Lord of Light

by Jon Sullivan - 2025-03-02 - Jonism

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As the USA descends into chaos, as non-millionaires sink to poverty, I need to reevaluate how I'm living my life.

A thought has been bouncing around my aging brain - What you don't try to change, you choose. For the last few decades we, as a nation, have decided not to manage Capitalism, not to limit monopolies, not to equitably tax the most wealthy, not to maintain the rule of law, not to mitigate our addiction to mega-corporations and fake news. Thus..... we have by default chosen all of it. We've sold our future and our children's future for convenience and cheap junk. The time for saying it can't happen here is over. It is happening. We've blown through the country becoming a joke around the world, sat on our hands as we became allies with Putin, and now we can only hope to somehow avoid medieval serfdom.

I'm reminded of the classic science fiction novel, "Lord of Light". Where a powerful elite reserved technology only for themselves, kept everyone else peasants, and ruled over them like deities.

"The crew has also developed a technology to transfer a person's soul electronically to a new body. This reincarnation by mind transfer has created a race of potential immortals and allowed the former crew members to institute a caste system, with themselves at the top.

The crew has used their now-great powers to control the peasants while setting themselves up as gods. These "gods" maintain respect and control of the masses by maintaining a stranglehold on the access to reincarnation and by suppressing any technological advancements beyond a medieval level. The gods fear that any enlightenment or advancement might lead to a technological renaissance that would eventually weaken their power."

Hmmmmm..... I wonder if Elon Musk ever read that novel.....

In case I'm being too subtle here, my take on the current situation is literally this -

Trump became a Russian asset at the same time Deutsche Bank paid off his bankruptcies and gave him millions in unsecured loans. Loans he never paid off, and Putin can call in at any time. As a Russian asset he is now working to destroy the country and rule as king. That would sound batshit crazy a couple years ago, but it fits pretty well now.

Elon Musk has embraced the "Lord of Light" style Accelerationism philosophy, and white supremacy goals, and is working on bringing about as much apocalyptic destruction as he can. Worst case he will live on Mars and watch it all burn from space. That would sound batshit crazy a couple years ago, but it fits pretty well now.

But.... I doubt Elon will have space for me on his rocket to Mars. I will be stuck here with you all as civilization crumbles. For years I have, as we all have, been funding the super rich. Rather than support locally owned businesses we bought the same goods from Amazon. Rather than support independent journalism we doom scrolled Facebook and Tik-Toc. Rather than farmer's markets we bought our produce from Wallmart and Whole Foods.

So..... Time to pivot away from giving my money to mega corps and fake news. It will cost more and be less convenient, but that was the trap. I need to stop falling into the trap. No Amazon unless I can't find it locally or at a smaller company. No more Facebook except to rally real action. No more sitting on the couch and yelling into the void, but instead seeking out people marching in the street. Stand up for the freedom fighters when the "lord of light" calls them terrorists. Choose neutral good rather than the easier neutral evil. Gather with good people, as many as you can. If we go down, do it together rather than be picked off one by one. We don't have to buy guns and shoot people. We just need to stop giving our money to billionaires.

What we don't try to change, we choose. So change now. Embrace kindness. Embrace kindness in person, in purchases, in resistance, in community, in media. Say the words and live them - Peace, light, love, joy. This is how we fight. And if we fail, let us at least have tried together.

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