Dispatches From A Collapsing State

On this episode of The Check-In, I talk with my friend Danielle Moodie about all the increasing signs of American collapse, including our loss of allies and a parade of self-inflicted mistakes and abuses, and the feeling of grief surrounding them. We get into how people must sit with these feelings, process them, go over their own lives and actions, all in an effort to reject the standard, destructive choices we are offered and follow their own maps into a future that will be, hopefully, better.

Over Labor Day weekend, at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, audiences were treated to a surprise screening of a new documentary called You Can See Everything, a nearly three-hour documentary directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim focusing on disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in the leadup to her eleven year imprisonment for fraud. Following the screening, a trailer was released and instantly became a viral sensation.

Like most tellings of history, the attacks of September 11th focus on the actors. Osama Bin Laden. George W. Bush. Al-Qaeda. The United States of America. And then, the actions. Millions watching as United Airlines Flight 175 streaked across the screen before slamming into the South Tower. The collapses. The bullhorn speech and then the wars. It comes together rather effortlessly, this sorting, this grasping at narratives and, in turn, meaning.

On this episode of The Check-In, my friend Danielle Moodie and I get into the ongoing myth of inevitability around AI, a technology that even those inventing it admit could destroy us as a species.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks. I’ve been sick and getting my ass kicked in general, but the questions for another edition of Dispatches Mailbag have been piling up and I wanted to get to some of them. There’s no end to the confusing and infuriating developments right now, especially as we watch the Democratic Party attack leftists with everything they’ve got and the scams and antidemocratic actions of the fascists continued unabated. I’m as frustrated as anyone and want to be open about that.

Well, I’m sick as a dog and this week has kicked my ass, but I still wanted to sit down with my friend Danielle Moodie and knock out this newest episode of The Check-In. Here, we talk about the long overdue recognition that the Democratic Party is captured opposition and the reckoning that follows. I’m going to get hydrated and rest up. I’ll post a mailbag later in the week. I’ve got a bunch of questions already, but if you want something answered feel free to reply here or shoot an email.

It is so nice to be back after a week spent out in the middle of the wilderness. Thank you for everyone who came out to watch my friend Danielle Moodie and I get back to the business of The Check-In. In this episode we start by discussing the breakdown of American systems, leaving us with the responsibility of learning how to take care of ourselves and re-learn skills we might have thought unnecessary.

This article is free for educational and organizing purposes, but I want to be honest: Dispatches From A Collapsing State desperately needs your support. I receive no corporate backing, no money under the table from monied interests paying for propaganda. I depend on paid subscribers and I have lost a ton of them because I have been open in my criticism of the Democratic Party and discussing how they are bought and sold by the same people operating the Republican Party.

This is Part IV, and the penultimate installment, of a series I’m calling A Crisis of Meaning and Purpose that explores our fascistic and democratic crises have been driven by historic levels of loneliness, depression, and fear. In Part I we discussed how the Neoliberal Consensus intentionally divided us in order to undermine democratic opposition to capital and in Part II the focus shifted to MAGA as a fascistic cult that promises terrified Americans a sense of community and power.

As I’ve already said a few times, I’m heading out to the middle of nowhere to get a little rest in order to prepare for the run-up to what is surely going to be a contentious and dangerous election season. I wanted to make sure you got some things from me, so in addition to the most recent part of the ongoing special series A Crisis of Meaning and Purpose (due out Thursday), I’ve scheduled this edition of Dispatches Mailbag a few days in advance.