The Cult of Apathy: American Accelerationism
The rot of our social fabric, fed by the trends of climate doom, the profit-before-people capitalistic mentality, political extremism, and the disbelief in democracy, has crawled out of the crevice to reveal itself as our mirror, yet we’ve blinded ourselves to the obvious fascistic festering and self-destruction before us.
American Accelerationism, while related to other nihilism-nourished forms around the globe, is uniquely related to our media binging, culture of consumerism to distract from suffering, and political paralysis; though we are keenly aware of existential threats and our eroding republic, we sit and scroll waiting for the world to end or for the next autocrat to come to power. We have eaten the fatalistic fudge, and seem to believe that preventative action, like actively participating in the democratic process or organizing, does not work. In other words, we’ve got a bad case of Apathy, and it just might kill us, if not allow for an authoritarian hellion to usurp the throne of the presidency (again). Our institutions are eroding, mimicking hollow shells of a Great Society’s past, and our politicians represent an outdated and industry embedded mode of rule, but that doesn’t mean we have to abandon all hope and succumb to the very forces which fuel our numbness.
While it’s tempting for the average liberal to associate Accelerationism with the alt-right, it is not a partisan trait, but rather a virus that has infected us all. Apathy is our prime defense mechanism—the numbness that arises from dispelling worldly anxiety brings about an addictive comfort—and most Americans are guilty of unconsciously adopting this coping strategy. A wee armchair leftist who revolution mongers without feeling for those who would inevitably parish in the chaos lacks empathy for the victims even if he compartmentalizes and transactional-izes their deaths as necessary in order to make up for years of systemic fatalities. It should also be noted that one man’s revolution is another’s insurrection or coup, and that this desire to destroy then create anew is rarely successful, and more often than not, allows for the old authoritarian regime to come back stronger, or enables a ruthless opportunist to take power. This does not mean that we should remain complacent or bite our tongues when we need to mobilize, but we should act strategically with repercussions in mind.
A lib who merely donates to his preferred candidate is engaging in Apathy by failing to critique his party beyond that of a CNN talking head, and anyone who neglects participating in the fight against the decaying health of nature and man is allowing their Apathetic paralysis to fuel Accelerationism, as they are not directly working against the forces which drive the destruction of the earth and humankind. Democrats employ theatrics like renaming public places to “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” but avoid non-optic action, as seen over the past two years with the lack of progress in Congress despite being the ruling majority. It’s difficult to enact real change through the legislature when half of a Representative’s time is spent securing donations for his next term, but politicians can be pushed to protect the people and planet, and we’d have the power to prioritize public interests if we harnessed it.
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