It’s been a, how shall we say, newsy year.
The US secular state is being collapsed, CEOs are bracing for a backlash to their violence, Washington’s thrashing about is creating an everything shortage, unprecedented corruption, AI and surveillance battlegrounds are forming, a burgeoning masked police force is up to no good, and that’s just in the US! The mess Washington is creating abroad might be even worse.
It can all be a little demoralizing—if you let it.
One of my favorite Substack’s I stumbled upon recently, Black Lodges, recently had a piece titled ‘Care.’ Among many segments that stood out there was this:
When we talk about non-capitalist social reproduction, we are not merely talking about provisioning. It isn’t, and cannot be, a simple matter of feeding and providing shelter for those fighting on the front line. The care work goes far beyond this, because the battleground is quite literally for the values we hold as encompassing our humanity. And as such, the vast majority of what we are talking about is emotional labour. This does not mean doing labour for emotional reward, or just working for those with emotional needs. Emotional labour is a broad spectrum of practices that include bearing witness to the expression of trauma without becoming numb or succumbing to despair, cultivating hope as a practice of action without set expectations…
When I read the commentary here at NC that is what I see.
It can come in the form of sharing information, inspiration, or strategies. In tales of local support networks. Or it can be in a belief that our rulers are greedy and blind to their own failings that an opportunity could be opened up to dethrone them and create something better. Or in the more quiet realization that there are many out there sharing similar struggles and an awareness that this could all be so much better. Most of all I see the stubborn refusal to let go of sanity and humanity in an increasingly insane and inhumane world.
Now is the time to double down on that doggedness to help us keep going by giving generously at the Tip Jar.
Help us keep dissecting the latest BS narratives propagated by our overlords. Just to name a few that we’ve been dealing with here recently: AI is going to usher in an era of prosperity for all, the multiple great victories in Iran, European rearmament will lead to security, BRICS is going to save the world, and green tech is going to save the biosphere.
Fortunately, at Naked Capitalism sanity prevailed in each of these cases early and often.
The AI racket was rightfully appraised as a circular investment racket composed of mass theft and a climate disaster that empowers the most sociopathic among us.
Yves, with her relentless coverage of the Iran war was fast to highlight the economic fallout that is now coming to pass.
We’re a small team and the world is large, but we continue to mix in coverage of all corners of the globe. Nick Corbishley is on the empire’s violent resurgence in Latin America. Our commenters offer insight from Southeast Asia to the Middle East to the Great Plains of the US.
We continue to be fascinated by Europe, led by captured elites, becoming a proxy of the US and following Ukraine down a disastrous path—or at least pretending to in order to bust out the public commons.
Like many alternative media outlets Naked Capitalism welcomes systems that challenge the imperial and neoliberal “rules-based order” and would replace it with something more humane. Unlike the majority of other outlets, however, we haven’t let that desire for something better blind us to the fact that the BRICS hype far outpaces the reality.
And looming over it all, ignored by all the geopolitical machinations of our deranged lords of tech and finance, is the climate crisis. It’s not ignored here, however, and we plan to keep focusing on risks to the food system, water availability, the holy markets, and most of all, people.
Help us keep wading through the BS piling ever higher by contributing here.
A frequent topic of discussion here at Naked Capitalism is the multiple houses of cards built on top of one another and when they might collapse. It’s shown remarkable ability to reinvent itself and endure, but has it ever been so horrendous, so unpopular, so on the verge of crashing down?
Yet even should the empire retreat, that doesn’t necessarily herald a new better day; in fact in many ways it could be worse. The dominant power of transnational capital would not disappear, and desperate responses to imperial setbacks will likely see the US increasingly pick on countries where it would face less resistance and turn inwards, redoubling the privatized police state and 1990s-Russia-style shock therapy.
That’s a sour note for a fundraiser pitch, but also where I see the most value of Naked Capitalism—a sane and humane community to share tips, critical thinking, and laughs in the face of what can seem at times like overwhelming despair.
That makes me optimistic despite all the bad news. As NC commenter Geo wrote recently:
Going a bit off topic here but currently depressed about my own real-world community (and grateful for the NC community here that helps me feel like there’s some sanity left in the world even if it’s just our small corner of it)…Thank you to all here at NC for reminding me that there are some people who haven’t gone totally mad. And to the NC team for creating this space for thoughtful dialogue and real news.
And thank you to all the commenters and people donating that help keep this site going.
So please head to the donation page, dig deep, and help us all keep the insanity and inhumanity at bay for another year!
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