now one may accuse me of being, out of touch or unrealistic or not
in tune with modern “sensibilities”… but I am and let us take a concrete
example…
the opioid crisis: many say that we are in a crisis because many people
are addicted to and die from opioids and we should limit this crisis
by removing opioid from use or keeping people away from opioids…
but that is the wrong way to go about it… that focuses on the symptoms of
the opioid crisis, not the cause of the crisis…
what is the cause? why do people take opioids? to take away pain, to feel nothing…
why would one do that? now I personally have taken opioids because of
multiple surgeries, spinal surgery, surgery to take out part of my colon,
ongoing back pain, I have taken opioids for such pains and yet, I didn’t
become addicted… I took them for present pain, not to take away
the pain of existence which is what this current opioid crises is about…
if we give people meaningful, purposeful lives, the opioid crises would
be over tomorrow… the people who take opioids wouldn’t have a reason
to try to cover up their alienation, their pain from modern existence…
and why would people want to cover up their alienation, their pain from modern
existence… what would cause the alienation, pain, existential pain, not physical
but pain from existence? people are alienated from modern society, alienated
because they have no voice in society, no voice in government, no voice in
economics, they have no justice within society, within the American system
we no longer have justice because justice is about equality, justice is about
every one being treated the same regardless of wealthy or status or position,
but that is no longer true, the wealthy and powerful can buy justice, they
are not treated the same because their wealth exempts them from being treated
equally… if I committed a crime and Oprah, for example, committed the exact
same crime, we would not be treated equally… she can buy justice for herself,
fancy lawyers and access to judges and DA’s will allows her to escape justice
that I because I don’t have wealth or power or position or privilege and I am
not treated equal as Oprah, I am not given justice that she can buy…
we are not equal in the eyes of the laws, justice bought is justice denied…
we no longer have an equal society, no longer have a just society,
no longer have an equality needed to make our society work anymore…
this failure to have a just equality means people disconnect, become alienated
from our system of government, become alienated from society… that is the cause
of our opioid crises… we no longer have a government, a society that notes or cares
to note what we want, or need… our government is no longer a government of the people,
for the people, by the people… our government is of the wealthy, for the wealthy,
by the wealthy… we live in an oligarchy, government of the wealthy but our
theory is we live in a government of the people, for the people, by the people…
we have a disconnect between the theory and the reality and that is causing
with people… and that disconnect is the reason people are taking opioids,
drugs, sex and rock and roll are means to escape from that disconnect, that
alienation… our love of knowing what the “stars” like tom cruise and
beyonce are doing is another way of dealing with the disconnect, the alienation…
why bother with knowing or caring what the government is doing or is society being
just because frankly it won’t affect me because I am not going to be treated equally
in any case… so why bother… so I take opioids because it really doesn’t matter if
do or not… I am not connected with society or the government or the culture in any
case… that disconnect is what is causing people to take drugs or drop out or drink
or what ever they do… get people back into the system, get people to reconnect
with society, with justice, with their culture and people will become connected
with and start engaging with society, justice, culture and they will stop
the drugs, drinking, sex and rock and roll…reconnect people with society
and many of the ills we complain about go away…this is the value of
what I am doing… attempting to find ways to reconnect people with values,
and with society by analysis of who we are and what are we to do…
we live in a nihilist society and I am trying to find a way to combat that…
our nihilism exists because we pursue money, profit over values like justice,
love, charity and hope… and that nihilism is also in part why people take drugs,
and drink and sex etc, etc…to recover who we are, we must first
understand that our modern society is a nihilistic one and what we can do
to remove or change that…we have a large, a very large task and
sometimes I think I am the only one who see’s this… oh, well…
the future begins…with a thought…
Kropotkin