The perceived need to promote a growth economy is one of the deepest held meta-beliefs underpinning industrial civilization. Capital formation and accumulation is the highest goal of the economy, and debt is the vehicle. But whose debt? Well, just about everyone’s. The vast majority of citizens must take on debt to own a car, a … More Seeking the Good Life: Growth is Not Development
ALCATRAZ ~ It is not that we have no choice. But to choose requires conscious awareness of the situation as well as the alternatives and some ideas about how to achieve them. Some folks have difficulty making decisions and would rather have someone in authority make decisions for us. I think it was Theodore Adorno, … More Due Process vs Dictatorship
Anyone who thinks our new and growing climate chaos is the ‘new normal’ (and assumes that we merely have to adapt), anyone who thinks that the “Trump transition” merciless administrative actions are the new normal, anyone who thinks that what they imagine is the ‘new normal’ has any relation to ordinary (normal) social change or … More The “New Normal” is Extremely Abnormal
What will it take to cause “shock and awe” over increasingly frequent and devastating catastrophic climate events? Consider this context: “The average temperature in 2024 was 1.6C above preindustrial levels, data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) shows.” (see story in The Guardian, 1/10/2025.) Climate science predicts the devastating consequences clearly. Even so, LA burning becomes … More Charade: As Cities Burn, Perverse Politics Prevail
The other day, the grandson of dear friends was gunned down, murdered in a drive by shooting in Albuquerque. He was a vibrant nineteen year old reaching out to a life to be led. Yesterday, another dear friend mentioned the continuing grief of the death of her twenty-something son by a hit and run driver … More Suffering and Death Do Not Become You.
I was never really comfortable with the conservative-liberal bifurcation of political thought or action. As a teenager, of course, I took exception to every political utterance my father offered. He was a staunch Republican who stood for absolute moral principles and standards of behavior, deviation from which could muster no excuse whatsoever. I was a … More Will the Real Conservative Please Stand up?
Lots of evidence from social science research makes it clear that we live much more by habit than by rational decisions about most things we do and say. We live in complex social, political, and economic systems that not only overlap but influence our lives in more ways than just about anyone could list. Our … More Priorities: Living Well vs. Predatory Extraction
The trajectory of police violence against mostly young Black and Brown men has taken many turns. It finds expression in diverse situations. However, we cannot fully understand it without looking beyond the immediate murderous actions of particular officers in the heat of the moment. The violence of authority runs much deeper than that. Predatory Authority … More Predatory Authority and the American Culture of Violence
This past Sunday, a post on the Australian site, Crikey Sunday Read reported on a protest called the “Canberra Convoy.” I had not been aware that the Canadian Truckers’ blockade had been replicated ‘down under.’ The thing is, reactionary, racist, and neo-fascist sentiments have become globally contagious. Clearly, social media has ‘enabled’ the contagion of … More Illusions of Freedom and the Contagion of Hate
One thing about the present condition of American culture that cannot be denied is the escalating levels of hostility, nastiness, and even violence expressed in all sorts of public venues from restaurants to school boards. We have seen more violence in the political arena because the vitriol has steadily escalated over more than the last … More Yes, Virginia, There Are Deplorables
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 