Politics in the Apocalypse
A State of the Union for the Conspiracy Community
File under: End of the World Essays
Necessary disclaimer: I write the following as someone who is highly cynical of politics.
I understand it most simply as a gross theatre — an opportunity for people with psychopathic tendencies (specifically those without the aesthetics to do it in the conventional way) to play out their celebrity fantasies; while, at the same time, making incremental top-down changes to society that give the illusion of progress and democracy to keep the plebs distracted.
I also say the following as someone who firmly believes the 2020 US Election was blatantly and irredeemably rigged — opinions which I voiced when it was least popular to do so (see my MAGA 2020 Election Diaries for all the gory details) — and is resigned to the fact that things are probably even worse here down under (where we have what promises to be a very spicy Federal election in a couple of months).
Despite all this, I’m daring to dream a little dream, huff a little hopium, and maybe just let in a little optimism that change might be around the corner — that it might just be worth putting some of our much stretched energy back into the political sphere.
Yes: on the surface — especially for terrain theorist heathens like myself, who see the weaponisation of germs (whether biological or metaphorical) as the gravest threat facing the existence of our species (sorry Vlad, try harder) — the situation appears undoubtably grim. No arguments there.
There was no bipartisan split on the rollout of Covid New Normal bollocks in the main players of the Western world. BoJo and Scomo as “Conservative” leaders have been just as pathetically and predictably incapable of halting the agenda, even if they haven’t pushed it to the blatant and shameless extent of liberal darlings like Trudeau and Ardern. The Empire and its three main colonial outposts have essentially been in complete lockstep, ushering in the ‘Rona trojan horse to both sides of the manufactured political spectrum.
What about the great remaining white hope — no not Russia lol… the US? Some States are pushing back, sure. But, at the end of the day (he says through gritted teeth) can we really say there is a meaningful difference between Orange Man and Sleepy Joe?
It was Trump’s Operation Warp Speed that has been the primary force behind the rollout of this agenda, after all. Sure, if the Qanon fever dream does end up coming somewhat true, The Don and the Patriotic movement he unleashed might end up saving America (whatever is left of it by then). But to expect a visibly unhealthy, self-confessed germaphobe to save us from The Germ Conspiracy seems about as foolish as trusting NASA.
So, in short — with perhaps the exception of Scandinavia — things look bleak for the Western political/medical experiment our elite thought leaders have committed us to.
Why the renewed optimism then? Well, because the end of the world as we know it might just be the perfect time to start believing in politics again.
Wait what? That escalated quickly, sorry.
I know: what a cliched thing to say, especially from a conspiracy theorist with Qanon sympathies. But that doesn’t make predictions of unprecedented impending social upheaval untrue — especially when it is a possibility that is increasingly supported through observation of the dynamics at play in the natural world.
Because, as always: our best connection to the underlying rhythm and dynamics of the world comes from nature itself, not any human creation.
As I have written about previously below (and as I based my PhD thesis around) we have been sold a false idea of the linear progression of time — when, in fact, the world we live in operates in a fundamentally cyclical nature. We pass through cycles of creation and destruction, just as surely as the sun rises and sets, and that day will again follow night.
The creation cycle consists of both an exploitation and conservation phase. While exploitation is characterised by heady days of growth, capital accumulation and increasing connectivity, the conservation phase — and particularly its end days — is where things start to unravel: a system that has grown stale and unresponsive to change, thanks to its internal control and regulation by powerful (bad) actors, about to come face to face with the fixed and merciless reality of the laws of nature.
Surely I am not the only one who finds this ominously apt for our current moment. So what happens next? Well, to put in technical terms, we have the ‘release’: when the frayed threads that long held our system together begin to fully unravel. To make matters slightly more urgent, this release can happen literally over night — no-one knows what the tipping point is, when it will be reached and what comes afterwards. All we know is that the longer the conservation phase drags on for, the longer we stubbornly refuse to bend to the will of nature, the quicker the flip is and the rougher the ride will be on the other side.
It sounds scary (and it most likely will be, depending how bad things really have been getting under the surface), but that does not mean the release is to be feared. Nature (and society, because we are all born from and constrained by it) is inherently self-organising, and it is this process of re-organisation that inevitably kicks in just as things are getting a little too anarchistic.
And this is the final catch, the one we as a conspiracy leaning-community must be acutely aware of and ready to take advantage of: the re-organisation phase is when the future is literally up for grabs. Those who keep their cool and embrace the disruption — those prepared enough to not just survive but thrive — are those who can take control and guide the direction of the new creative cycle.
That’s us, guys! This is the reason why you may or not be hoarding legumes and brown rice, investing in precious metals or getting smug over your crypto portfolio: so that you are in the material position to take the reins when the rest of the world is losing its mind.
Coz, otherwise, if we don’t, they will, again. Because as powerless as they might seem to increasingly be, they also know what is coming: almost certainly better than we do.
So: what does all this lofty theory mean from a pragmatic, realpolitik perspective? Does that mean we have to get our hands dirty and join the political mess ourselves?
Yikes, I hope not. Politics isn’t for everyone, and I personally have no desire to sign up to participate in a system I openly don’t believe in. There will be more than enough other pressing roles and responsibilities to be taken on when the shit hits the fan, after all.
But, in the end, someone has to. Someone has to still be up there, trying to steer the ship to avert the worst of the disaster, whilst the rest of us prepare the lifeboats. If there are candidates who are brave enough to take this challenge on — to take the plunge into a system that they know is on the verge of collapsing — that is the type of political courage that is surely worth supporting in whatever material or spiritual means we can.
Imagine if they were a terrain theorist as well!
I love this. What's your PhD in?
Timely and useful article. Yes, we need community leaders/organisers, but maybe we need to create a new word to take the place of the old ‘politics’ which hopefully will no longer be relevant. Or just not have politics at all now, so have no word for it?!