For the most part, I try to keep this weblog focused on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Sometimes I stray a bit and talk about Iraq. Occasionally I like to look at the broader context of the political landscape, in which this particular conflict can be seen as an instance of our species’ greatest fault: the will to exploit and plunder. I have long ago learned that our greatest faults are usually identical with our greatest strengths, and vice versa. The endless human will to exploit has created culture and civilization. It has also created war and destruction.
Asaf pointed out to me this article in the New York Review of Books about global warming. In one sentance it beautifully describes the root of all evil in modern societies:
“…[T]he satisfactions of consumer life and business success have become almost sacred…”
In fact, I would remove the word almost from that sentance. This is glaringly obvious during this “holiday season” where shopping has become a sacrament and Santa Claus has replaced Jesus as a holy man. The merger and acquisition of monotheism by corporate capitalism has led to the most powerful and successful religion in human history. It consumes everything in its path, quite literally.
The second half of the sentance in the NYRB claims that by focusing on consumerism we ignore “the physical world now turning to chaos before our eyes,” taking it for granted and not seeing it “as the reality that must be faced.” It is no coincidence that many who oppose corporate monotheism embrace anarchic paganism as an alternative. An interesting take on this which I have been reading about recently, is a “religion” invented by some Sixties pranksters, who referred to themselves as “Discordians.” Their “sacred” text can be found here. They would argue that the world IS chaos, not turning into it. Perhaps one can sum up the core Discordian belief as this: we will be most successful fighting corporate monotheism if we poke fun at it (and ourselves). What can I say but “Hail, Eris.”
