💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › peter-lamborn-wilson-fool-s-day.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 13:25:50. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
➡️ Next capture (2024-06-20)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Fool’s Day Author: Peter Lamborn Wilson Date: 2019 Language: en Topics: green anarchism, anti-technology, anti-capitalism, Fifth Estate, Fifth Estate #404 Source: Retrieved on 7th October 2021 from https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/404-summer-2019/fools-day/ Notes: Published in Fifth Estate #404, Summer, 2019.
Since the anti-wizard who disenchanted the world was Capitalism, we must
assume that Capitalism will have to vanish by evolutionary necessity in
order for re-enchantment to triumph.
Is it really possible to embrace such optimism? Let’s try.
An April 1, 2019 article in The Nation, “Warning: The Plastics Crisis is
About to Get Worse,” begins with a “midrange” estimate of the amount of
plastic garbage that is dumped in the ocean every year—eight million
tons.
The oil Industry, worried about declining profits in the energy market,
is using fracked oil to ramp up plastics production. To combat this
menace, the Town of Woodstock, New York is contemplating a ban on
plastic drinking straws. Save the sea turtles! Never mind that every
single item in the local health food supermarket is packaged in plastic.
Never mind that the solar panels on the roof are made largely of
plastic. Onward to victory.
But before we overcome Capitalism, we will have to abolish technology.
Not just plastic; but pretty much all technology—except maybe sledge
hammers, which the Luddites loved and used to smash machines in the
early 19^(th) century.
Smash driverless cars. Smash leaf-blowers. Smash pharmaceuticals. Smash
guided missiles. Sex robots. Vaporizers, etc, etc. Because Capitalism is
based on technology. But, how can we abolish the internet? The internet
is the world.
In 1968, many believed that the consciousness revolution was about to
re-enchant the world thanks to LSD and anarchism. What went wrong? Why
is even ecologist Bill McKibben talking about the End of the World by
2050, if not sooner, unless consciousness somehow changes now, this
instant, world-wide, all at once. Green!
Why aren’t we living on permaculture, fairy-haunted communes, and
singing together on the porch in the cool of the evening after a
fulfilling day in the organic gardens?
Is the sludge too thick?
Is there no way back?