A mere two months later in May, racism suddenly and unexpectedly eclipsed the birdemic as the world's greatest threat. The global threat of racism was so immediate and profound that anyone rallying for cause of anti-racism was immediately exempted from having to follow and obey the social distancing and lockdown measures that had, until then, kept the world safe from unimaginable megadeth. The menace racism posed back in May also required the granting of special privileges and powers such as the right to loot, riot, vandalize, and terrorize with wild abandon.
We are now in July, and there's a new (actually, old) greatest threat in town - affluence. Make no mistake - the birdemic virus is scary and racism is evil, but the biggest danger the world faces today is people possessing a deal of money and accumulated wealth.
How is this a threat?
Well, a person with money buys things, and the more money a person has, the more things he or she will buy.
I still don't get it. How is this a bad thing? People with money buying things are called consumers and consumers are the engine of the economy.
Yes, yes, but most people with money are not really consumers, but over-consumers; hence, our economy is not really about consumption, but over-consumption. Overconsumption is killing the environment and creates global inequality - and we can't have that now, can we?
Before going any further, it is important to recall that the birdemic was never primarily about providing protection from a virus, but was instead a cover the Establishment utilized to obscure their successful de facto global totalitarian takeover.
Now at first glance, this defacto totalitarian takeover seems superfluous. After all, the global elite represents the famous top 1% of the world's population who control 50% of the world's wealth. This top 1% not only outrightly own half the world, but they effectively 'control' the 30% of the world population that effectively 'owns' the other half of the world. This, in essence, is the System.
The remaining 70% of the world's population - those who earn less than about 8000 euros annually - essentially owns less than 1% of the world's wealth. Though the people in this portion of the world's population have seen their standards of living and life expectancies improve in the past half-century, they continue to exist on the fringes of the System. In a set up such as this, what possible advantage could the Establishment gain from an outright global takeover? More importantly, why would these global dictators actively seek to transform the System that has served them so effectively and well?
From a purely material perspective, the global dictatorship's rallying cries against affluence and consumption make no sense at all. After all, the global elite owes a great deal of its accumulated wealth and power to the mass consumerism it has created and generated. On top of that, the Establishment has invested an inestimable amount of time, energy, and resources into encouraging people of the world to acquire goods and services in ever increasing amounts. This, in turn, has allowed the Establishment to grow even more wealthy and powerful. Following this logic, it would be in the Establishment's best interest to intensify consumerism rather than dampen it, especially since the bulk of the world's population are on the cusp of becoming functional consumers themselves.
Many argue the Establishment have recognized that post-World War II levels of consumption are no longer sustainable, and that the environment simply cannot sustain another two or three billion rabid, Western-style consumers. The Establishment are quick to push this narrative as well, as evident in a recent post in one of its premiere public relations outlets, the World Economic Forum (bold added):
- Affluence is the biggest threat to our world, according to a new scientific report.
- True sustainability will only be achieved through drastic lifestyle changes, it argues.
- The World Economic Forum has called for a great reset of capitalism in the wake of the pandemic.
A detailed analysis of environmental research has revealed the greatest threat to the world: affluence.
That one of the main conclusions of a team of scientists from Australia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, who have warned that tackling overconsumption has to become a priority. Their report, titled Scientists' Warning on Affluence, explains that true sustainability calls for significant lifestyle changes, rather than hoping for efficient use of resources will be enough.
The irony in all of the above is too glaring to dismiss or ignore. To begin with, it immediately dispels any notions of an eventual return to normal so many are counting on. Secondly, it lays bare the Establishment's main objectives in this birdemic era. The birdemic is not a temporary blip, but a turning point.
For decades the Establishment have promulgated affluence and consumption as a veritable panacea for mortal life. 'Getting and spending' was not only promoted as an ultimate virtue, but was deemed a genuine duty; the highest mark of success; a grand expression of personal freedom. It formed the foundation upon which everything else was measured. Though affluence and consumption were not without benefits, the Establishment has wielded both as weapons to ground man in the material and coax him to reject the spiritual, as the Elder Zosima so accurately observes in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (bold added):
Look at the worldly and all who set themselves up above the people of God, has not God's image and His truth been distorted in them? They have science; but in science there is nothing but what is the object of sense. The spiritual world, the higher part of man's being is rejected altogether, dismissed with a sort of triumph, even with hatred. The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says:
“You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires.” That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants. They maintain that the world is getting more and more united, more and more bound together in brotherly community, as it overcomes distance and sets thoughts flying through the air.
Alas, put no faith in such a bond of union. Interpreting freedom as the multiplication and rapid satisfaction of desires, men distort their own nature, for many senseless and foolish desires and habits and ridiculous fancies are fostered in them. They live only for mutual envy, for luxury and ostentation. To have dinners, visits, carriages, rank and slaves to wait on one is looked upon as a necessity, for which life, honor and human feeling are sacrificed, and men even commit suicide if they are unable to satisfy it. We see the same thing among those who are not rich, while the poor drown their unsatisfied need and their envy in drunkenness. But soon they will drink blood instead of wine, they are being led on to it. I ask you is such a man free?
Zosima's insights shed light on the metaphysical confusion caused by the dissemination of affluence and consumption. Demonic forces have used this metaphysical confusion to reap damnation for centuries. Our own contemporary world demonstrates that affluence and consumption alone cause malaise, as exemplified by the term affluenza, which refers to a lack of motivation, a sense of guilt, and a feeling of isolation among those who have acquired a certain degree of wealth. On the whole, all of Western civilization is currently suffering from this malaise, which, at its core, is spiritual in nature. In this sense, the obsessive push of the affluence/consumption agenda has been extremely effective tactic for soul damnation. Despite its success, this tactic is now coming to an end.
The Establishment have flipped their stance. What was once considered virtue will now be treated as vice. More metaphysical confusion will ensue. Having said that, I do not believe this alone will be enough to convince most modern people to abandon their materialist/hedonistic ways. As a result, I expect the needed lifestyle changes the Establishment are advertising will be forced upon us in the same manner social distancing, mask-wearing, and lockdowns were forced upon us. It will become extremely difficult to maintain affluence and consumption when the mechanisms that create affluence and consumption are systematically dismantled and destroyed, which is exactly what the Establishment is currently doing within the fog of the birdemic and subsequent racism nonsense.
Despite entire ideologies erected in opposition to it, capitalism - another word for affluence and consumption - is not a wholly negative phenomenon. Utilized in the proper manner, with the correct moral and ethical (ultimately, spiritual) foundations in place, capitalism can provide individuals and society at large certain degrees of personal autonomy and freedom. The demonic forces guiding our global dictators are now working to eliminate this autonomy and freedom altogether.
Needless to say, the lifestyle changes the Establishment will demand of average citizens in the West - changes like the expectation of air travel, car-driving, dairy and meat consumption (check the linked essay above for more details) - will certainly not apply to them. I simply cannot imagine any of our elite giving up their affluence, their private jets, multiple homes, or animal-protein rich dinners for the sake of anything, but they will insist we give up our cars, houses, and overseas vacations for the good of humanity and the planet.
Then again, they won't to need to insist. They will simply remove the mechanisms that make those things possible. Thus, the influenza will cure us of our affluenza and help establish a 'safe and just space for humanity', which to me sounds like thinly-veiled code for hell on earth followed by eternal damnation.