I enjoy watching History Channel’s survival “game show”,”Alone”. Watching the varied strategies, the glory of nature, the stripping away of self in the planet’s most unforgiving environments makes for stirring, emotional drama. I find myself rooting for all the contestants to be changed by the experience, and to burn off the layers of constructed identity in the crucible of an implacable, unbeatable foe. I don’t really care who “wins” as much as I want them all to get something real out of it. That’s the journey that interests me. Funny enough, same thing with Project Runway. Anyways.
The longest anyone has gone is 100 days. Most contestants are literally on the edge of death when they tap out. And without proper care afterwards, would likely suffer permanent harm. These are the most qualified, most knowledgeable, most experienced survivalists and bushcraft experts available. 11 seasons of S tier woodspeople, and just about a week over three months is the limit, apparently.
And we seem to want to build a society and an economy around this absolute dogshit idea that this model is the height of moral and spiritual achievement. The myth of The Rugged Individualisttm in American politics particularly is hilariously ahistoric, a lie constructed by racists, patriarchal oppressors, colonialists, and weird modern dudes with a seething hatred of bedtime and age of consent laws.
Ideological opposition to “Socialism” has been fomented by carefully selling this fictional identity of stoic gruff bearded protagonist for freedom as fundamentally American, as primal masculinity, as the ideal of conquering whiteness. From the fetishism of lone cowboys and intrepid explorers to the worship of the “self-made man” (itself an intentionally constructed myth), US history is rife with the narrative of the Galtian Superman long before Ayn Rand made landfall to live off our welfare state like a teat sucking parasite.
“Socialism” was weaponized as a bogeyman long before the Cold War. Part of the anti-Eastern European sentiment around the turn of the 29th century was aimed at the influx of immigrants familiar with the burgeoning movements reexamining what was still a basically Feudal model, with industry and wealth – and literal monarchies – providing minimal structure while the bulk of the population lived at subsistence levels. Even as the New World (lol) sent new products and resources to colonial powers, all this burgeoning Capitalism (technically Mercantilism, tbh) did absolutely fuck all to lift the lives of the serfs and peasants, what Marx would call “prolitariats”.
Ooooo scaaaaary. I’m sure there was some 19th Century Elon Musk declaring “bourgoisie” a slur, and sending anyone who used it to the stocks or some shit. But these are simply descriptors of the reality Marx saw, and developed terminology for. These are not things that were magically wished into existence by Socialism, Marxism, Communism, Leninism, Troskyism, Stalinism, Maoism, or any other ism that triggers the snowflakes on the Right. So what is the existential threat described by these scary sounding bugbears?
Teamwork. That’s what it describes. Cooperation. Pooling resources to better and more efficiently meet the needs of a community or population. You know, that thing that humans have done for forever to prevent starving to death in the fucking woods alone (callback!). Seriously, every historical crisis ever has been best mitigated by those populations that have banded together in solidarity against the problem.
“BUT MUH RUGGED” no, goddamn it, everything is connected. You’re just a selfish child.
The US during WWII was functionally a Socialist State. The economy was centrally planned, resources like steel and silk were surrendered, food was rationed, employment was fully regulated, factories directed in their production, war bonds sold to pay for the war. Fun fact, most of the Socialist institutions in Europe have their roots in that period, where policy papers such as the Beveridge Report of 1942 were the result of examining the efficiency and efficacy of government programs spanning the WWI-WWII era. Same with the New Deal.
We instinctively band together to solve problems. That’s literally all Socialism is, politically. Programs like Social Security, Medicare?Medicaid, public education, the national highway system, public health programs like water fluoridation, childhood vaccinations, have all been wildly successful when not being sandbagged by bitter shitbags addicted to reactionary contrarianism and fucking brain worms. And when further programs are presented without ideologically charged language, they are favored by a sizable majority of the US.
So why can’t we team up like political Superfriends (jesus, even super powered fantasy heroes team up, goddamn Righty morons) and make the world a better, more sustainable place to exist?
Because we let the narcissistic apex predators of patriarchal capitalism pump 100% pure grade Z dogshit into the discourse.
Do I support a centrally planned economy? No, and there are other ideological sticking points I think face fair challenge in Leftist politics, mainly economic. But I don’t think that allocating a portion of gross production to ensuring a good and decent baseline of existence to everyone who lives inside our borders is some political moral hazard, I think it’s literally the least we can do.
Access to food, housing, healthcare, education, and opportunity for everyone is not a pipe dream, it’s an imperative for survival. Fully funded watchdogs and a fair and accountable legal system, and general protections against economic manipulation in politics and the markets also a no-brainer. This is the most basic vision of a better America possible. It’s how humans have survived for thousands of years.
Live together, die alone.
But we have a bunch of goatfucking morons who will cling to their fabricated mythos of Freedomtarian Hero Patriots fighting for liberation fromm vaccines and mask mandates like a five year old fighting for dessert first at dinner, and fuck everything up for us all because that identity is all they have.
How do you play baseball by yourself? You fucking don’t.
Kelsoland.Institute 