“I find myself longing for the pre-Covid era and, above all, unwilling to accept that this world is a thing of the past; but there is no way back — the only way is forward”
Thank you for sharing this! I wish for my pre-2020 blissful ignorance every day.
In addition to the suggestions in the article, I would add reminding ourselves that all of this has happened before and it will all happen again. Empires rise and fall and it helps to read history and poetry about what it’s like when they fall. I even memorized Shelley’s poem Ozymandias about the hubris of leaders of empires — it’s sobering and consoling and also beautiful.
And, even though I’m not religious, the Old Testament has also been a source of solace because all it does is describe how the people get comfortable in a given place and time and then they start getting increasingly immoral and corrupt and the prophets warn that God will punish them but they stone the prophets and ignore the warnings. And, sure enough, they fall into war and dissolution, u til a new cycle of following the moral path begins.
Realizing that we are in one of those declining empire cycles helps me feel less resentment and more curiosity about how we can make the most of living even in a time like this…
Thank you for this reply! Yes, that is a very good point - "zooming out" and seeing events from afar really helps with preserving our sanity and calm. And funny that you mention "Ozymandias" - I read that poem as a teenager and loved it. I really captures the arrogance of empire and its transience so well. Thank you for your perspective.
Thanks for this essay. Sadly, I can't enjoy the break that family and friends (and likeminded colleagues) provide for the author. I was fired from my job as a journalist for a major daily newspaper because of my "radical" views. I was also ostracized by family and friends, most of whom are wealthy or want to be at any cost. They avoid me in the same way all of us instinctively avoid the annoying sound of a barking dog or a car alarm when it's been accidentally set off. They even call me Cassandra. That's because they know I'm right.
So it's not that they disagree so much as that they prefer, as the majority of Germans (ironically) did during the Third Reich, to protect their financial interests.
I don't consider Covid the turning point that you apparently do. Maybe you mean to suggest that Covid enabled an acceleration of the fascist takeover that was already well underway.
I also don't think demonizing China is appropriate. BRICS is a lifeline. Only multipolarity can provide humanity a soft landing as Western hegemony collapses. Likewise, the way the Chinese have developed and harnessed AI is positively humane given the total lack of any guardrails in the U.S. and also given that it was the U.S. that unleashed AI on the world in the first place. Other nations had no choice but to find a way to protect themselves from the apocalyptic potential of an unbridled Generative AI.
The "free" version of AI preferred by U.S. tech oligarchs will destroy humanity if we don't destroy ourselves first through war and climate chaos. Even the oligarchs admit this. These evil "geniuses" have made it clear that they are willing to take this risk in the vain hope that they can thus depopulate the planet, somehow survive the process themselves, and emerge from their "bunkers" to make our ravaged planet sustainable again.
If this sounds like Hitler's utopian scheme, . . yeah, it is eerily similar. It is odd that you Europeans are so trusting, given your own history.
Yet the opposite sometimes occurs and entire nations actually un-learn, revert & repeat. That seems to be what's happening in both Europe & the USA.
Upon reflection, it seems clear that many nations are not allowed to learn until a currently dominant empire allows them to.
The financial empire which collectively rules the vast majority of the world's media, PR and Intel-Agencies is still running - on auto-pilot - the remnants of its last Cold & Hot wars, against Russia, against China, and against the owners of any and all oil and now other natural resources that banks covet as collateral.
What else does that financial empire covet? Weapons. Even bio-weapons.
So, will we ever return to pre-covid conditions? Not any sooner than we'll return to pre-gunpowder times.
The only way to stabilize and get on with re-gearing emerging populations and technologies?
Dismantle the last vestiges of the current financial empire.
Bureaucracy of Wall St. & City of London & Brussels delenda est?
Or can they be reformed & re-geared?
Can they outsource empire too? They've already tried that. Add Basel, WEF & Globalization to the "delenda" list.
Very funny thing: I was actually quoting Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" today and it's a salutary poem, well spoken and well told.
Is Europe in terminal decay? Yes almost certainly. The population decline alone is catastrophic. The loss of our manufacturing, creative agriculture, and other industries is just enormous. We no longer control our own media. They seem to be controlled by American or foreign interests, some even in the Gulf. It's just ridiculous really. We've basically sold the family silver and I'm not sure what we've got left apart from a kind of Disney world of Cotswold villages for Chinese tourists to wander through.
I'm here in Britain. I think the one good thing we've done is actually leaving Europe. I think Brexit was the best thing we could have done because I think we can redevelop a different relationship with the old trading states across the world through our maritime interests. That, I think, is really crucially important because I think the core rot starts from the head and the head is in Brussels not in Britain. I think we've got hope, we've got potential. I don't think the European Union has. I think it's dead.
Thank you for sharing this! I wish for my pre-2020 blissful ignorance every day.
In addition to the suggestions in the article, I would add reminding ourselves that all of this has happened before and it will all happen again. Empires rise and fall and it helps to read history and poetry about what it’s like when they fall. I even memorized Shelley’s poem Ozymandias about the hubris of leaders of empires — it’s sobering and consoling and also beautiful.
And, even though I’m not religious, the Old Testament has also been a source of solace because all it does is describe how the people get comfortable in a given place and time and then they start getting increasingly immoral and corrupt and the prophets warn that God will punish them but they stone the prophets and ignore the warnings. And, sure enough, they fall into war and dissolution, u til a new cycle of following the moral path begins.
Realizing that we are in one of those declining empire cycles helps me feel less resentment and more curiosity about how we can make the most of living even in a time like this…
Thank you for this reply! Yes, that is a very good point - "zooming out" and seeing events from afar really helps with preserving our sanity and calm. And funny that you mention "Ozymandias" - I read that poem as a teenager and loved it. I really captures the arrogance of empire and its transience so well. Thank you for your perspective.
Thanks for this essay. Sadly, I can't enjoy the break that family and friends (and likeminded colleagues) provide for the author. I was fired from my job as a journalist for a major daily newspaper because of my "radical" views. I was also ostracized by family and friends, most of whom are wealthy or want to be at any cost. They avoid me in the same way all of us instinctively avoid the annoying sound of a barking dog or a car alarm when it's been accidentally set off. They even call me Cassandra. That's because they know I'm right.
So it's not that they disagree so much as that they prefer, as the majority of Germans (ironically) did during the Third Reich, to protect their financial interests.
I don't consider Covid the turning point that you apparently do. Maybe you mean to suggest that Covid enabled an acceleration of the fascist takeover that was already well underway.
I also don't think demonizing China is appropriate. BRICS is a lifeline. Only multipolarity can provide humanity a soft landing as Western hegemony collapses. Likewise, the way the Chinese have developed and harnessed AI is positively humane given the total lack of any guardrails in the U.S. and also given that it was the U.S. that unleashed AI on the world in the first place. Other nations had no choice but to find a way to protect themselves from the apocalyptic potential of an unbridled Generative AI.
The "free" version of AI preferred by U.S. tech oligarchs will destroy humanity if we don't destroy ourselves first through war and climate chaos. Even the oligarchs admit this. These evil "geniuses" have made it clear that they are willing to take this risk in the vain hope that they can thus depopulate the planet, somehow survive the process themselves, and emerge from their "bunkers" to make our ravaged planet sustainable again.
If this sounds like Hitler's utopian scheme, . . yeah, it is eerily similar. It is odd that you Europeans are so trusting, given your own history.
enlarging on Europe reminiscing
do "nation[s] learn ... from [their] recent past"
Normally we assume so.
Yet the opposite sometimes occurs and entire nations actually un-learn, revert & repeat. That seems to be what's happening in both Europe & the USA.
Upon reflection, it seems clear that many nations are not allowed to learn until a currently dominant empire allows them to.
The financial empire which collectively rules the vast majority of the world's media, PR and Intel-Agencies is still running - on auto-pilot - the remnants of its last Cold & Hot wars, against Russia, against China, and against the owners of any and all oil and now other natural resources that banks covet as collateral.
What else does that financial empire covet? Weapons. Even bio-weapons.
So, will we ever return to pre-covid conditions? Not any sooner than we'll return to pre-gunpowder times.
The only way to stabilize and get on with re-gearing emerging populations and technologies?
Dismantle the last vestiges of the current financial empire.
Bureaucracy of Wall St. & City of London & Brussels delenda est?
Or can they be reformed & re-geared?
Can they outsource empire too? They've already tried that. Add Basel, WEF & Globalization to the "delenda" list.
When will peasants say "Outsource This!"
Very funny thing: I was actually quoting Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" today and it's a salutary poem, well spoken and well told.
Is Europe in terminal decay? Yes almost certainly. The population decline alone is catastrophic. The loss of our manufacturing, creative agriculture, and other industries is just enormous. We no longer control our own media. They seem to be controlled by American or foreign interests, some even in the Gulf. It's just ridiculous really. We've basically sold the family silver and I'm not sure what we've got left apart from a kind of Disney world of Cotswold villages for Chinese tourists to wander through.
I'm here in Britain. I think the one good thing we've done is actually leaving Europe. I think Brexit was the best thing we could have done because I think we can redevelop a different relationship with the old trading states across the world through our maritime interests. That, I think, is really crucially important because I think the core rot starts from the head and the head is in Brussels not in Britain. I think we've got hope, we've got potential. I don't think the European Union has. I think it's dead.