{"id":10506,"date":"2020-04-09T09:10:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T14:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=10506"},"modified":"2021-06-13T22:00:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T03:00:30","slug":"the-state-of-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/04\/09\/the-state-of-things\/","title":{"rendered":"The state of things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have many friends who are despairing that, with Bernie Sanders’s exit from the presidential race, the United States has lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to elect a leader who is honest, reliable, and completely untethered to the vested interests that keep our whole system careening towards catastrophe<\/a> (climate change, ecological collapse, mass extinction, out-of-control AI<\/a>, an authoritarian global security state, and the inequities that breed the conflicts and terrorisms that engender wars both conventional and nuclear, chemical, biological, and cybernetic — we haven’t seen anything yet, folks). Bernie’s style was not for everyone, granted, but Joe Biden seems like yet another DNC loser to these people (I share their skepticism), promoting a “back to normal” that is neither realistic nor convincing in the face of these challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The illiberal right<\/a> knows all these things and knows how to win elections in their midst: by stoking the fears of disasters to come (real or unreal), they know their followers will see no way out except through building border walls and shutting the floodgates. In the short term they will likely continue winning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The big picture is this: the coming decades will bring cascading<\/a> crises<\/a> of which this pandemic<\/a> is but a small harbinger. There will be no “return to normal<\/a>.” But the pandemic (and each next crisis) will also show that change<\/a> is both possible<\/a> and necessary<\/a>. As long as those of us who recognize that and who know what kind of change is needed (building a just and socially and ecologically sustainable world<\/a>) continue doing that, with perseverance, Gandhian satyagraha (truth-force), and love, there’s hope that we’ll get through it despite the disasters and die-offs to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individually we will each get to the same moment of decision: to fight for our piece of a collapsing pie, or to get with the program. How we respond to that moment will define us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s something to live for, I figure. Things are what they are (so it’s best to accept them); you do what you can (though first you might have to figure out what that is); you hope for the best (for the hell of it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Note: The pictures here are from Wim Wenders’ 1982 film The State of Things<\/em><\/a> (Der Stand der Dinge<\/em>), about a film crew stuck at the Portuguese seaside after they run out of funding and film stock, rather like global capitalism is running out of its own production money and ideas. The film is brilliant. In real life, Wenders had been put on hold by producer Frances Ford Coppola during the filming of Hammett<\/em>, so he traveled to Portugal to help out his friend Raul Ruiz with film stock for the latter’s (equally brilliant, civilization-descends-into-barbarity-in-the-French-wilderness flick) The Territory<\/a><\/em>. Wenders hired Ruiz’s film crew and cast to film The State of Things<\/em>. The aimless, life-put-on-hold melancholy of the film, combined with its jab at Hollywood (which we can amplify to our favorite jab-target), resonates well these days, I think. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have many friends who are despairing that, with Bernie Sanders’s exit from the presidential race, the United States has lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to elect a leader who is honest, reliable, and completely untethered to the vested interests that keep our whole system careening towards catastrophe (climate change, ecological collapse, mass extinction, out-of-control AI, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[660440,691215],"tags":[16863,54889,628311,520600,350199,628309,454935,16849,520554,628310,520761,520733,628314,4433,628313,628312],"class_list":["post-10506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manifestos-and-auguries","category-politics_postpolitics","tag-authoritarianism","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-cascading-global-crises","tag-degrowth","tag-fear","tag-global-change","tag-global-environmental-catastrophe","tag-hope","tag-illiberalism","tag-noam-chomsky","tag-pandemic-politics","tag-pandemics","tag-raul-ruiz","tag-sustainability","tag-the-state-of-things","tag-wim-wenders"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-2Js","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11801,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2021\/05\/13\/post-pandemic-what-will-have-changed\/","url_meta":{"origin":10506,"position":0},"title":"Post-pandemic, what will have changed?","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When we look back at this time a few decades hence, what changes will we take the pandemic of 2020-21 to have ushered in? How will it have transformed work, recreation, travel and transportation, food, politics, and everything else? The following are some initial thoughts toward a hopeful eco-justice based\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Manifestos & auguries"","block_context":{"text":"Manifestos & auguries","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/manifestos-and-auguries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/cracks_with-green-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/cracks_with-green-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/cracks_with-green-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/cracks_with-green-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/cracks_with-green-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2021\/05\/cracks_with-green-1.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9730,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2018\/09\/17\/illiberalism-the-utopian-deficit\/","url_meta":{"origin":10506,"position":1},"title":"“Illiberalism” & the utopian deficit","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"An off-the-cuff essay, written not for any particular occasion, but just to get it out of me. It's probably mostly common knowledge (among people on the green left), just maybe not well articulated yet, and too easily forgotten. Politically, we're all playing a little catch-up these days. Understanding the apparent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural politics"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cultural_politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2018\/09\/preview-275x155.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10483,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/04\/06\/more-on-pandemic-politics-future-scenarios\/","url_meta":{"origin":10506,"position":2},"title":"More on pandemic politics & future scenarios","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot of interesting thinking going on in response to the coronavirus pandemic and how it will \"change everything.\" Here's the beginning of a curated sampling. It takes for granted that there will be suffering, a lot of it, unequally distributed and with a preponderance of it coming down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/04\/file-20200326-132965-15inuhk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/04\/file-20200326-132965-15inuhk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/04\/file-20200326-132965-15inuhk.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/04\/file-20200326-132965-15inuhk.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/04\/file-20200326-132965-15inuhk.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9069,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2017\/01\/19\/we-interrupt-this-programming\/","url_meta":{"origin":10506,"position":3},"title":"“We interrupt this programming…”","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Not that this blog has been very active recently, but with Inauguration Day upon us, a little reflection on our situation seems warranted... So, here's where I see us. If a Clinton-led Democratic administration would have brought to power a coalition of neoliberal plutocrats and social and environmental progressives (with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/politics_postpolitics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"burn_season__2003","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2017\/01\/Burn_Season__2003-275x237.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5854,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2012\/05\/05\/nt8-wendy-chuns-networks\/","url_meta":{"origin":10506,"position":4},"title":"NT8: Wendy Chun’s networks","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Wendy Chun, \"Imagined networks\" I will read quickly and show you more than I read. (Warning to readers: so this trans\/re\/scription will not be adequate.) Threat that internet will be turned to a series of gated communities. Spam is another way to say I love you. This danger can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media ecology"","block_context":{"text":"Media ecology","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/media_ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13521,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/02\/29\/why-religion-isnt-coherent\/","url_meta":{"origin":10506,"position":5},"title":"Why religion isn’t (coherent)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Language is an instrument for dealing with the details of reality. All of our words, along with the ways we string them together, contain or reflect concepts -- signs or semiotic constructs \u2013 by which we refer to elements of a dynamic world. Because they are essentially pragmatic and context-specific,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Spirit matter"","block_context":{"text":"Spirit matter","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/religion-spirituality\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/02\/image-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/02\/image-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/02\/image-4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/02\/image-4.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/02\/image-4.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/02\/image-4.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10506"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10516,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10506\/revisions\/10516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}