12th Point of View

In the world of genre’d literature, we have an array of fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian novels filling bookshelves, libraries, and bookstores. Everything from Tolkien to Orwell, Rowling to Collins, and Sanderson to King! And if books aren’t your thing, there are always streamables on Netflix, Stan, Prime Video, Disney, and the new Binge. But why is it that we are addicted to these worlds so far from our own? Why do we want to escape to Narnia, Middle Earth, or Westeros? Why do we want to immerse ourselves in the lives of Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter, or Clary Fray? Why do are we ‘shipping characters like we are playing a non-interactive version of The Sims? Escapism isn’t new; hearing tales of brave knights or hero gods dates back to the beginning of time. Perhaps we want to know that there are forces defending us against the realities of society? Alas, we don’t have heroes defending us, fighting for our freedoms. At least not in the same capacity.

With the excepting of activists like Martin Luther King, Malala Yousafzai, and Greta Thunberg, we lack the heroes who lead rebellions against evil galactic empires, or school-aged wizards and witches against racist warlocks. It can be argued that we are not faced with diabolical villains with endless resources and legions of henchmen to give rise to groups like The Avengers or The Justice League. Elon Musk isn’t building a suit of armor to bring peace and justice to the mortal realm, Bill Gates isn’t fighting crime at night dressed as nocturnal, flying mammal (that we know of). I have yet to see any successful protest led by a charismatic vegan assembling the masses against the corrupt leaders of the free world.

Let’s be clear, I am not ignoring activism here. With phrases like “I have a dream” or “How dare you!” we have seen charismatic figures sparking movements that amend unjust laws. Yet, there are no movements since the age of mass global revolutions that have caused such upheaval that governments have toppled, the rich lose their heads, and the working class barricade themselves against oppressive mounted police in the goldmines. No, now there is the illusion that the democratic system has ‘cured’ all injustices in the world, or at the very least, given everyone a voice in which they believe they can make such changes. In reality, we have just created a system whereby we elect either of two atrocious parties whose hate for each other is only surpassed by their ineptitude to deliver what is actually needed for the citizens of their respected nations. It’s like we live in an episode of the Simpsons, ‘Treehouse of Horror’. Whether we elect Kang or Kodos, we still end up in economic chains which distract us with overwhelming poverty and oppression living in an dystopia believing we have achieved the elusive ‘Utopia’ of Sir Thomas More.

Utopia essentially means “No where”. It’s an unobtainable pipe-dream sold to us by populists politicians speaking ‘truths’ that are anything but. In truth (ironically), we have never lived in a utopia, despite the nostalgic, shared false memory told to us by our parents and grandparents completely oblivious to the civil rights crimes committed against minorities brushed off with a simple “it was a different time”. As one group lives in a ‘utopia’, we seemingly always ignore the plight of those subjected to the realities of dystopia. Even Jesus explained, ‘we will always have the poor’ as He welcomed expensive perfumes to be washed over Him. But as I misquote the text with little regard to the actual context of this message, so to are we misreading our own privileges. We seem to think that the poor are their of their own accord. That their laziness is an inherent trait of people based on their ethnicity, will-power, religion, or whatever other excuse we tell ourselves to justify the cutting of their welfare payments. That is until those in places of privilege are finally facing the muzzle of economic collapse whereby welfare payments are the difference between keeping your house and car, and renting in a one-bedroom townhouse close to public transport because you can’t afford your repayments.

The pandemic hit the world like it was Surtur returning to invoke Ragnarok upon Asgard. Covid-19 took to the global economy like Hela shattering Mjolnir. Until that moment, the world thought Mjolnir, much like capitalism, was indestructible and was the solution to every problem thrown at our heroes. But unlike Thor’s resolve to build a new weapon, Stormbreaker, and even use it in tandem with Mjonir, governments around the world have decided that the best way to combat this new threat to the global bank is to completely ignore how fragile the existing system is. They stand in the furnace of a dying star, believing their god-like abilities will be enough to protect them against the radiation expelled. Capitalism is built on a system where the workers are also the consumer. Capital grows because the value of the product is determined by a unique balance between supply and demand. this balance completely relying on the needs, affordability, and income of the worker-consumers who keeps the machine moving and growing. But the system is fragile; GFC, depressions, recessions, inflation, all these and more bring the system down as quickly as a Jenga tower as pieces of itself are removed from the bottom and placed on top to ‘grow’ the tower higher and higher. But why are we not producing more bricks to replace those at the bottom? Why not, as Marvel’s Thor knew to do, create a new weapon to continue the fight against the pandemic? Why don’t we have a Stormbreaker?

It’s purposeful that I use the Thor’s Stormbreaker as a metaphor here. As we approach the greatest threats of our generation; climate change, growing financial inequality, and a global pandemic, we find ourselves at the edge of the water watching a storm building, ready to tear down all that we have built. Meanwhile, our leaders choose to continue business as usual, believing that ignoring the threat will be all that is needed to protect ourselves from all that is to come. Some may argue that Stormbreaker could be as simple as democratic socialism to double our efforts against growing inequalities. Like Thor dual-wielding Mjolnir and Stormbreaker against Thanos (The Space Hitler who thought genocide was the ultimate answer). But Thor wasn’t alone in Endgame, immediately in combat with the arch-villain, Ironman and Captain America delivered a fury of powerful blows. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel, the Scarlet Witch, Groot, Black Panther, etc etc etc, all fought against the powerful alien army that threatened to bring space Hitler’s dream to fruition. The problem with space Nazis (or Nazis in general) is that they don’t know they are villains. Like Hitler, Thanos was the hero of his story, as was another infamous space Nazi who arguably held the spot as the greatest of all villains, or all time! And like Thanos, believed that he too was creating a better, safer, and stronger galaxy.

As a mature Anakin Skywalker rushed in to find the Jedi Master, Mace Windu, standing angrily over a frail and injured Chancellor Palapatine, he struggled with the internal dilemma of whether to help Windu; the figure of authority who always seemed to keep Anakin at arms length, or his mentor and friend, Palpatine; the stern leader who had a wealth of undelivered promises waiting to resolve every problem facing the Galactic republic. As onlookers, we had the full story, pieced together by five previous films that revealed both his past and future in incredible detail. For Anakin, he was the hero, the Chosen One that was meant to save the everyone. He had a moral obligation to save those who were oppressed and defeated. For years, he had fought against an aggressive enemy wanting to rip apart the fabric of stability that was the Republic. Born of ideals and dreams, he became the one man he believed the galaxy needed protect itself from, well, itself. If this complex sounds familiar, its because it is. Every leader could arguably be a victim of this complex. Anyone who has the audacious ambition to run for office, must have this desire that they are the voice that can make change to help save the world. We see this in leaders like Trump who showboats to cover dire mistakes, to Obama whose charisma and decorum created a facade that shielded us from the horrors of middle-eastern conflict. We watch on and Scott Morrison takes holidays in the middle of national disasters, and Kevin Rudd plays handball in the school yard in lieu of kissing babies. These leaders may not be on the same level as space Nazis believing that genocide is some kind of cure-all, however each one of them believed they were, in varying capacities, to be chosen ones destined to right the wrongs and save the world against the others.

This complex, I believe, is what has created the modern dystopia. We watch our youth tear each other apart for our entertainment, we keep them locked away in schools despite the growing dangers, we channel them into pre-destined groups in which they must remain in for the rest of their lives. We do this, ignorant of the change happening beneath our very noses. The 21st century has shown us that jobs are harder to come by, harder to hold onto, harder to find permanent positions, and pay less than they did only a few decades ago. And then there are jobs that are not considered ‘future proof’ whereby machines and robots threaten to make the worker obsolete. But a world without workers means a world without consumers. A world without consumers means capitalism is going to be left giving its final throws. The Jenga blocks at the bottom have all but run out. But there is no Original Trilogy to foresee the fall into darkness, and there is no time machine to go back and undo our greatest mistakes. Our society is faced with the ultimate trolley-problem: do we save the fragile old man as he is lying defeated, barely alive? Or do standby the old monk who holds the lightsaber at the neck of capitalism? If we save capitalism, how many times can we rehash this franchise? And what of the old, inexperienced leader? Windu could lead the Jedi in ways of the Jedi, but is this theory transferable? Does socialism, with its terrible track record and furiously defamed economic revolutionary ideals have a chance to stand up next to the relative strength of neo-liberal economics? Propaganda destroyed the Jedi before they even had a chance to fight back. Socialism had its chance, but not democratic socialism. Some nations might have used it successfully but it is unknown whether the model can be readily rolled out to other nations.

There is this one-size fits all approach that seems to be the toil of economics. When the Berlin Wall fell, followed shortly thereafter by the collapse of the Soviet Union, Capitalism was declared the winner of the Cold War. Mao Zedong and Pol Pots distorted Marxism like force lighting ruined Palpatine’s face. Socialism was taken like a glove that could adapt to the user like it was Ironman’s power gauntlet. The function of the glove was fine, it achieved what it was designed to do, but it was the user that suffered the effects of the fallout. The Hulk nearly died and Tony Stark actually did (spoiler alert! (better late than never)). These despot rulers who utilized socialism as an effective tool to mold fascist states have been the target for pro-capitalists worldwide. Themes of liberty (as long as you’re not a liberal) ring true to defend the right to keep what you earn even if it was at the expense of others lives. Unlimited capital growth appealed to those who would never be able to reach even the low hanging fruit. Trickle-down economics encouraged us to reduce our own income in the hopes that it was eventually pay off as company’s CEOs would hopefully and benevolently decide that raising the minimum wages was far more appealing than purchasing their forth Caribbean yacht. But now something remarkable has happened.

Right now, we are watching in real time as the capitalist dystopia that is the United States of America has started down the path of fascism. Federal agents have been called in to arrest citizens for protesting against injustices. READ THAT AGAIN: Federal agents are arresting citizens who protest injustices. There is no partisan argument here. Whether or not one believes in the cause, no government in the free world should be arresting its own citizens for protesting. Some may try and say they are causing civil unrest, rioting and looting, and that is left to a matter of interpretation for sure. But the reason these people are being arrested is not for their crimes they are committing, but for the political justification that law and order should be preserved above the right to protest. The very reason why Americans are reluctant to relinquish their right to arms is because they truly believe that they have the right to march against the state if their liberties are encroached upon. In other words, if the government becomes a fascist state. The current administration believe they are standing up for the very people they are oppressing. The President will march his white soldiers against black protesters while declaring that he has done more for black people than any other president (except maybe Lincoln). This same government has continually ignored a rampart disease killing thousands upon thousands of its citizens in favor of continuing to enforce the dream of a failed economic growth. The United States Government is purposely oppressing its minorities while supporting the hegemonic, high SES classes. If you think you’ve seen this before, it’s because you have.

Hitler was no fan of capitalism. Much less a fan of the Jewish people he perceived to be the main benefactors of the system. This is historical fact, evident in the millions he and his Nazi regime killed to create a ‘better’ world. He created a system that enforced socialism for the privileged and slavery and death for everyone else. At the risk of Ad Hilterum, this same concept has serviced today. Much like the Jet Engine, we somehow appropriated this vicious classism in our western world. Now, we see socialism for the rich and harsh capitalism for the poor. If this is a hard pill to swallow, think of all the tax cuts favoring the rich, the subsidies and donations and all other fancy names for government support of rich multinationals parading billion-dollar quarterly profit margins. And while you try and justify this, think of how many times you’ve heard (or said) condemning government payments for indigenous populations, or immigrants and refugees. For some bizarre reason, we are far more complacent in allowing people to starve and suffer than we are to watching stock markets crash. There is a taboo in having to rely of help but never a taboo in ‘downsizing’ a department of workers. In Japan, there exists a culture where staff who have dedicated most of their lives to the company are encouraged to quite so the company can survive. The benefit of the many outweighing the benefit of the few – or of the individual. Yet this is never asked of the individuals at the top.

We all are struggling right now. As we watch companies fold, welfare lines increase, hospitals filling up, natural disasters increasing, we stand buy and rely of our respective governments to provide the helping hand, the spark of live into our economy so that we may continue living in our dystopia. Whether we fight against space Nazis, dark wizards, despots, or fascists, we merely watch on as those less fortunate slowly disappear off-page or off-screen while we cheer of protagonists at they struggle between moral dilemmas of whether they should take a pay cut or cut the pay of their workers. Meanwhile, protesters are arrested, activists are ridiculed, and deaths become collateral. As we slowly slip into fascism believing we are heading for liberty, let this act as a bold reminder: there is no chosen one, you are not in a utopia, and your privilege has blinded you. No one is going to lead you into a revolt against the oppressors. In fact, the oppressors are probably your heroes. If there is a glimmer of hope, it’s neither in reality or fiction. While we try and construct our own Stormbreaker, and rise above our messiah-complex, there is always one certainty above death and taxes – The poor will always be with us, but we will only have our heroes for a short while.