Like it or not, we are all dependents of a complex economic system that requires most of us to pursue an ever-higher standard of living that will never quite satisfy us. It may sound depressing, but the alternative is no better.
The real alternative is not perfect equilibrium, therefore, but real, and in the end absolute, poverty. This practically none of us is willing to countenance; none of us wishes to return to a back-breaking subsistence. Our bargain is a Promethean one.
Read Dalrymple’s newest essay for The New English Review
A perfect example of the inevitable almost unstoppable outcome of the of the applied politics of the Invisible Mega-Machine (Mumford) was portrayed in the recent Avatar film.
The techno-barbarian invaders, having INEVITABLY “created” a dying planet had to invade Pandorra (or any-where else).
At a basic level the film was about the “culture” of death versus the culture of life. It was very interesting to observe the entirely predictable right-wing group-think response to the film, especially by right-wing religionists.
They all came out very loudly in support of the “culture” of death!
No, conservatives criticized that movie for its stupid assumption that Western society is evil and murderous and deserves treason. Denying murderousness is rather different than defending murder.