Thinking out loud...again!

We’re already a third of the way through 2025… Time flies when you’re having ‘fun’ watching the world slide into dystopia. Owing to a health situation which, fingers crossed, is now being resolved, I’ve taken my foot off the gas for a bit, which has given me time to reflect and also, to try and work out where my energy can best be focused. Taking time to think more deeply about things, while it may seem like slacking to some, has helped give me a bit of perspective on where we are in the ongoing, increasingly dystopian clusterf**k that’s impacting many of us. I make no apology for carrying on with this process of thinking out loud…

One thing that has really dawned on me over the last few months is that building the new world we want is a long game. One that as I’ve now spent almost three score years and ten on this earth, I accept I will never see fully realised in my lifetime. With grandchildren, I’ve got skin in the game so, I have to resist the temptation to jack it all in because I want a better world for them than the dystopian shitshow we have now. So, while I may be pacing myself so my energy is better focused, I’ve no intention of giving up.

Why is building a better world a long game? Simply because it takes time to build the parallel systems we need to get us through the multiple crises we face and then on to the other side. Which is why we have the At the grassroots project and also, why I’m increasing sharing posts between that project and this blog. At the grassroots is about working towards a better world from the base upwards. It’s not exactly a glamorous or exciting project but, it reflects what needs to be done at the neighbourhood level to start bringing about the change that we want.

What I have noticed is that when I re-post material from At the grassroots onto this blog, these posts don’t garner the number of views that my more overtly punchy pieces have done. While it’s not a huge drop off, it’s significant enough to notice and, it happens on a pretty consistent basis. This has got me thinking about the point of this blog. Quite simply, it’s this: The whole point is to bloody well change things! 21.2.25:

This is why I over the last fifteen years, I’ve run blogs such as Alternative Estuary when I was living back in Essex, and currently now I’m in Keynsham, At the grassroots. The aim of these blogs has been to promote and support grassroots projects. All of this has been done from a recognition that real change has to come from the grassroots where we live. Real change can only come about by bringing power down to the communities where we live and then forming transparent and accountable federations of those communities to scale things up.

Through a combination of a critique of the clusterf**k we’re being subjected to on to re-posts from At the grassroots featuring examples of how change can happen, this blog is about inspiring people to take action and start to bring about meaningful change. This blog is not about fuelling the anger of the already pissed off without offering an indication of a route towards a better world. The last thing I want to do is end up being a part of the problem. The problem being that people are already wound up and adding more fuel to the fire without a roadmap pointing to a better future will not only not help, it will end up actively hampering any efforts to bring about real change at the grassroots.

Here in the UK, it feels like we’re in for a ‘hot summer’ on the streets as tensions over a range of issues simmer under the lid, with the potential to boil over. When you take a deep breath, stand back and analyse what’s behind those tensions, and more importantly, who’s manipulating them, then the only conclusion that can be drawn is that people are being massively played. I’ve written this many times before but, it bears repeating – those who presume to rule over us want us angry, stressed and at each other’s throats. It’s the classic scenario of problem, reaction and then a ‘solution’. This is what I wrote about last year when there were incidents of street disorder in the wake of the murder of three young girls at a dance event in Southport: Problem, reaction, solution - how it's playing out so far 6.8.25:

What gets me and also, anyone who can think critically, are the number of people allowing themselves to be led onto the streets to participate in actions that are engineered to end up with clashes with the police and counter protesters, when they show up, further ratcheting up tensions, so that the aforementioned repressive measures can be imposed upon us. During the Covid 'crisis' in 2020 and 2021, I and many other people pointed out how the situation was being manipulated in order to justify a range of measures that would curtail our freedom. Sadly, it would seem that some of the people who were on the anti-lockdown/anti-vaccine mandate protests in 2021 have participated in the anti-immigrant protests, allowing themselves to directly fuel the tensions that will be used as a justification for a clampdown on our freedoms. It's as though nothing has been learnt by these people from the experience of 2020 and 2021.

I’m not going to go into an exhaustive review of the myriad problems afflicting us here in the UK but, it should be noted that a fair number of them have been allowed to develop by the powers that be because they know there will be a reaction. One that may well play out on the streets in a way that will frighten a significant chunk of the populace. A reaction that will be allowed to run for a while until a ‘solution’ is proffered that will bring a (false) sense of calm. A solution that our rulers have long hankered to implement but, have been held back by what they perceive will be a lack of public acceptance.

That’s until a ‘crisis’ comes along that leaves people literally begging for a ‘solution’ so ‘normal’ life can resume again. The thing is, as I’ve mentioned many times before, that ‘solution’ will inevitably be authoritarian and also, will involve the deployment of freedom limiting technology that will be mandatory. Things will be set up in such a way that resisting such technology will be incredibly difficult as it will be embedded in everything we currently need to live in society as it is. Which, as an aside, is one reason why I keep banging on about the need to build parallel systems…

Needless to say, the divide and rule merchants will be stirrings things up. Some knowingly acting on behalf of the ruling class they willingly serve, being only too well aware of the inevitable consequences in the form of the ‘solution’ that will be offered in the face of the ‘problem’ and the subsequent reaction. All very skilfully engineered by those at the top of the food chain. Then there are the useful idiots, unable to regulate their emotions, who’ll dive straight in, not thinking to stop and think for a few minutes before throwing more fuel onto an already blazing inferno.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in free speech. I don’t want top down state enforced regulation as to what is and isn’t permissible speech online. Once you give the state permission to clamp down on views you find abhorrent, it’s a bit rich to start complaining when that very same state turns round and shuts you up because your views are deemed a threat to their narrative. However, free speech should have consequences. So, if you’re an unthinking, rage baiting arsehole who’s only too happy to inflame an already bad situation, don’t be offended when people rip the piss out of you for being to all intents and purposes, an idiot.

As I’ve previously written, in an age of social media saturation, it would appear that people’s brains are being rewired to the point that comprehending complex and nuanced arguments is becoming harder. Whether this is by design or just an unfortunate consequence of the direction we’re heading in is a matter for debate – one I may return to at some point in the future. This is something I touched upon in this piece: A choice that can be made... 18.4.25:

This retreat into a protective bubble is leading to people simply not being able to put together a rational, persuasive argument defending their position. Instead of debate, we have vindictive insults and sometimes threats. It’s not a left versus right thing as some people would have it. This crosses and goes beyond the political spectrum. It’s not a problem of where someone is on the spectrum.

It’s a problem of what social media is actually doing to people’s thought processes.

The problem is that too many people are getting sucked into doom scrolling, falling for the rage bait and then reacting without even thinking. What happens is that the algorithms end up setting the agenda for what gets discussed on social media and ultimately, in society at large. Social media companies love click bait and rage bait because it boosts the number of viewers. More viewers equals more advertising revenue. Social media companies don’t care how the views are generated – all they care about is the revenue that brings in. Not only that, it can be argued that they’re willingly complicit in the agenda of dumbing down and divide and rule by click bait and rage bait. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken, sooner rather than later.

Getting people to ease off and rethink how they use social media isn’t going to be easy. It sure as heck isn’t going to happen overnight. Arguably, it should have happened at least ten years ago, before it really got it’s hooks into people. At this point, it needs to be noted that the Covid ‘crisis’ lockdowns of 2020/2021 ended up driving a lot more people onto social media in a desperate bid to beat the isolation everyone was experiencing at the time. That was the point where across and beyond the political spectrum, how social media was being (mis)used took a very weird turn, the consequences of which are only just starting to become apparent. That’s the point where locking into self referential bubbles and many of the other ills associated with the over use of social media really started to take off.

As mentioned earlier, radical change from the grassroots upwards is a long game. Sure, with the way the world feels like it’s sliding ever faster into dystopia, there’s a sense of urgency. However, having a sense of urgency shouldn’t manifest itself in constantly reacting to a contrived agenda of rage bait. If there’s no long term vision, then all we end up doing is being sucked into an energy sapping doom cycle of reaction until we’re worn down and just give up. Which is exactly where the powers that be want us. How to resist this is eloquently dealt with in this piece which I thoroughly recommend reading: Strategy Over Sentiment: Why Emotional Politics Keeps Us Trapped - Ciara Alexandra| Sovereign Notes | 28.4.25:

Mass outrage movements have their place, but they are unsustainable by design. They burn bright, then they burn out.

Real resilience comes from decentralized, local, strategic organizing: Communities building real-world networks, growing mutual aid systems, developing parallel economies, running for local offices, forming regional alliances.

Movements that survive don’t rely on emotional waves. Instead, they rely on structure, relationships, and quiet, consistent, cumulative pressure.

And this is how real power shifts. Not through viral moments, but through invisible infrastructures being built quietly underneath the decaying old world.

Even though I’ve been on this planet almost three score years and ten, I’d like to think I have enough optimism left to carry on working towards a better world. It sure as heck isn’t going to be easy to get people off the doom cycle and focusing on what we could have if we work collectively at the grassroots. However, as I look around the Avon region where we operate, it’s clear that already, there are many people and groups who, each in their own way, are working towards a better world. It’s this that helps keep me going through all of the shite…