Civilisation is a system. It should now be very obvious to people, how interconnected and interdependent our socioeconomic system is and how fragile that system has become. This is why I have tried to promote systems thinking in our polarised society. A society that is saturated with ideologues of all stripes that promote reductive thinking. In my article on Gynocentrism And The Demographic Implosion Of Western Civilisation1, I wrote about the precarious social and economic state of Western civilisation. The current pandemic has simply just exposed the rot hidden underneath the veneer of debt laden decadence I wrote about in that article. Like a storm exposing the fragility of a terminate infested house, this pandemic is demonstrating how fragile our modern socioeconomic system is to a serious, but in historical terms a relatively minor pandemic (compared to the Spanish flu, Smallpox and the Black Death, that killed millions more than this virus ever will). Coronavirus is merely the straw that is breaking the camel’s back and demonstrating just how exposed we have let ourselves become.
Yes the pandemic is serious, but this is not the first time our world has faced a major pandemic and it will not be the last. It is however the first time our modern society has faced such a challenge. Since World War 2, modern society has had 75 years of relatively uninterrupted peace and prosperity. We have become complacent over time in the absence of major hardship and have lost focus on what really matters and what is really important. There has been a gradual erosion of long term thinking and planning politically, socially and economically. We have been living in a bubble world of safety and prosperity. This bubble world we have created, has fostered all kinds of crazy delusional ideological thinking and unsustainable elements to thrive in our culture and institutions. Coronavirus is a needle to our bubble world.
We have lost touch with reality and this society has forgotten that pandemics and other major events (like major volcanic super eruptions which can and do have devastating global effects, a major meteorite strike, or a one in two hundred year solar storm like the Carrington event of 1859 that could wipe out most of our electrical grid and satellite network) do in fact occur and have to be planned, prepared and accounted for accordingly. These things don’t just happen in movies like Contagion. We have become blasé about the long-term impacts of current decisions on our future and the sustainability of what we are collectively doing socially and economically. We have had little regard for how well prepared we are to handle external social and economic shocks. We can see that just by looking at our reckless reliance on debt to drive our economy and on our inaction to address fatherlessness and the destruction of the family and all the downstream social and economic impacts that has on our society. There are many other examples of this recklessness and cavalier attitude of course that I could cite.
Short-term thinking, apathy over the future consequences for current political, social and economic decisions and societal decadence, have all crept into our collective psyche. Older generations lived through the Spanish flu, two world Wars and the Great Depression. It was understood from the lessons learned from those hardships, that society had to plan and invest over the long term and not just think about winning the next election or focusing on short-term profit. These lessons have gradually been forgotten and we have been living off the fruits of past generations for decades.
The ideological claptrap of modern feminism and other ideologies, has swelled in this cultural memory loss of past hardships and in the absence of any relative existential threat to civilisation. They have thrived like parasites off a golden age of peace and prosperity. How relevant now is ideological feminism? How relevant are gender quotas in the middle of this major pandemic? How relevant is manspreading, mansplaining and sexist air-conditioning? How useful are feminists in this crisis? If there is a good thing about the Coronavirus it is this- It is forcing our “woke” society and our ideologically infested institutions to finally confront reality, put facts before feelings and identify what actually matters. The importance of border control should now be quite obvious, even to the most radical ideological idiots in our society. It is not xenophobic to want secure borders. The time for ideological bullshit is now over and it is now time for society to set its priorities straight.
The impact of this virus represents a stress test for our modern socioeconomic system. Civilisation has gone through far worse. We have survived pandemics, major disasters, wars, famine, recessions and depressions before. Millions and millions have died in some cases and society still found a way to go on. We were able to survive these periods because past generations lived and died by their values and worked together in a cooperative manner and supported each other. They made sacrifices, were no nonsense pragmatists and lived in reality and not in a woke ideological bubble. There was patriotism, values, meaning and purpose in what they did and in their culture. There was a relative absence of self-hatred, apathy, nihilism, fatalism and laziness. There was no nonsense about toxic masculinity or men being “obsolete”. The generations that lived through 1900 to 1950 in particular, were as tough as nails and we should attempt to emulate them today. How would they react to the present events? It would be water off a duck’s back for them. What we are going through is easy compared to what they faced. We can overcome this.
The reason I have focused on men’s issues in my writing, is because I understand how reliant this system is on men and on the family. Economic shocks can have very big effects on society, but if society has a strong social structure, it can withstand such hardship. The epidemic of fatherlessness and the breakdown of the family, does nothing but multiply the risk factor of social cohesion collapsing in the event of a crisis such as this by orders of magnitude. The economic impact of the boy crisis in education and fatherlessness, does nothing but substantially increase the fragility of our economic system to shocks like this pandemic.
As I mentioned before, everything is interconnected. Protecting the family, protecting fatherhood and addressing the needs of men and boys, is not just about looking after men, it is about ensuring our society is strong and has the integrity to withstand times of hardship like this pandemic. When we neglect men and boys, we weaken society and we magnify the risk factors that we will fall apart in the event of a societal shock or crisis. The social and economic effects of this pandemic will be felt not just for a few months, but for decades. The world has now changed in ways we are yet to even fully comprehend. There will be no returning to normal after the pandemic is gone. There is too much debt and too much economic and social degradation already in the system for a full recovery back to the pre-Corona status quo. We have not experienced a disruption on this scale since World War 2 and I would encourage people to explore what past generations did to cope with the hardships they experienced and what followed such major events. We are living through something historic.
I understand that there is a great deal of fear and panic in society at the moment. It is rational to have some fear, but it is dangerous to become overwhelmed by it. It is important to try to identify the positives over the negatives and keep ourselves mentally balanced. We are all impacted and that includes me. There are some positives to consider- This crisis presents society with an opportunity to re-evaluate its priorities, to re-learn some old and important lessons and to reconnect with what really matters and set a new future. I have been saving my money for years, because I understood the need to store seeds for the winter and I could see that at some point there would be a crisis and I would need to protect myself. I am glad I have prepared myself for this crisis. I have made the decision not to have children, because I could see that society was moving in an unsustainable direction. There is a lesson from this pandemic for everyone to save for a rainy day, to prepare for the winter and to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. I live my life that way- Cautiously optimistic but pessimistically prepared.
With the lessons we learn from our hardships, we will have an opportunity in the crisis and beyond it, to fundamentally transform our society into something far bigger, better and stronger than before. History shows that society can rebound very strongly after times of hardship. The renaissance and enlightenment followed the Black Death. Huge technological and social transformations followed World War Two. This crisis could become a positive inflection point in history. Alternatively if we succumb to fear and panic, we could descend into a new dark age and a period of totalitarian governance. It all comes down to how we collectively choose to respond to this crisis. Our future is in our hands.
This crisis is an opportunity for society to reflect on its unsustainable trajectory, to relearn valuable lessons and to undertake major transformative change. Our society is way overdue for a major reset and a fundamental restructure socially and economically. At the end of this crisis there will be opportunities for our society to do exactly that. A society that runs off unsustainable levels of debt, runaway gynocentrism2 and numerous other unsustainable practices and activities, has a finite lifespan. If it was not Coronavirus that triggered this social and economic crisis, it would have been something else. We have to confront reality sooner or later.
The best antidote to fear is to work cooperatively and to focus on what is working and on developing a plan and solutions to get society through this crisis and back on track once this crisis has ended. Don’t succumb to fear. Instead spend this time reflecting on what matters most, learning from hardship and on harnessing the opportunities to ensure your future and societies future. I would like people to watch this video3 with renowned physician and addiction expert Dr. Gabor Mate, on the social and psychological effects of this pandemic. Dr. Mate raises some important insights that are worth sharing and for us all to reflect on. We can either succumb to the destructive death spiral of fear and descend into mob violence over trivial things like toilet paper, or we can rally together in a united effort to fight for our own future and set an example for others to follow and live by. This is a time where we either choose to live by values, or die from nihilism and fatalism. Are we going to rise up to the challenge as past generations did, or are we going to succumb to fear and violence? Our choice.
In the words4 of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt-
“The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself”
In his inauguration speech during the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt also spoke about the necessity of speaking the truth frankly and boldly, of the importance of having vision and of respecting others and working together. There was no identity politics, no lies, no avoidance of reality and no ideological dogma in his speech. He was a true leader in every sense of the word. We should emulate that spirit. Society will not properly recover from this pandemic, unless we have the courage to confront the dark truths about our society and address social and economic realities we have ignored for far too long and are prepared to undertake major fundamental transformative change of our society.
“The greatest generation”5 got through the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression and World War One and World War Two and they never gave up. We can overcome Coronavirus. We have a relatively minor challenge before us in comparison to what they faced. It is in our collective control to set our own future. Society needs strong men more than ever at this moment in time. Men have never been more valuable than they are right now. Men literally keep us all alive and God bless you for doing so.
Be bold, be strong, be courageous and take care. There is light beyond the dark.
References:
- https://avoiceformen.com/featured/gynocentrism-and-the-demographic-implosion-of-western-civilisation/
- https://avoiceformen.com/featured/the-normalisation-of-gynocentrism/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FEoQOurpGo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX_v0zxM23Q
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Generation
