The Hope of True Freedom?
I can be a bit obsessive about understanding why I do the things I do. A certain amount of reflection and introspection is helpful, yeah, but it can spiral out of control. So maybe you can help me determine which this is.
We’re born when, where, and to whom we’re born. Whether we had a say in that prior to arrival or if there's some divine or otherworldly predicate is anyone’s guess. But that’s where all this starts, such as it is.
Then, we have a family (or not), go to school (or don’t), and before our brains are even done developing (we think, anyway) we’re out there starting more lives (or not), ending them (or not), together with another, many others, or alone.
Still with me? This part seems to be pretty intellectually stable and nonspecific, right? Like that’s what happens. When we go down a level into the specifics, that’s when it gets gooey because there’s a lot of variety.
Now, I could give you a synopsis of my deets, but that would be a bit boring for me and so probably for you, too, so let’s start instead with what I'm locked in struggle with, and I can supply backstory as needed. If you’ve been reading along or know me in the walking around world, this is unlikely to feel like it’s coming out of nowhere. And it is the American Independence Day, so. There’s that.
The problem is this: we live in the world and society we live in. It’s an unjust society, a self-deceiving, self-congratulatory society that wants us to be the same. So its metrics of success and failure will correspond positively with what supports its raison detre and negatively with those that decry or challenge it. But there’s hope! Ursula le Guin said:
“We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable—but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.”
She was way smarter than I am, so I’m inclined to trust her.
But what do you think? Are we hopelessly fucked? Or is there some basis for hope, a factual set of circumstances that could lead us to better days? Tell us in the comments in-between flipping burgers and roasting dogs and listening to Bruce without paying attention to the words. Before the apple pie.
Xoxo,
T
