White Leftists Need More Imagination

One facet of political theory that fascinates me is the inability of Western leftists to consider that their own critiques are fundamentally lacking in imagination. They've re-hashed the same 'working-class' economics and unionization that is wildly inadequate to the hyper capitalist hegemony we live under today. The sheer size, scale, and scope of consolidation of material wealth is so expansive that even Karl Marx himself would've been in awe.

But to continue to think in the manner of 19th century English/American "tycoon" types that are readily identifiable by their monocle and mustache and can be defeated with pure unionization is ridiculous. The capitalist system has moved on from this and even moved on from the advent of the Fordist assembly line itself. The advent of American neoliberalism morphing into hyper-capitalist hegemony was accelerated in the 1980s and morphed again by the late-2000s. Even if the 'old guard' of unionization could meet the demands of today, its political 'bite' has been de-fanged to death at least three generations ago.

Now, the imagination and framework is still under Western relations of "exploitation and extraction" of resources, namely land itself. This one-sided business deal with nature has always been human-centric and cannot be reconciled simply by slapping a far-left economic stamp on a framework still using capitalist logic. When we say that we are not seperate from nature, this is not a liberal rallying cry to "save the trees" or whatever. Nor is it the self-defeating leftist framework of seizing the means of production only to reproduce a more progressive capitalist exploitation.

To truly fathom the degree of lost direction from nature and life in the West, you must reconsider even more than these things. You must shed the arrogance that has been beaten into every generation of White settlers since their inception. We are not the main character nor unresponsible for the damage wrought by colonialism and imperialism onto nature itself. This means to understand the world around you on a deep level and listen to the natural world as you go about your life. Re-imagine what it means to have a symbiotic relationship with nature, rather than an exploitative one based on what you can extract from it.

We, white settlers, have lost whatever humanity was to be had when we came here. We lost the plot a long time ago. I don't have all the answers but it's long overdue to seek out and internalize indigenous perspectives, philosophies, economics, and other means of thinking. Because that's the bare minimum right now.

Abolition of Pain is Unnatural

The Palliative Society: Pain Today

Byung-Chul Han

"The pain-free life of permanent happiness is not a human life. Life which tracks down and drives out its own negativity cancels itself out. Death and pain belong together. In pain, death is anticipated. If you seek to remove all pain, you will have also to abolish death. But life without death and pain is not human life; it is undead life. In order to survive, humans are abolishing themselves. They may succeed in becoming immortal, but only at the expense of life itself."

Capital As Protection From Death

The Palliative Society: Pain Today

Byung-Chul Han

"Capitalism lacks a narrative of the good life. It elevates survival to an absolute value. Capitalism is nourished by the unconscious thought that more capital means less death. Capital is accumulated against death. It is imagined as a capacity [Vermögen] for survival. Because life is finite, we accumulate capital time. The pandemic is a shock to capitalism, but it has not suspended it. It does not provide a narrative to counter that of capitalism. There will not have been a viral revolution. Capitalist production has not been decelerated; it has been forced to stop. There has been a nervous pause. The lockdown has not brought about leisure but enforced inactivity. It has not provided space for lingering. It is not true that the pandemic has meant health being prioritized over the economy. The entire economy of growth and performance itself aims at survival."

Tactical Friction in the Wild

What Is and How To

"Tactical Friction" as a concept is the insertion of intential difficulty into various tasks and skillsets that have been 'smoothed out' to excess by the prevailing capitalist systems in society.

A very basic example of this is simply taking an intentional "wrong turn" while driving with a GPS as a way to immerse yourself with better understanding of the area; not just as a straight-forward means of getting from point-a to point-b. This allows someone to potentially see a different route than they otherwise would have in the event of a road closure or some other traffic issue that would cause problems. This way, should that ever happen, they have the knowledge to potentially circumvent it from their previous "wrong turn."

Doing so cost next to nothing if the driver has some spare time to 'look around' and take that turn; enabling them with the knowledge to mitigate future problems.
A GPS system will only tell you the "fastest" route to any given place, not necessarily an efficient one. That comes with your own time, experience, and understanding.

 

Inserting this type of intentional 'difficulty' in an otherwise smooth setting is what Tactical Friction is all about. It's allowing for the philosophical "negative" of failure to exist as a means of teaching without the constant overwhelming presence of "positivity" that only allows for optimized successes.

Simply using failures in controlled circumstances can allow someone to engage with it to grow as a person with critical thinking capability.

 

It is not enough to understand what something is; it is fundamental to deep understanding to also know what it is not. To test the outer limits of a thought or idea is to engage with it in a way that can withstand outside critique.

This is how you go from having data; to information; to knowledge; to understanding; and finally to wisdom. Being a more critical thinker involves the progressive movement through these five areas.

 

Make things 'less smooth' in your own way to work against this cognitive offloading that has become so ingrained in our digitial lives.

Remember: these companies absolutely bank on their thought that the public is stupid and will continue to be for their own gain.