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The Mantra · Mechonomist Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, everyone.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another edition of Meconomist.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's been some discussions recently about movements, nonprofits.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this kind of discussion is going on all the time.
• 0:21
  Co-optation,
• 0:25
  what's acceptable type of discourse and narrative and ideology.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I've gone through
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: many different iterations in my organizing career.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I started off with Marx and I really firmly believed in that.
• 0:43
  Then I read a little Foucault and I started getting more into
• 0:46
  identity politics,
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: intersectional feminism,
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: critical race theory.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I saw that really didn't work.
• 0:54
  And because there's not really a lot actionable about those
• 0:59
  theories,
• 0:59
  it's just sort of,
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: shit sucks.
• 1:02
  Foucault was quite paranoid and believed that power was
• 1:06
  everywhere and that
• 1:07
  everybody was essentially controlled all the time in all parts
• 1:11
  of their being.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I kind of came back to Marx,
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: but dealing with a lot of Marxists,
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: especially Marxist Leninists,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: nobody really agrees on anything and it's too formulaic.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't work either.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Soviet Union lasted 70 years and collapsed in a heap.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose you could say China's worked.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, they have done amazing things in China.
• 1:38
  And at the same time,
• 1:38
  it's still a oppressive state centric type of system.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're going to get out of the situation that we're in,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: we're going to have to get out of the nation state model,
• 1:51
  which is basically the model for world governments all over all
• 1:55
  over the planet.
• 1:57
  so the the issue and and really is that world governments and
• 2:07
  we learned this with
• 2:07
  covid have so much power and control more power and control
• 2:13
  than any other time in
• 2:15
  human history to the fact that they can just shut down the
• 2:18
  world whenever they want
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: to for whatever reason they want to or whatever reason they cook up and
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: we have very little power to do anything about it.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think that can lead one to a bit of nihilism.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think that,
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: that,
• 2:35
  that hope comes from understanding that people are still
• 2:40
  surviving and thriving,
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  SPEAKER_00: that people still live their lives and have their families and,
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: make it,
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
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  SPEAKER_00: in spite of the dystopian world we live in.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 2:53
  And I also think that the internal contradictions in the world
• 2:56
  system in the sense
• 2:58
  that there's only so much labor you can exploit in so much of
• 3:02
  the planet that you
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: can destroy before the entire world system collapses.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you come to that conclusion,
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: which I have,
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: you'll come to a very simple sort of solution,
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: which is like kind of a prepper-ish solution,
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: which is the idea that
• 3:22
  You know,
• 3:22
  it's not the conservative prepper,
• 3:25
  which is to stockpile food and weapons.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to die if you do that.
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  You're going to starve to death because there's no way you can
• 3:34
  produce everything
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  SPEAKER_00: that you need by yourself.
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  SPEAKER_00: You need a community.
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  And a collapsed society will need robust networks of community
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  and people who can do things.
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  SPEAKER_00: Fish, hunt.
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  SPEAKER_00: repair machinery, make chemicals.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's all sorts of different skills that people can do, build houses.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's all sorts of skills that people need to be able to do.
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  So one of the things that you gotta really think about is what
• 4:10
  would the mantra for
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: a new world be?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's my son.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's trying to bite my leg.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, when I think about this, I think about my son.
• 4:19
  I mean,
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  like,
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  what should I teach him so that he'll be able to survive and
• 4:22
  thrive in the future?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And one of those,
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: one of the big things for me is when travel light,
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  SPEAKER_00: don't be consumed with material goods and lots of clothes,
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  SPEAKER_00: cars,
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  SPEAKER_00: houses,
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  SPEAKER_00: TVs,
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  SPEAKER_00: electronics.
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  SPEAKER_00: Just have what you need.
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  SPEAKER_00: Have a couple of pairs of clothes that you wear all the time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Have a vehicle that is usable and utilitarian.
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  SPEAKER_00: Know how to repair it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Have a small, useful house that can store your stuff.
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  SPEAKER_00: Live modestly.
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  SPEAKER_00: Travel light.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the other,
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  SPEAKER_00: the second thing is,
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  SPEAKER_00: is,
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  SPEAKER_00: is to learn how to do something useful to your community,
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  SPEAKER_00: whether that's plumbing,
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  SPEAKER_00: electrical,
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  SPEAKER_00: housing,
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  SPEAKER_00: electrical,
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  SPEAKER_00: building houses,
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  SPEAKER_00: uh,
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  SPEAKER_00: repairing vehicles,
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  SPEAKER_00: growing food,
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  SPEAKER_00: taking care of children,
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  SPEAKER_00: cleaning,
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  SPEAKER_00: cooking,
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  SPEAKER_00: any of that sort of stuff.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to be good at something that's usable as your community.
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  SPEAKER_00: And finally, and this is the most important thing.
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  SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor because,
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: we're going to have to take care of each other.
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  And I don't know if this collapse is going to happen in five
• 5:33
  years or a hundred
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  SPEAKER_00: years or 200 years,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it is going to happen.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is giant world systems,
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  SPEAKER_00: whether it be the Romans,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Aztecs,
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  SPEAKER_00: um,
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  SPEAKER_00: Chinese dynasties,
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  SPEAKER_00: whether these,
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  SPEAKER_00: these giant world systems eventually do collapse.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we've seen it throughout history.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can see it in David Graeber's book, the dawn of everything.
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  SPEAKER_00: And,
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  SPEAKER_00: The way to survive that collapse is to have large,
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  robust communities that love each other and take care of each
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  other and that help
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  each other and help each other with the skills that they have
• 6:09
  and live as modestly
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  SPEAKER_00: as possible.
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  SPEAKER_00: So that's the mantra.
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  SPEAKER_00: And,
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  SPEAKER_00: uh,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: I,
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  I admire and I respect those people who are trying to work to
• 6:24
  change the world
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: system.
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  I just think there's a bit of conceit in that belief that it
• 6:30
  can be changed.
• 6:32
  And I just think that it's going to eventually collapse under
• 6:36
  the weight of its own
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  SPEAKER_00: contradictions.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll be left to pick up the pieces.
• 6:40
  And the way you pick up the pieces is travel light,
• 6:43
  learn a skill,
• 6:44
  love your neighbor.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, y'all.