Dear friends from the States – who think it´s OK to criticize my current reading material (Naomi Klein´s NO) – you don´t have to like it, but you definitely have no right to recommend me to put it down. Especially when you have not read it yourself. Especially when your discussions lead you to the following thoughts – roughly summarizing our talk yesterday. If that´s really your thinking – than you should actually read it yourself – I could lend you my copy:
Many of us feel imperiled in their daily lives – we fear health issues, job loss, financial insecurity – and we generally complain that the world is going down the drain. And bad news about climate change are not helping us rest any easier. Now, add terrorism and assorted xenophobia topics to the mix – and we even stop feeling safe in our own spaces. And no statistics that proves we are more likely to die by being struck by lightning instead of terrorist bombs is changing that nagging feeling.
We have learned that we are responsible for our own choices and free to choose our own path. Great – so we try this approach to solve this nagging feeling of unease and fear. And we find that there is not that much we can do about some of the things in our daily grind. And we think that politics can´t either.
Really?
Well, politics was able to act decisively and coherently when it was all about saving those banks who were considered too big to fail. Corporations can act very quickly and decisively when it´s about cutting costs or regulatory corners.
Rules and regulations that limit these decisions in the interest of all – that’s usually the only protection society has against ruthless exploit of people and planet. And the more we lean back from politics, the more we leave these in the hands not of politicians but of those 1% of people who like to meet in Davos. And who like to educate us on how to change the world for the better – without really changing it.
You want to end world hunger? We have the resources and means to do it – but we decide not to. Act to curb climate change? We know how urgent these actions are – and yet we decide to do less or nothing. Worry about health care in your own country? Knowing how badly some of your fellow citizens could get hit by sickness – and radically changing a system gets labelled „socialist“ and this one word is enough to make you shy away from even an exchange of ideas?
Watch how Trump is using the presidency. It´s not about hiring and firing press secretaries – crass statements – no. It´s about the idea turning a whole country and its political processes, checks and balances into a corporation.
But what does a corporation do with the single person who is no longer fit enough to work? What does a corporation do with the single person who complains about pollution – when the answer to curb pollution is generating higher costs? Take a really good long look at the state of the world – and tell yourself: This is what we get, when we let corporate thinking make the decisions.
Think Out Loud 