What I can add is that what you are so powerfully describing is a feature of imperialism and its might makes right worldview. In that worldview, violence is the only possible means for resolving conflict. Order cannot be established or maintained without it. In the mind of empire, violence is redemptive,…
What I can add is that what you are so powerfully describing is a feature of imperialism and its might makes right worldview. In that worldview, violence is the only possible means for resolving conflict. Order cannot be established or maintained without it. In the mind of empire, violence is redemptive, even holy.
Imperialism is a worldview founded in human infancy and the infant's experience of itself as the center of all things. As far as it understands, the earth and its abundance exist for its pleasure. Whatever it wants it must have right now. This is perfectly healthy in actual infants but extremely unhealthy and terribly dangerous when practiced by grownups.
In this worldview, where everything is mine and nothing is yours except what I give you, other people are, as you say, just extra. Some people might be "mine" and I will deal with them as I wish. The rest are either enemies who contend for what is mine or they are just part of the landscape; non-player characters in the game of my life.
In my understanding, all of us who are citizens of empire have a highly developed inner imperialist. Furthermore, empire has evolved over these milennia to subvert, repress, corrupt, and outright extinguish every impulse and opportunity that would support our maturation beyond its own infantile understanding of the world. This is how we get adults who think that good policy involves hurting the right people. Yet, here so many of us are, empathy intact, still reaching for a world that works for all of us and the planet we share.
I am excited about your work because you not only lay it all out so plainly, you are also charting the counter moves we can make to non-violently overcome empire's rule. With sufficient understanding and the right tools, we might just survive our species' infancy. 🌼
Thank you so much for what you do.
What I can add is that what you are so powerfully describing is a feature of imperialism and its might makes right worldview. In that worldview, violence is the only possible means for resolving conflict. Order cannot be established or maintained without it. In the mind of empire, violence is redemptive, even holy.
Imperialism is a worldview founded in human infancy and the infant's experience of itself as the center of all things. As far as it understands, the earth and its abundance exist for its pleasure. Whatever it wants it must have right now. This is perfectly healthy in actual infants but extremely unhealthy and terribly dangerous when practiced by grownups.
In this worldview, where everything is mine and nothing is yours except what I give you, other people are, as you say, just extra. Some people might be "mine" and I will deal with them as I wish. The rest are either enemies who contend for what is mine or they are just part of the landscape; non-player characters in the game of my life.
In my understanding, all of us who are citizens of empire have a highly developed inner imperialist. Furthermore, empire has evolved over these milennia to subvert, repress, corrupt, and outright extinguish every impulse and opportunity that would support our maturation beyond its own infantile understanding of the world. This is how we get adults who think that good policy involves hurting the right people. Yet, here so many of us are, empathy intact, still reaching for a world that works for all of us and the planet we share.
I am excited about your work because you not only lay it all out so plainly, you are also charting the counter moves we can make to non-violently overcome empire's rule. With sufficient understanding and the right tools, we might just survive our species' infancy. 🌼