I think it was in the "Inconvenient Truth" that Al Gore talked about how many people go from denial to despair so quickly. Looking at the situation of the world, through many lenses gives a stark view of the future of humanity. I am not going to paint a rosy picture of this, we have heard the statistics, we have seen the divisiveness among the children we elect to run our government, and the news outlets that hope to profit off of a feeling of us vs them.
And yet I for one feel hopeful in many ways - but I am not going to tell you why.
I am not going to tell you why because it doesn't matter. A lack of hope does not need to lead to despair. I am mostly tired of neo-liberal propaganda that tries to whitewash the truth of the situation and portray selected trends as overall positive, to skew the statistics to make it seem as if we are going in the right direction and need to stay the course, and not upset the apple cart.
In my mind, a very large segment of the population in this country is suffering. They may not be starving, but they are hungry. They are hungry for a world in which they can feel a worthy part of their communities, they are hungry for the dignity of self sufficiency when the economic story they have been told is they are not efficient enough to be payed what it takes to live and raise a family. That other workers in other countries make the goods that we use cheaper, and that the most important thing is efficiency and shareholder return on investment.
So I don't see the trend of dignity moving forward, in my lifetime, over the past 50 years.
And those of us on the other side - the economic winners - the higher degree holders, urban, moderately wealthy - us in the blue states. We have participated in this destruction of the middle class, by accepting the status quo, by buying less and less stuff made in the red states, and more and more stuff made in China.
And we tell ourselves there is nothing we can do about it. Maybe there's not, but I don't care.
I don't want to put shame on anyone - I have participated as well in this economy - and I think there is a very clear illusion that there is no choice.
I read an article1 very accurately describes the "velvet rope" economy how it has gotten worse over time, inspiring a sense of injustice - but then goes on to say that there is nothing that can be done about it, and then uses this despair to pitch you a plan to get on the other side of the velvet rope.
I don't wish to participate in the destruction, or the whitewashing, I don't wish to hang myself with a velvet noose. But I don't want to sit around and follow the status quo either. Not because of hope, but because of dignity.
Dignity to believe that even if I can't make a difference, I owe it to myself and those less fortunate than me, to try.
1. I don't have a link to that article that I mentioned - but here is a link to a good article that interviews the the author of the book "The Velvet Rope Economy".