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"What this means is that if there is to be any deviation from our species' self-destructive trajectory, the cause of that deviation will come completely out of left field."https://t.co/whgNxmEive
Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) December 21, 2019
If we are bravely confronting the reality that we may emerge on the other side of this thing to a world that is in some ways unrecognizable to us, some things we previously didn't pay as much attention to will become more important to us, and other things will become less important.
Our personal relationships will become more precious to us. My elderly parents are isolating now so I'm video-chatting with them every day, and I spent some time yesterday overwhelmed with grief when I realized I won't get to hug them for months, at best. This is happening all around the world right now, with all of us.
For those of us who are political, it will also change our areas of emphasis. As near as I can tell, the four most crucial and attention-worthy things in the world right now are (A) the virus itself, (B) the certainty that powerful people will try to use the virus to advance longstanding authoritarian agendas which they have no intention of reversing, (C) the acceleration toward cold war escalations between the US and China, and (D) the possibility of an opportunity to create something good for all of us coming out of all the increasing amount of shifts and changes we are experiencing. And not necessarily in that order.
It will also de-emphasize a lot of things we'd previously been placing immense importance on. The US presidential race is the first thing that comes to mind. It consumed so much of our attention over the past year, but now it's a fairly safe bet that this virus and its consequences are going to affect our lives and the world far, far more than they would be affected if the White House changed hands or stayed under the current administration.
There are many other areas people have been placing emphasis on that they will necessarily de-emphasize when they get real with themselves about what's going on, which will vary from person to person. Maybe you see the things we should prioritize differently than I do. Maybe you see the things we should de-emphasize differently as well. It doesn't really matter; all that matters is that we be very courageously honest with ourselves and the reality of our situation, and that we rearrange our priorities in a way that we feel best reflects this.
That's all I've got to say about this for now. Let's keep watching the shifting tides together.
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