the way. The American people must force their hand and, if necessary, drag them kicking and screaming into this fight.
“So set aside your quarrels and come together. It may be anger that first unites us, but as we organize we alchemize our rage. We combine it with love for our neighbors and families and for a life worth living and we radically shake and transform society and find ourselves able to create something new: a society filled with meaning, where life isn’t hard to live and where our anger is, at long last, no longer necessary.”
The Democrats need to read history. There are too many similarities between them and the Decembrists. They are too comfortable within the framework of the system that is failing the majority of citizens. They spend more time explaining why it's not practical to implement policies that would have wide popular support than they do fighting the destruction of necessary and vital programs.
Our culture has a myth that anger can be useful, "legitimate," "righteous," etc. I disagree. Most of Joshua Hill's latest essay supports that myth, though the end of his essay finally tempers that support.
The myth of rage may have found its clearest expression in the character Howard Beale's "mad as hell" speech in the 1976 film "Network." I don't agree with Beale's speech, but I still recommend watching it (https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork2.html). I would point particularly to these two sentences:
"I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first, you've got to get mad."
Where does anger come from? I'm no expert on these matters, but I think it's part of our fight-or-flight mechanism. If you're hunting or gathering food and you come upon a saber-toothed tiger, you're going to either fight it with your spear or run away from it. Either way, you're going to need a boost of adrenaline.
But the dangers facing us today are nothing like saber-toothed tigers. The heat of anger might serve as a signal that we need a committee meeting, but adrenaline is just a distraction at that meeting. Hot anger should be transmuted into cold determination as quickly as possible.
It's about increasing inequality. Follow Gary Stevenson. He's UK and a former trader. Interesting guy who seems to get it. All your earnings are basically filtering up to the billionaires. Yup, that explains a lot
Only the progressive Dems have a critique of the system and they are silenced more by their own party than the opposition. Meanwhile, Trump and Elon are executing on the wildest fever dreams of the conservative base. While the Dems claim to stand for their base, they have mastered feigned helplessness to such a degree, that they don’t have any recourse against action. I’m their minds, everything Trump is doing is ‘impossible’.
Huh? George Floyd? CIA actor. The whole event was fake. Americans only react fake to things. First we have to sort out what is real to make any action meaningful.
Thank goodness for your articulate rage, Josh. I sincerely hope that the American people will take note, and will organise. Your Democrats are an unfunny joke: although they absolutely deserved to lost the last election, the alternative ‘choice’ was just a more blatant expression of what was already on offer. Musk and Trump are the logical conclusions of capitalism, particularly the naked, brutal variety that America seems to adore. Very best wishes and solidarity to you for the fight ahead.
Feels like collective psychosis. A failure of imagination rooted in numbness and fatalism. We project ourselves onto this drama at the expense of the moment.
We could build an extraordinary new social media about all of the ways to do the Peaceful Revolution, but first, people need to be talking about it... For anyone who might be curious... www.humbledeeds.com
Well said, Joshua. And so true.
"Anger at the rapid advance of fascism, anger at those who hoard so much they crowd the rest of us out, anger at those who ought to fight for us but wallow in the status quo — all of it is legitimate. But without a channel that anger is merely poison. Without a way to shape hot rage into action and power we wallow in the fire and are consumed. Instead you must discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Instead of burning in our own flames we must organize, build vehicles with one another, vehicles that take our anger and allow it to fuel the reshaping of society.
That work can only be done with others. So set aside your quarrels and come together. It may be anger that first unites us, but as we organize we alchemize our rage. We combine it with love for our neighbors and families and for a life worth living and we radically shake and transform society and find ourselves able to create something new: a society filled with meaning, where life isn’t hard to live and where our anger is, at long last, no longer necessary."
The problem isn’t just the two parties; the problem is the parties. This is not to say that the Democrats and Republicans are a monoparty, as some facile people claim, the problem is money in politics, and the way money subverts politics. The second problem is outmoded economic thinking. Now, the Democrats, to punish Republicans, are threatening to shut down the government, playing right into GOP hands, and furthering NRx goals (RAGE, retire all government employees).
Yes! Once an entity exists it exists simply to exist and will fight to live. So we have two parties that fight to exist without regard FOR ANYTHING BUT WINNING AT ALL COSTS.
Does that somehow sound like a smart idea?
Revolution is necessary, and believe it or not, it's possible to create an app for that... www.humbledeeds.com
"Sweeping the deck of the Titanic while the iceberg punches holes in the ship doesn’t cut it." The most apt metaphor and description for the spineless and ineffective Democratic Party I've ever heard.
Good line:
"Rage at those who have everything they could ever need for ten lifetimes, but who still dedicate themselves to getting more wealth out of us, all while giving us less and less in return, is eminently reasonable."
Great, clarifying article here.
The Democrats worked extremely hard to ignore people, make sure Bernie Sanders - the dems populist, was kicked off the map. I hope they die a fast and painful death for pushing us to this point. Stop saying the economy is great MFs when you strip out energy and food as being too volatile. The two things we all need. When I look at my credit card bills it’s all energy and food. Or that jobs are increasing when you intentionally don’t look at the multitude of part-time, second jobs that people are carrying on their backs to pay their rent and their energy and food bills. One person with three jobs. Ignore that too. Dicks.
https://youtu.be/5EDKRGkgLsI
The anger is good. It is a force that can be channeled to counter this horror show that Trump and Musk are staging. The mistake is to wait for Democratic leadership to lead the way. The American people must force their hand and, if necessary, drag them kicking and screaming into this fight.
“So set aside your quarrels and come together. It may be anger that first unites us, but as we organize we alchemize our rage. We combine it with love for our neighbors and families and for a life worth living and we radically shake and transform society and find ourselves able to create something new: a society filled with meaning, where life isn’t hard to live and where our anger is, at long last, no longer necessary.”
Inspiring. Thank you.
The Democrats need to read history. There are too many similarities between them and the Decembrists. They are too comfortable within the framework of the system that is failing the majority of citizens. They spend more time explaining why it's not practical to implement policies that would have wide popular support than they do fighting the destruction of necessary and vital programs.
Our culture has a myth that anger can be useful, "legitimate," "righteous," etc. I disagree. Most of Joshua Hill's latest essay supports that myth, though the end of his essay finally tempers that support.
The myth of rage may have found its clearest expression in the character Howard Beale's "mad as hell" speech in the 1976 film "Network." I don't agree with Beale's speech, but I still recommend watching it (https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork2.html). I would point particularly to these two sentences:
"I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first, you've got to get mad."
Where does anger come from? I'm no expert on these matters, but I think it's part of our fight-or-flight mechanism. If you're hunting or gathering food and you come upon a saber-toothed tiger, you're going to either fight it with your spear or run away from it. Either way, you're going to need a boost of adrenaline.
But the dangers facing us today are nothing like saber-toothed tigers. The heat of anger might serve as a signal that we need a committee meeting, but adrenaline is just a distraction at that meeting. Hot anger should be transmuted into cold determination as quickly as possible.
It's about increasing inequality. Follow Gary Stevenson. He's UK and a former trader. Interesting guy who seems to get it. All your earnings are basically filtering up to the billionaires. Yup, that explains a lot
Only the progressive Dems have a critique of the system and they are silenced more by their own party than the opposition. Meanwhile, Trump and Elon are executing on the wildest fever dreams of the conservative base. While the Dems claim to stand for their base, they have mastered feigned helplessness to such a degree, that they don’t have any recourse against action. I’m their minds, everything Trump is doing is ‘impossible’.
Huh? George Floyd? CIA actor. The whole event was fake. Americans only react fake to things. First we have to sort out what is real to make any action meaningful.
Thank goodness for your articulate rage, Josh. I sincerely hope that the American people will take note, and will organise. Your Democrats are an unfunny joke: although they absolutely deserved to lost the last election, the alternative ‘choice’ was just a more blatant expression of what was already on offer. Musk and Trump are the logical conclusions of capitalism, particularly the naked, brutal variety that America seems to adore. Very best wishes and solidarity to you for the fight ahead.
Feels like collective psychosis. A failure of imagination rooted in numbness and fatalism. We project ourselves onto this drama at the expense of the moment.
We could build an extraordinary new social media about all of the ways to do the Peaceful Revolution, but first, people need to be talking about it... For anyone who might be curious... www.humbledeeds.com