The Nightmare That Just Won’t Quit

This article requires some background exposition, so please bear with me for a moment. Today I came across a CNN.com article titled “Germany’s AfD party has gone too far, even for Europe’s far-right coalition.” Toward the end, the following segment really piqued my interest:

“The AfD [Alternative for Deutschland] is under domestic surveillance for the threat it poses to Germany’s democracy, and despite a recent dip is currently polling higher than each of the three parties in the coalition now governing the country…. [An extremism researcher] noted a similarity between the AfD and Donald Trump, adding that: “The more scandals and the more outrageous things the ex-President said, the more his followers seemed to commit to him even more. And something similar appears to be going on with the AfD.”

Uh, WTF!? Again: “The more scandals and the more outrageous things the ex-President said, the more his followers seemed to commit to him even more. And something similar appears to be going on with the AfD.”

Of course, being the endlessly curious person that I am, these statements made me wonder: why? Why are these bizarre, scary allegiances happening, increasingly, around the world? What is really going on, and what is behind these trends?

Let’s rally ‘round the power-hungry, fascist creeps

First, let’s explore the ‘what’ a bit more.

For many years now, we Americans have been witnessing a truly weird and frightening phenomenon: no matter what Donald Trump says or does, and no matter how many times he lies or is indicted, prosecuted, or found liable (for fraud, election interference, sexual abuse, defamation, and assorted other crimes), his followers and the GOP itself always rally around him and support him even more. And according to that CNN.com article, similar behavior patterns are playing out in other countries as well.

Increasingly, in the U.S. and elsewhere, people or political parties are behaving badly, cruelly, even outlandishly — and then get rewarded for it. Even further, today they can openly make racist, sexist, or pro-fascist statements — and their followers eagerly lap it up, and then … embrace them even more.

What the hell is going on here? Are more and more people just ‘going crazy’? Are more people today strongly attracted to dark, violence-promoting ideas and movements? Are more of us slipping into a totally amoral and vicious mindset? Is it ‘all of the above’? None of the above?

What the hell is really happening?

Many people are giving up on liberal democracy

Pundits, historians, and social scientists offer all kinds of ‘explanations’ for these disturbing trends, and there are, indeed, many explanations to be had: economic, psycho-social, emotional, political, even ecological — and they all have some validity.

But I’d like to focus on one particularly potent aspect of these trends, and that’s the way many people around the world are giving up on ‘modernity’ and liberal democracy, and reverting to more primitive political forms like authoritarianism, autocracy, and tribalism.

The underlying motive force behind all this seems to be massive, accumulating frustration over the failures of ‘modern civilization,’ in particular in the areas of immigration, wealth inequality, ecological mayhem, and social justice. More and more, people are getting intensely frustrated, angry, and desperate, as they realize or sense that their societies are dysfunctional, wildly unfair, and spinning out of control.

Today, even the very best of what ‘modernity’ has to offer, like the northern European nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, are struggling and starting to implode. Today, it’s becoming clear that even our most ‘modern’ nations are still way behind the eight ball when it comes to social justice, fairness, and ecological sanity, and are also — not coincidentally — far too enmeshed in capitalism and our global ‘consumer culture.’

On the fast track to hell

And this brings us to the root problem of modern civilization, I think: our destructive enmeshment in a global ‘culture’ based on extractive economies (“Drill, baby, drill!”), consumerism, and our imagined separateness from and ‘superiority’ to the natural world.

We love to wring our hands and complain about the ‘unsustainability’ of our present course — while drinking our lattes — but the truth is, almost everything in our modern cultures and lifestyles is anti-nature and ultimately anti-life.

Our modern versions of ‘prosperity’ and ‘comfort’ are based almost entirely on our perceived separation from and superiority to nature — and on doing everything in our power to manipulate, control, and squeeze nature dry.

In other words, our entire modern civilization is based on violent, unfair, and even cruel treatment of our planet Home — and thus our modern experiment was doomed to failure from the start. In my opinion, any civilization that destroys and mutilates its own home is not deserving of that title ‘civilization,’ no matter how (briefly) glorious it seems.

From the beginning, our ‘modern’ civilization has been on a fast track to hell.

Out of the frying pan, and into the fire

The problem we now face, however, is this: as many people start to wake up to the vast deficiencies and structural problems of our modern civilizations, instead of moving toward greater ecological responsibility, caring, and compassion, most people seem to be doing the opposite: moving toward increased fear, rage, irresponsibility, racism, and ethnic hatred(s).

Instead of moving toward and embracing greater acceptance and inclusiveness, and working toward cooperative solutions, our societies seem to be fracturing even further, and coming apart at the seams.

What we desperately need are conscious growth and change, but change is hard, and often scary — so many, many people, all around the world, are choosing to instead go backward, dig in their heels, and say ‘No More!’ to modernity.

I’d even say that this is the prime factor attracting people to movements like Trumpism or Germany’s AfD party. People are afraid and angry, they’re digging in their heels, and they’re saying ‘Enough!’ to modernity.

The truly terrible, paradoxical problem, though, is that our reversion to autocracy, fascism, racism, and other (destructive) forms of ‘conservatism’ pushes us even further down the road toward our own collapse as a civilization.

Going backward and rejecting modernity are not ‘improvements’

Yes, it’s true that modern civilization has often failed, and is in need of major ‘from-the-ground-up’ revisions — but going backward and rejecting all the social advances and practical improvements of modernity must, by definition, make things much worse, not better.

Denying modern medicine and rejecting vaccines and public health measures does not make us healthier or stronger. It makes us sicker and weaker.

Denying modern ecological and climate science does not make us safer, wiser, or more secure. It makes us more ignorant and foolish.

Rejecting social equality and inclusiveness will not ‘save’ our societies from ever-increasing ‘immigrant hordes’ and the rising worldwide tide of non-White peoples.

Embracing authoritarian strong-man leaders will not make us happier, freer, or more secure.

Rejecting the basic tenets and principles of modern liberal democracy will not help us solve our problems or develop a better, saner civilization.

The fundamental paradox we face today

The fundamental paradox we now face is this: while we desperately need to move beyond the destructive foundations of modern civilization, today we also need that very civilization to keep going and remain somewhat functional, and serve as a base for further exploration and human growth and development (not mere economic development!).

We need our civilization to remain (somewhat) workable for as long as possible to help guide the transition to … something far better. And that’s where Trump, MAGA, Putin, Netanyahu, Modi, and all the other ‘conservative’ and far-right leaders and movements — and all their millions of followers — are getting it so, SO wrong.

We need liberal democracy in order to… help us transform liberal democracy. We need modernity in order to… transcend our current (minimal) bastardized version of modernity.

We need a functional, solid ‘base of operations’ in order to create a better, saner alternative civilization.

Going backward isn’t the answer. Tearing it all down isn’t the answer. Nor is reverting to more primitive, controlling human social structures.

Oddly enough, we need our modern civilization if we are ever to move beyond our very limited, unfair version of modernity.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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