I read Andreas Malm‘s book, How to Blow Up a Pipeline a few months ago, then watched the movie, and then was reminded of it all again by Abigail Thorn’s latest Philosophy Tube video about being plagiarized by a man. Thorn explains how subtle sexism led to free labour in the home. Even
Continue readingTag: monbiot
A Puff of Absurdity: What Seems Impossible Can Become Inevitable
George Monbiot talked with journalist Rachel Donald of Planet Critical. In a nutshell, Monbiot has many views in common with Chomsky: People with the money have become the people with the power, and the masses are voting based on “presumed consent,” which means we cast a vote before it’s clear
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Trapped by our Insouciance
George Monbiot’s article today is the perfect rant for our times. It’s pretty much what I’ve been screaming into the void for the past while, but, thankfully, he has a large audience. Monboit shames us with this, “When we forget the virus, we forget clinically vulnerable people trapped by our
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Weirdness of Now
This morning I listened to a Naomi Klein interview from this week about her very different type of book, while reading a prescient Geroge Monbiot article that he reposted from last March. There’s a striking amount of overlap. Both are about the new right-wing alliances being formed, and the furthest
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Leaving the Goldilocks Zone
This very brief TikTok from view.from.my.eyes is a perfect metaphor (and reality) of our current situation: @top_jumbomortgage_lender #greece #flood ♬ original sound – steve Check out the people on the left, some of whom continue to eat and drink as if this is all dinner theatre. Nothing will wake us
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Late-Stage Capitalism’s Slide into Authoritarianism
A bit from former American journalist Nate Bear: The almost universal desire to return to normal in a pandemic, despite normal being bad for most people, is one of the best examples of the hegemonic collusion of class interest as you will ever see. Brexit was another. Late stage capitalism
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Monbiot on our Current Challenge
George Monbiot wrote an article that he’s calling his best bit of writing. It’s largely more of the same argument that people can’t seem to hear or respond to. We’re ignoring the changes in the world at our peril. In the back of our minds, there’s a voice whispering, “If
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Age of Oblivion: Another End of Decade Rant
Of course calendars are a construct and don’t mean anything, but the end of the year and, even more so, the end of the decade are useful times to take stock. In pop culture, we have the Ecco Homo moment as a cultural foreboding – the chutzpah to insist on a fix that pretends
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot Sees Mankind in a Fight for Life with Capitalism
You might not like his ideas but they’re well worth airing. Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, writes that it’s time to ditch capitalism before it puts us in the grave. Capitalism’s failures arise from two of its defining elements. The first is perpetual growth. Economic growth is the aggregate effect of the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: If You Want a Future, You’ll Have to Fight Power to Get It – Monbiot
The political class, as anyone who has followed its progress over the past three years can surely now see, is chaotic, unwilling and, in isolation, strategically incapable of addressing even short-term crises, let alone a vast existential predicament. Yet a widespread and wilful naivety prevails: the belief that voting is
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot’s "Hail Mary" Pass – Let’s Re-Wild
Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, argues we must recruit nature to help thwart climate change. He notes what we all by now grasp – that 1.5 C “do not exceed” cap, that’s gone already. We are in very dangerous territory now. Here’s what he thinks might help. To prevent a full-spectrum
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Can We Turn This Corner?
September is always a busy month for me, and typically I don’t get the luxury of reading the new significantly, but this time was different. It’s been a car crash that I just can’t stop looking at. When the Charter was first developed in Canada, largely a spin off of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot Trashes NAFTA
Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, hates NAFTA. He thinks it a scam perpetrated without the consent of the peoples of Canada, America and Mexico by their political bosses. Monbiot especially detests the ISDS or Investor-State Dispute Settlement clause. He also defends Donald Trump’s demand for a 5-year “sunset clause.” In seeking
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: He’s Back! Monbiot Returns to Action.
It’s been a while but it seems George Monbiot’s ordeal with prostate cancer and the brutal surgery that ensued may be over. I won’t excerpt it. You can read it for yourself here. He concludes: “I look forward to returning next week to the topics that still frighten me. The
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Missing Monbiot
George Monbiot rose to fame and acclaim as The Guardian’s fearless enviro-scribe, eventually expanding into a broader societal punditry. This scribe would eagerly await Monbiot’s next offering to see what condition or peril he would next illuminate. He always dished up plenty of food for thought. He’s been gone long enough
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Monbiot’s Out of the Wreckage
The book cover says the book “provides the hope and clarity required to change the world.” Well, he certainly tries. He’s got a plan of action that’s possible, but I didn’t get the requisite hope necessary to be spurred to action. It’s a bit of an overview of many ideas
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Bugs Give Monbiot the Willies.
A couple of days ago The Guardian reported on a German study that flying insect populations had declined by 75 per cent over the past 25 years. Another report for the Dire Warnings file. Only The Guardian’s enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, says don’t take this lightly.Which of these would you name as
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: A Shift in Values
Further to my last post about the current values and the boundaries of the social imaginary that prevent us from making any significant and necessary changes in the world, George Monbiot has data to show that actual shift in pervasive attitudes: A study published in the journal Cyberpsychology reveals that
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: A Shift in Values
Further to my last post about the current values and the boundaries of the social imaginary that prevent us from making any significant and necessary changes in the world, George Monbiot has data to show that actual shift in pervasive attitudes: A study published in the journal Cyberpsychology reveals that
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Monbiot Tackles Neoliberalism’s Death Grip on the West
Neoliberalism has been the default operating system of western governments, Canada included, since it was ushered in during the Thatcher/Reagan/Mulroney era. Justin Trudeau is a neoliberal as were his predecessors over the last three decades. Canada remains in the clutches of neoliberalism and no one, no leader, no party is
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