by Christopher Logan
Thank you, John, for highlighting the damaging social effects of “e-consumption.” Let’s relate that totally valid observation to other 21st century developments, which are mutually reinforcing, and which together threaten the “humanity” of humanity. Neither the internet, nor cell phones, nor the “explosion of ‘social’ media around 2000” happened spontaneously, or in isolation. Let’s review the 21st century.
What happened in 2001? Two trillion dollars went missing from the Defense Department, as reported to Congress by Donald Rumsfeld one day before … oh, yeah, 9/11. Seven weeks later, a 342-page USA PATRIOT Act was plunked down on the desks of congressmen, who were stimulated to pass it immediately, without time to read it thoroughly, possibly because of the delivery of anthrax (later traced to a US military facility) to the offices of key senate leaders. We officially lost several key civil liberties.
What happened in 2002? The world economy was rearranged to reduce labor costs and create mega-fortunes, in a little shift known as the WTO. Three million jobs immediately went to China, where workers could assemble your cell phone, on their feet for ten or twelve hours a day, at a dollar an hour. In America, credit cards and adjustable mortgages were imposed on poor people; in 2005 personal bankruptcy was virtually outlawed, meaning student loans and credit card debt were inescapable, with the predatory interest they carry. Homes were lost, and homelessness came to the streets of America.
Facehook took off in 2004. YouTube in 2005. Twitter in 2006.
The 2008 financial meltdown caused the damgov’ment to shovel an immense pile of taxpayer money to corporations “too big to fail”. They used the money for mergers and acquisitions, tightening the circle of ownership. Also in 2008, billionaire Elon Musk launched Tesla, spearheading a huge resurgence of interest in electric vehicles, and spawning a huge need for lithium, charging stations … and electricity.
Meanwhile, in spite of Fukushima (2011), a “nuclear renaissance” has been carefully planned with the complete support of major world governments, while global warming (a real thing) is used to glorify “decarbonization”. Since there are not enough solar panels and windmills to replace fossil fuels, this means nuclearization of the economy. The current plan is to have thousands of Small Modular Reactors creating nuclear waste around the world by mid-century, Bill Gates being a major player in this nuclear “renaissance”.
So far, the 21st century has been one of constant brutal warfare, increasingly by drone attacks: people being killed by faceless machines. A stated goal is to make these robotic killers “autonomous”, meaning that they can decide who and when to kill. How many drones do you own?
The covid epidemic shut down the world 2020-2022 and we were expected to hunker in our little boxes, to avoid touching or breathing on each other, to take drugs manufactured for profit and not properly tested … and to live online. After covid, public gatherings continue to be avoided, and people are still scared to hug and ride elevators. And during the covid panic (only three years!), the tech billionaires tripled their fortunes.
Could these many threats to our humanity be related? Cui bono? Who benefits? Who benefitted from the wars around the globe? Billionaires, who sold arms and other goods, who did the “rebuilding” work, who are being paid for the trillion-dollar upgrade in American nuclear weapons, who manage the tech systems in warfare … and who sit on the boards of major banks, who own the Federal Reserve, to which we now supposedly owe about $34 trillion, almost all of it from 21st century spending. Dis-integration of society benefits them, not us.
Whom does the internet really serve? Sure we get content, we get to communicate … but we also get burned out by screen time, and abandon our face-to-face relationships to feverishly text and tweet, and to watch endless videos. Are we happier than in the 20th century? Screen time causes a lot of people extreme depression. Who benefits from addiction? The pusher benefits, and the pusher now runs the show.
We’ve been taken over by something that rides the internet like a Harley. A few billionaires “own” as much as the “bottom half of the human race”. Is it possible that, despite our “democratic system”, some are sleeping on the street while others own it all … by accident? Or …. Could this all be deliberate?
I don’t want to isolate the blame for 21st century dehumanization among a few billionaires. Their decisions and actions have definitely dehumanized us, but they are products of a vast momentum of civilization – particularly Western civilization, with its scientific, industrial and technical revolutions. That momentum is possibly more than we can stop with any single deliberate act.
We have to at least try to escape from the claws of the oppressor, though. Keeping screen time to a minimum will also help us think for ourselves. Don’t work for them. Don’t eat what they advertise. Patronize your neighbors’ shops instead of the internet. Give, barter and share. Have your smart meter turned off, if you can afford the extra charge. Don’t buy into the Internet of Things – smart toasters, Ring, and that stuff – because they are a form of surveillance. Go to see your friends in person. Get on a bike, swim with friends, dance together and gather for activism. Do art that heals, instead of serving a market.
Yes, “e-consumption” is dis-integrating us, and we need to get back to human society. But let’s note why we are deliberately being isolated in little rooms with our electronics, from fellow humans who could help us and cooperate with us. It is part of a major effort to dominate the world, by a very few capitalists who do not care much how we feel, or about their effect on the natural world. We can improve our personal lives, and develop effective social movements. We can, and we should. Cui bono then?
