Sometimes you can tell something is important or pivotal when it starts popping up in multiple and very different areas of life. Like I imagine when the “That’s what she said” plague started taking over America, it was one thing when you heard it from your friend. But the moment your dentist started doing it, you knew it was a serious trend that was not going away easily.
“Okay, while I stick this tool in your mouth, this other thing is going to suck out all the spit. …That’s what she said!! …No, I guess it doesn’t really work that time, but you get the point.”
Well, there’s a trend that seems to be steadily spreading across disciplines, genres, and peoples. That trend is a call for revolt from the current system that will without a shadow of a doubt pillage this globe until there’s nothing left, and according to my calculations, that nothing-left moment will occur in… February. This week alone we’ve seen this call from a pop culture icon and from a scientific model – neither of which are the normal places you hear call for revolutionary change. (“Scientific model” refers to a computerized model, not a hot chick dressed in a lab coat—But if that kind of science model were calling for revolution, then she’d be the woman of my dreams.)
In an article by Naomi Klein this week, she describes geophysicist Brad Werner’s advanced computer model which addresses – these are his words – whether we’re f*cked. Apparently in his computer model Werner used system boundaries, perturbations, dissipation, attractors, and—my old favorite—bifurcations to come up with a complex systems theory. Now, if you were to ask me, I would say with great certainty that that dude made up those words!! …But apparently those are real words.
And what did this scientific model find? To quote Naomi Klein, “Global capitalism has made the depletion of resources so rapid, convenient and barrier-free that earth-human systems are becoming dangerously unstable. When pressed as to whether we’re fucked, Werner said ‘more or less.’” Hmmm, well, sounds like professor Werner is not much fun to have at cocktail parties. He is off my list! I will replace him with fellow hairy comedian Russell Brand, a man who KNOWS how to keep the party rockin!!
Yet, Brand too called for revolution this week. You might have seen the viral clip that’s going around of him being interviewed by sour-faced newsman Jeremy Paxman. In it Brand says, “The time is now. These movements are already occurring. It’s happening everywhere.”
So Russell Brand seems to see some hope. You’re probably wondering, “Does Mr. Science-Says-We’re-F*cked see any hope or is he just a negative Nancy?” Yes, Werner said there was a single dynamic in the model that offered some hope against the terminal ransacking of earth. That dynamic is “resistance” consisting of “groups of people who adopt a certain set of dynamics that does not fit within the capitalist culture” meaning “environmental direct action, protests, blockades, and sabotage.” Basically when a profiteering greed