“The rivers of ruin run deep.” - The Sea of Tragic Beasts by Fit for an Autopsy

People are quick to pick out potential problems with new modes of living. Some of us say burn the prisons, and others are quick to shoot it all down with their hyperboles and internal fears. Yes, creating a new form of social organization won’t be easy. But what we need to keep at the forefront is how difficult the current system of living is.

The current carceral system only makes sense in our ignorance. And ignorance is no excuse for keeping the status quo intact. We’re spoon fed irrational fear and security culture. The lurking of the other. We fear the unknown because we subconsciously connect their empowerment with our loss of power. The prison hides the pain and torture that we subsist on. It rids us of the uncomfortable role of rehabilitating our neighbors, and realizing how our institutions not only create crime but profit off of it.

We are all purposely ruined. Social values and expectations have distorted our perceptions of the possible: a world, not perfect, but better!

My aim, whether through writing, propaganda, or the actualization on the streets, is to bring about a better world. Not everyone will benefit from this new reality, but most will. No one entertains the tears of unrepentant bullies and abusers. And why should we? If you were bullied or abused, you know the reality and the emotions of which I speak. Bullies get a handful of warnings before action is taken. They feed off of a hierarchy that decides winners and losers. They are parasites, and if they don’t relent, they will be dealt with accordingly. The bullies in the streets (the police), at work (managers, capitalists, and bureaucrats), and in our communities (patriarchal, misogynistic, transphobic, racist, and so on individuals) will meet the logical end of their actions if they refuse to stop hurting our friends, neighbors, comrades, and loved ones.

Vengeance, retaliation, violence; it can be addicting. The worry is that we’ll focus too much on dealing with the bullies, and not enough on helping their victims and creating a new world out of the ashes of the old.

This is why the compulsive need to nit-pick the characteristics of this new world (a nuanced, multi-layered, and diverse world, to be clear) is so dangerous. It leaves the status quo untouched. It naively assumes that the future could be worse than the present. It plays on fears of chaos, anarchy, and apocalyptic fetish fantasies. It wrecks our imaginations!

You are not pessimistic, optimistic, or “playing devil’s advocate.” You’re just affixed to a decaying death machine.

There’s too much pain, abuse, and suffering inherent within this socio-economic system for me to ever accept it’s realities. 

“We are all slaves of capital. Liberation begins with the refusal to perceive oneself in terms of the categories of capital, namely as proletarian, as member of the new middle class, as capitalist, etc. Thus we also stop perceiving the other — in his movement toward liberation — in terms of those categories.” - The Wandering of Humanity by Jacques Camatte

The new future only seems unfeasible to a mind used to the mud. We must not only envision the beach, but move toward it! People are dying and suffering as we speak, and the only suggestion many people have is to tinker with a system that will always kill and abuse. You can’t reform evil, and you won’t hug the abuse out of a bully. But most importantly, the abused and exploited should not have to endure waiting for the bullies to voluntarily stop being assholes. The spouse should not stay in an abusive relationship, resting on the hope that the spouse will magically come to their senses. The community should provide shelter, resources, and defense for the abused spouse. Actualization comes through acting, not waiting for things to change on their own.