I'm struggling to accept the new 'reality' - dealing with climate change deniers, despots running once democratic countries, COVID, and rampant destruction of the environment. We are facing a new reality where once respected scientists have no authority, where world leaders tell barefaced lies and make it up as they go and nobody seems to be able to stop them, where the populace invents its own reality because it doesn't like the one it is being presented with.
I feel as though I am losing my mind - except I actually think I am one of the sane minority left on planet Earth.
This is happening now.
Even people I call friends - and there are only a few I call 'friend' - have started denying humanity's part in climate change ('it's just cyclical'), suggesting the whole COVID thing is a 'hoax' (including a now ex-friend who practised as a medical doctor for decades) and defend Trump because the media are misrepresenting him (even though he is condemned by his own filthy mouth and constant Tweets).
What the absolute fuck? We have now officially returned to the Dark Ages when ignorance reigned and people were burnt at the stake for opposing the status quo. There is mass insanity in my country, maybe in every country. Once rational, decent people have lost their fucking minds.
This happened last year - and we weren't on the East coast where the fires were catastrophic.
I'm gobsmacked that people can't see the evidence before their eyes. And then I remember that they simply can't bear to - THAT reality is too frightening. And then I get really mad because I'm suffering because I CAN see what is happening and I can't lie to myself about it. I'm exhausted - I feel as though I and my fellow realists are bearing the burden of this when so many others are living in a delusional state of 'everything will be OK'.
I don't have any answers. The only way I know how to deal with this madness is to stop watching the news, go for walks on the beach and work on our bush block - watching the little birds, kangaroos, rare sightings of bandicoots, insects and frogs - trying to protect a virgin block that I know will one day be destroyed by climate change or developers who will smash the whole lot down to build more houses for ungrateful, stupid humans. I have a condition known as misanthropy.... and I'm not alone.
I'm afraid I'll have to leave the last word to Munted Bear because he is so eloquent when it comes to matters like this.
image 1: Title unknown, David Sandlin
image 2: Screenshot, 'New York Times', September 2020, Facebook feed
image 3: Author, photo of rental property 2019
image 4: Author, original concept, hand drawn and digitally coloured
In my very small way I've been trying to educate people and change my actions on behalf of the environment since i Wasim high school. I have no hope left. There is no will for change. change is costly and the majority would rather lose the planet.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, look after your own backyard and try not to look at the rest
Same Kylie. I still do my bit re recycling and using eco-friendly products because my conscience won't let me do otherwise. But I've given up the fight for the planet which means avoiding talking to people more than usual in case the conversation goes there. There's something to be said for talking less anyway so it's probably a good thing for me to do.
DeleteThank you for writing every single one of these words down because now I won't have to. We have not seen the sun in more than a week. The skies are smoky and we have to stay indoors with the windows closed. We were still mostly sheltering in place because of the virus, but at least we could open the f*cking windows and go for some masked walks. It does feel like the end times, and it blows my mind how selfish and incredibly stupid people really are. I should have known, really, it surprises me that I had any hope at all. Now gone. If you could run away to a truly safe place where would you go?
ReplyDeleteThat's terrible Robin. Your quality of life has been reduced even more and that must be difficult to cope with. I hope things improve soon.
DeleteWhere would I go? The vast inland of Australia calls me sometimes. I've crossed the Nullarbor many times by bus and train, from west to east and back, and there is clear air, endless sky, quiet, solitude and peace there (which you can get a glimpse of not too far from the main highway). But it's an extremely difficult environment to live in unless you have the skills and infrastructure (ways to get water, fuel and food) so it remains a place I escape to in my head. I am lucky to live on 5 acres of coastal bush but civilisation is close and often intrudes. My default plan is to use my iPod to block out sound if it gets too much.
Yup! All that.
ReplyDeleteI lived with someone with mental illness for about 10 years. It started out slow and spiraled. I equate this time, with this tyrant, to the peak years of the mental illness. It made me feel like I was simply CRAZY. I spent much of my time scratching my head and trying to explain to others what the hell was going on. I've said that until you actually lived it, you can't possibly fathom what it is like. Right now, we are all living it! Crazytown USA.
Linda I have also experienced how living with a dysfunctional person can make you doubt your own sanity. When you are in it it's hard to get clarity and when you finally step away, you can't believe you allowed yourself to go there.
DeleteI think we all have to learn how to 'step away' mentally from what is going on in the world now. Once I would have thought that was an irresponsible thing to do - to avoid reality and truth. Now that 'truth' is a much harder thing to articulate, stepping away from the madness is an act of survival. I hope you have found ways to do that.