Quietly withdrawing consent

The shitshow of a broken system we have to endure only continues to stagger on because the majority of people have yet to withdraw their consent. That sounds like I'm going to condemn the majority for continuing to go along with a system that does not reflect our desire for a better, more meaningful existence doesn't it? Well, I'm not going to condemn people for appearing to go along with a dysfunctional, increasingly dystopian system because that's not my style.

With the way things have been set up, the vast majority of people are too busy slogging their guts out trying to make ends meet to build whatever life they can manage in a failing system. After an exhausting week, understandably all they want to do with whatever downtime they may have is to try and chill out as far as possible between all of the life admin and other crap that's part and parcel of modern life. What gets me is those people who claim to have 'woken up' calling out everyone else for being so called 'sheep'. That's the kind of elitist crap that gets me riled up.

In the four years since the Covid 'crisis' broke, a decent number of people have become more alert to what's being done to them in the name of the 'Great Reset' and why it's being done to them. Not all of them saw through things at the outset. Some like us took a good few months before the pieces started to fall into place and we could start to see through the narrative we were being fed. Some are only just realising now what was actually done to us. People will come to see things at different paces and in different ways. Those who claimed to see through the narrative from day one and who roundly condemned those who didn't, need to take a long hard look at themselves.

One of the reasons why this is the case is that what some dubbed the 'freedom' or 'truth' movement was never really a cohesive enterprise. If anything it was an uneasy coalition of convenience for a fairly wide range of people. One that was never destined to last as I wrote here in this piece: It was never going to last so, we need to move on... 16.10.23.

So, it shouldn't come as any surprise that the messaging from those of us opposing what has been done to us over the last four years was not exactly clear or consistent. Such is life. It's down to those of us with a platform to work out how we can communicate the need for the crumbling system we have to be replaced from the grassroots upwards with something that meets our needs on our terms. It's also important to do so without hectoring or preaching. This is not an easy task!

If you talk to most people in depth, they'll most likely admit they know things are falling apart at the seams and that it's harder to trust those in authority to look after their interests. What they don't feel confident about is how to set about making a challenge and start to build something better. Given the daunting scale of the task, it's understandable that most people feel that the best they can do is keep their heads down and hope for the best.

We haven't got a blueprint for how society could look after any radical change. Anyone coming along with a blueprint and a ready made plan for change needs to be treated with the utmost suspicion. All we have are some tentative suggestions and principles, based on an understanding that most ordinary people can be trusted to do the right thing: Principles... Anything more prescriptive than that is vanguardism and that's something we have no time for.

Through this blog with our posts and our memes, we try to get people to start questioning what's being done to them and why: Memes - generic. We also try to do this with our stickers. This is a work in progress and we don't claim to have a magic formula when it comes to succinctly communicating an idea that will make people stop and think, and then start to ask some awkward questions.

One thing we are doing our level best to do is to encourage people to start quietly withdrawing their consent for the system to carry on functioning as it is. We recognise that most people's circumstances mean that they can't fully opt out and go off to live in a self sufficient community of like minded people. That's how things have been set up to ensure that we remain trapped in their shitshow of a system. That's what they want to think anyway...

Quietly withdrawing consent can involve a pretty wide range of actions, each of which has the potential to throw a small spanner in the works. When taken cumulatively, they can end up throwing a massive spanner in the works. When it comes to starting to exit the consumer culture and looking to grow some of your own food, we made this modest contribution to the discussion: Breaking free... 19.8.23.

“It starts with getting out of the cycle of constantly upgrading and instead, making stuff last longer with an emphasis on repairing rather than replacing. Questioning whether you actually need all of the stuff that surrounds you is is next step. That involves reassessing priorities. A small example - rather that sitting isolated at home glued to a screen, get together with friends and neighbours for face to face interaction and analogue amusements:)”

“I've written a lot about food security and growing your own food. Taking control of at least some of your food supply by growing and processing it yourself is another way of breaking out from the system. Again, it's another endeavour that's better done in tandem with others as it will build strong, independent grassroots networks.”

There's also resistance to the digitisation of ever more aspects of our lives from buying train tickets to the attempts to get us to abandon cash and pay for everything using so called smartphones. Trends that I wrote about at some length in this piece: The de-humanising shittiness of modern life 6.8.23.

“What's also de-humanising and pretty shitty is the way those who can't or refuse to accept getting sucked into the digital control matrix as cast off to one side. That's particularly the case with elderly people who can't get to grips with digital interfaces which all too often, feel like they're put together by someone with scant regard for the quality of user experience. It's a case of take it or leave it and if you can't cope, that's tough shit. Is that the future you want where those who can't keep up with the relentless and often, pointless pace of change are slung onto the scrap heap? One where those elderly people who can't deal with the pointless complexity and shittiness of modern life are dismissed as little more than 'useless eaters'?”

There's also the news agenda, or what passes for 'news' in the age of nudging, fear porn, divide and rule and full on psy-ops. It's an agenda designed to keep us in fear and hoping the authorities will come up with a solution to the hassle and shite of everyday life. When a fair number of those problems appear to be designed to generate a strong reaction followed up by a 'solution' from the authorities that will suit the interests of the powers that be while further diminishing our agency and freedom, it's time to withdraw our consent. It's simply a case of refusing to view their crap while at the same time, seeking out independent reportage and commentary that is concerned with the truth and open debate rather than garnering a massive amount of views and keeping us fearful and at each other's throats.

Then there's the beating of the war drums that's slowly but surely getting louder. Something we took a look at in this post: Are we being nudged towards a war with Russia? 24.1.24. From what we've seen so far, it would appear that a decent number of people from across and beyond the political spectrum are questioning this nudging:

“Most people in Britain don't have an issue with the people of Russia. Sure, they may well think that Putin is a power crazed autocrat but, they're intelligent enough to not fall for the propagandist's trick of conflating a government with the people they govern. They also see that any move towards conscription is the start of the slippery slope to chucking predominantly working class bodies into the meat grinder of war. Many people are also aware that the way Britain treats its military veterans leaves a lot to be desired. For those who have lost friends and family in combat or have to live with veterans whose lives have been wrecked because of injury, they're asking in whose interests will it be to send more young men and women into combat.”

Long may that withdrawal of consent to warmongering continue to grow...

As already stated, this is not a comprehensive list of ways people can start to quietly withdraw their consent from a toxic system. To come up with such a list would be arrogant. All we want to do with this piece is offer some pointers and get people to start the process of thinking how they can circumvent and undermine a system that's geared up to serve the elites and actively works against our hopes and aspirations. The more creative people can get with this, the better...