The Stirrer
Asking ‘what next?’ sounds like the kind of question someone would ask to kick off a strategy review. This isn’t a strategy review… We’ve been writing strategy reviews every few months but, things have come to the point where events are moving so fast and unpredictably, any such review would start to become redundant within a few weeks. This is because we’re facing what can only be described as a clusterf**k. A monumental clusterf**k as it happens. What follows is a look at the dystopia we face now, aided by the inclusion of a number of readings that have helped me to deepen my understanding of the situation we’re in. A choice of readings that will inevitably ruffle feathers. So be it, some people need to be taken out of their comfort zone…
Rapid change and spiralling down
We, and a fair few others, have written about the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and transhumanism, and how that will lead to a truly dystopian future. We’ve tended to write about dystopia as something to fear in the future. That was a mistake, a massive one to be honest. Why is that? You only have to look at the state of the world as it currently is to realise that to all intents and purposes, we’re living in a dystopia right now. Never find fighting to stop a future dystopia, we need to fight like Hell to bring down the one we’re having to endure in the here and now.
I appreciate that these ramblings may well be dismissed as the bitter words of an old man on the wrong side of 65. If that’s how some people want to react, then so be it, life for this particular old git really is too short to worry too much about what other people think. On my own admission, I find modern life can be an absolute pain in the arse. If I’m being totally honest, I’m probably suffering some kind of future shock. A crude summary of that is that the way the world works and a range of social trends has changed so rapidly, a growing number of people feel they’ve been left behind – I feel like I’m one of them. Yes, there are days when I look at the ‘news’, work out what the agenda is behind the ‘news’, then look at the world around me and wonder what the heck I’m doing here on this planet.
Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere! I’ve no intention of giving the bastards grinding us down the satisfaction. With grandchildren, I’ve got skin in the game because it’s their future I’m fighting for. The dreams of a quiet retirement have been put back in the box. For as long as I’m able to, I intend to remain in the fight. As mentioned previously, now that I’m effectively politically homeless, I can think a situation through and draw conclusions on my own terms. Which can be hard work but when I think about it, it’s a lot better than trying to fit my conclusions into an ideological straitjacket.
Do I worry that most people appear on the surface to be oblivious to the dystopia we’re already in, let alone its worsening? Not in the least. I’m not the type of activist who thinks they know it all and sit there cursing the populace as a whole for ‘not getting it’. Once you talk in depth to pretty much anyone, each in their own way can sense that all is far from well with the world. It’s just that everyone has their own way of dealing with. Some do what they can to make a difference, albeit acknowledging the enormity of the task in front of them. Some just focus on trying to get through the day and survive for the next one. Some think there’s nothing they can achieve so effectively, they live for the day, trying to get the most out of life that they can. A few have a totally nihilistic outlook on life, looking out for themselves and no one else. The kind of people that back in my Independent Working Class Association days, we called the ‘renegades within’.
Trying to get my head round just what the heck is happening in this world is not an easy task. To describe what we’re having to deal with as a clusterf**k is probably the most accurate way of summing up where we are. One way I’ve been trying to build up an understanding and help others to do so in the process is putting up posts with a selection of readings around a number of themes. These have covered the fourth industrial revolution, transhumanism, alienation through to the seemingly inexorable drift towards WW3 among other topics. With what looks to be yet another financial crisis unfolding, at some point in the near future, there will be readings lists looking at why this has arisen. Bear in mind my earlier remarks about being politically homeless, because that allows me to pick a wider range of readings than I would have done had I been obliged to take into consideration the sensitivities of my now former comrades.
Is this dystopia? The short answer is yes…
Rather than rehash everything I’ve already written about heading towards dystopia, what I want to do instead is link to a number of readings which cover that ground more eloquently and thoroughly than I can. Readings that will show you that to all intents and purposes, aspects of the future dystopia we fear are already a feature of the world we have to endure. The first three readings I want to feature deal with the thorny issue of gender identity and how that has become inextricably meshed in with the agenda of transhumanism to the point where it’s nigh on impossible to prise them apart:
Humanity for Sale – Jennifer Bilek | the American Mind | 3.2.23
When sex is abolished as a meaningful category, so is humanity as we know it. This is the point of the burgeoning gender industry. Beyond profiteering—of which there is plenty, with newly constructed identities requiring a lifetime of medical attention and technologically assisted reproduction once child patients are sterilized—it grooms the public. It assesses their acceptance of biomedical intrusions that change how we see ourselves. Will people accept the abuse of children’s sex if they believe it’s in good faith? How far can we go with our techno-medical intrusions into humans and the attack on women’s humanity as wholly sexed beings different from men?
Who or What Is to Blame for Gender Ideology? – Eva Kurilova | Substack | 2.3.23
Put more simply, postmodernism denies objectivity and prefers a subjective and self-referential perspective. As a movement, it favors moral relativism and destabilizes language and meaning through deconstruction, yet paradoxically elevates language to a god-like status in the creation of reality. This is evident in the phrase “trans women are women,” which requires both the deconstruction of the word “woman” and a belief that words hold the power to create reality.
Reality Has Become A Tourist Attraction – Jennifer Bilek | The 11th Hour | 7.12.22
Sex is our tether to life more than anything else – it connects us to the entire ecosystem. This is why it is being attacked medically, linguistically, legally, and politically across many governments. “Transgenderism” is a corporate ad campaign for the profiteering of the techno-medical complex on par with and poised to exceed the opioid crisis. It also goes far beyond mere medical profiteering. “Gender ideology,” along with an assault of propaganda from other realms, is constructing a virtual reality, one in which we are already steeped but made more potent by breaking our last tie to the real world: Our sex.
If you’re still here after reading the three pieces linked to above, congratulations, you’re an open minded person willing to apply critical thinking. I didn’t pick what a fair few people will see as very controversial readings in order to start a fight. I picked them because each in their own way, deal with what it means to be truly human. Living on a finite planet, being truly human means accepting that we’re a part of nature, not above it. Transhumanism is effectively a blatant attempt to transcend what it means to be a human who is part of nature. It’s an attempt by a certain caste of scientists to play God with our humanity, defying and denying nature in the process.
It’s elevating science to the status of a religion while decrying pretty much any previous manifestations of religion and spirituality humanity has developed in a bid to understand their place in the world. For sure, I recognise that there are religions whose practice stunts our humanity while perpetuating all kinds of abuse. To balance that, there are ways of seeking out spirituality that enhance our humanity while at the the same time, reinforcing our connection with nature. All I ask is that those radicals who critique established religions resist the temptation to throw the baby out with the bathwater by decrying all manifestations of spirituality.
What I also ask is that those who decry religion and spirituality don’t end up elevating science to the status of a religion instead. It happening with those pushing the transhumanist agenda. By definition, it has also happened with the gender ideologues whose agenda is inextricably mixed in with those of the transhumanists. It happened during the Covid ‘crisis’ when many of our now former comrades exhorted us to ‘follow the science’ relating to masking, (anti)social distancing, ‘testing’ and getting jabbed with an experimental mRNA concoction. An elevation of science to the status of a religion which is eloquently torn apart in this piece:
Science! Blessed be Thy Name: The Vanishing Value of Religious Freedom – Jordan Henderson | The Acorn | 15.1.23
Anti-Religious bigotry is prevalent in the ranks of The Followers of The Science; it’s worth pointing out to them that they themselves exemplify everything that they hate from religions. In terms of fanaticism, intolerance, and superstition, The Followers of The Science are currently the worst in the West.
I’m aware that Covid-19 was a means to an end (many ends) for ruling elites, but they couldn’t have pulled it off without science as a belief system. Organized Science is the handmaid of the powerful both by providing the powerful with real scientific developments and for providing temporal authorities with an aura of legitimacy through scientific “truths” fabricated to order.
One of the main themes of this piece is to argue that we need to focus on fighting the dystopia we’re already in rather than waiting to deal with what we think will be the dystopia we have to face in the future. Dystopia comes in many and varied forms. It can be argued that we can slide into dystopia without noticing what’s actually been done to us because the messaging used to push the narrative of those who want to screw us appears on the surface to be the opposite of what it really is underneath. Dystopia and authoritarianism isn’t always about overt repression. Think about Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and then look at a lot of the messaging we’re being subjected to on everything from gender identity politics, through the promotion of social distancing and masking during 2020 and 2021, and onto the way technologies such as cashless payments and facial recognition are being sold to us. All of which can be considered as dystopian, yet insidiously sold to us using ‘cuteness’. For a thorough examination of how ‘cuteness’ is deployed to manipulate our emotions and con us into accepting what to all intents and purposes is dystopia, this piece is well worth reading:
Cute Authoritarianism – Ewan Morrison | Areo | 15.3.23
Something sinister is going on with cuteness. Over the last five years, we’ve seen the sudden appearance of cute Facial ID Recognition surveillance, cute government health messaging, cute military propaganda, cute identity wars and even cute robotic elder care. Beneath all the smiling imagery is a growing phenomenon I call cute authoritarianism.
How could authoritarianism ever be cute? Surely, it is “a boot stamping on a human face, forever,” as Orwell writes in 1984. We associate the aesthetics of authoritarianism with Stalinism, Maoism and Nazism: soldiers and superhuman workers brandishing fists and flags, chanting slogans about political solidarity and the need to annihilate their enemies.
Then again, dystopia can be blatantly obvious and right in your face. At the time of writing, a storm has broken over the wanton destruction of 129 trees along Armada Way in the city of Plymouth in Devon: Nation’s eyes turn on Plymouth after tree ‘massacre’ in the dead of night – Carl Eve | Plymouth Herald | 16.3.23. This was ostensibly done to enable the city council to create a “tree-lined urban park with dancing fountains”. So, to create a ‘tree-lined urban park’, the starting point is the felling of 129 mature trees? I’ve got to admit, I cannot get my head around that ‘logic’. The destruction of the trees was undertaken at night, with security and police in attendance. That was because of the massive level of opposition from the citizens of Plymouth who felt the trees were a vital part of their city. All in the name of creating what Assistant Chief Executive, Giles Perritt, has described as “creating a smart, business friendly, attractive, city centre”. ‘Smart’ is a loaded term, a very loaded one, as examined in this piece here:
Smart Cities Exposed: London’s Secretive “Smart Stations” Roll-Out – Paul Cudenec | Truth Talk | 13.3.23
As we saw in our recent article on “15 Minute Cities”, we are now being told that it is all about urban planning and making life generally more pleasant for everyone by reducing traffic congestion and pollution.
Anyone who sees through this greenwashing attempt is dismissed as a paranoid fool or as a dangerous conspiracy theorist spreading fear and disinformation.
And yet the whole premise of this official spin is blown out of the water by the fact that smart infrastructure (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) is being rolled out in contexts that have nothing to do with private vehicle use.
With this, it’s about how language is not just used, but twisted into new meanings and then deployed. A lot of superficially friendly, positive messaging is being deployed to persuade us that living in what to all intents and purposes will be a digital prison is something that will benefit us. The reality will be the complete opposite of the language being deployed to sell us this dystopian future. There’s work to be done in decoding the bullshit narratives we’re being bombarded with in order to get to the truth.
Then again, dystopia can openly flaunt itself while giving you a hiding when your out on the streets protesting. This was seen on the ‘Kill The Bill’ protest in Bristol on Sunday March 21, 2020: Revenge policing, revenge sentencing and the future of protest 10.1.23. At the time of writing, it’s being seen on the streets of France as citizens revolt against President Macron’s decision to fast track the raising of the pension age: French MPs file no-confidence motion, clashes erupt over pension reform 17.3.23. Macron’s goons are desperately trying to stifle the protests. Trying being the operative word because judging from the reports I’ve seen, the street is more than holding its own.
What next?
Dystopia and authoritarianism can and do assume many forms. What I’ve tried to do with this piece is show how dystopia is with us now. What I’ve also tried to do is show how it can slip under the radar because of the way language is distorted. As mentioned earlier, worrying about the dystopia of the future distracts us from dealing with the clusterf**k we’re facing now. I’m lucky in that most of the people I now associate with politically can see this.
Having said that, some of the people I used to associate with politically also recognise that we’ve already slid into a form of dystopia, albeit they emphasise different aspects of it. Given how our differences cleave in quite a few ways, there’s possibly some scope for ‘alliances of convenience’. That particularly applies to the ever tightening restrictions on protest. The point is that if we’re going to roll back dystopia and the various forms of authoritarianism that underpin it, all of us need to relax our political purity tests. What makes the situation difficult is when differences with former comrades turn toxic because they will not consider any possibility of having a reasonable discussion about them. Whether a re-building of bridges will actually happen is a moot point so, I’ll just carry on, slogging away at what I’m doing, hoping I can find some more allies along the way.
What makes the situation worse is having to fight battles on more than one front. People are fighting back, that’s for sure. The thing is that as seen with the opposition to lockdowns and vaccine mandates, a fair number of those fighting back are not the usual suspects. The same applies to those challenging ’15 minute cities’ and so called ‘smart cities’. Over the last few years, new currents of opposition and resistance have been emerging. Were they welcome with open arms by the left, anarchists and so called ‘anti-fascists’? Far from it, they were vilified and demonised. I’ve found myself on the receiving end of this from now former comrades. If that is the price to pay for political honesty, then so be it: Honesty vs tribalism 17.2.23.
We live in deeply troubled times. In all the decades I’ve been politically active in one form or another, I’ve never been more worried about what’s facing us than now. Essentially this piece is a call to arms. It’s being made because our humanity is on the line in face of the toxic agenda of the transhumanists who want to completely sever us from nature. No way are those bastards going to win…