Today is Mother’s Day! In past years, I've written nice things for my mom here—some poems, some reflections—all nice.

I don't feel nice today.

Don't get me wrong, I'll take some time and just kind-of treat myself in her honour (as I often do on days like these) but when it comes to writing down feelings: today isn’t a pleasant one. This one might be more about catharsis.

SO:

I feel pessimistic about the world right now. Generally: faith in humanity has been eroding for a lot of us over the past few years—started with Trump and really ramping up when COVID hit. This past week, with the vote to overturn abortion rights in the US, it's like the floor fell out.

On its own: rolling back the clock on women's rights in America is terrible. I actually used to give anti-abortion advocates the benefit of the doubt, accepting that they really were just "pro-life" and against "murder" (based on their definition).

But they're not pro-life.

OK, a handful of evangelical Christians‚—who may not pass a sanity check—are genuinely hysterical about killing babies. I'll give them a pass because they're brainwashed and delusional, but there's not very many of them.

But then there’s a few million right-leaning Catholics-on-paper were told to be "pro-life" and they're going along with it because Fox News is incredible at propaganda. All those people are outraged at abortion because they were told to be outraged. They don't actually care. Forced pregnancies don't align with any of their real ideologies or self-interests. These people despise those living below the poverty line (who are the most likely to be affected by abortion bans). They’d rather deport or imprison everyone on welfare than see any tax dollars support them.

These are the people who, if told the truth about Jesus being a brown-skinned socialist, would have a meltdown. The world they push for is cold and unforgiving. They advocate for selfishness; putting everyone in charge of their own survival. They don't care about taking care of the weak or sick or impoverished. They don’t care about education. They don’t care about leaving the world better than they found it.

They care about their team winning. They care about owning the libs.

That is where my pessimism comes from.

As I said: the attack on women's rights is awful on its own. It does not protect children in the slightest. It only reinforces the "man's world" we were just barely starting to evolve past.

It's depressing that people advocate for it.
It's depressing that people ignorantly support it.
It's depressing that the democratically elected officials—put in place by the majority of people—are not doing their job.

It's bad. We’re fucked.

This week told me: democracy is going to be our downfall.

Put better: the "democratic” system currently in place, that does not support the will of the people, and fails to do the objectively “right” thing, will fail to address the existential threats around the corner.

These jackasses can't handle middle-school sex-education concepts. They can’t understand that banning abortions just means banning safe abortions. They don’t get that “abstinence” has never, and will never, be an effective campaign.

So how in hell are they going to respond to rapidly deteriorating climate conditions, more severe storms and wildfires, failed crops and famine, shrinking coastlines and dispossessed families, and inevitable conflict over scarce resources.

They aren't going to respond. They might do damage control. Ultimately: they're going to do what's best for themselves. They're going to try getting re-elected. They're going to satisfy their donors. They're going to deflect and manufacture outrage to polarize voters.

That's the downfall, happening right in front of our eyes in America. These parties are so concerned with their ongoing war for political control, they don't do their actual jobs.

Again, this current abortion ban has nothing to do with abortions. No one cares about protecting sacred life in the womb. They care about political wins. The right decided this was an issue—like they've done with COVID, critical race theory, LGBTQ rights, climate change, immigration, and education. They don't care about any these things. They just want wins. They want causes for voters rally around. They say, "you should care about these things, and we're the ones who'll push them through!"

Manufacture outrage, sell a solution, do nothing for citizens.

If you're reading this in Canada and saying, "at least things are better here:" better does not mean good. The propaganda is quieter here; the glory days our right wants back aren't quite as outdated and oppressive; but we have the same issues of inequality, poverty, pollution—hell there are still thousands without clean water on reserves across the country—and neither liberals or conservatives give a shit. (NDP says they do, but just have yet to get the chance to let us down.)

"So politicians suck, what's new?"

I know—governments have sucked throughout all human history, but the stakes weren't always this high. Impossible decisions must be made in the next two decades. The world as we know it will be beyond recognition in fifty years either way. It must be someone’s job to steer the ship. Someone must step in and be the lame—but responsible—parental figure who tells the crazy kids when to stop lighting fossil fuels on fire.

Our system was designed so that only government can play that role, and we recently learned, beyond a doubt: they're not up for it.

Businesses aren't going to suddenly be responsible. They face a prisoners dilemma where, if one of them takes the moral high road, all their competitors' share prices go up. Unless, of course, consumers step up and collectively hold businesses accountable, voting with their dollars for how they want the world to work. But there are next-to-no examples of that working on a grand scale. Petitions and boycotts have never really worked. Nike wasn't cancelled for their sweatshops. Apple wasn't cancelled for their suicide-nets around their manufacturing facilities. Monsanto's never been cancelled. Blackrock has never been cancelled. BP Oil hasn't been cancelled. We're too selfish and jaded to organize. I don't want to sacrifice my quality of life in hopes of things changing, because I don't believe enough other people will follow suit.

So that leaves...no one to face the issues that are coming, which means we're fucked.

Billions of people are going to have pretty shit lives in a hundred years.

It's not going to effect me, outside of ruining some ski and biking seasons, I imagine. I’m sure my kids (who I’m currently not planning on having) would likely be fine as well. Canada is the single-best place to live in a world facing a climate crisis. (Thanks, gigantic, farmable interior and fresh-water lakes!) But what then? Mars, I guess? Which...I mean...cool. Not ideal from a quality-of-life standpoint—but still cool.

I feel a little bad distracting from the issue at hand. The lives of women in over half the states in America are about the get significantly harder. There will be fewer women at the tops of their fields. There will be more medical complications and deaths. That's dire enough right there.

But things are only going to get worse in America, and the spillover will be felt everywhere. Political parties here in Canada will follow suit. They'll try harder to polarize us on ridiculous issues. And no one will lift a finger to do the job we desperately need them to do.

So…yeah. While the sun is currently shining, it feels like a dark day, and I have no idea what to do about it. I guess I'll just keep writing my blog and finish this book that won't give anyone their rights back, but will maybe do something positive for someone, somewhere.

Sorry I'm in a mood, Mom. Hopefully you're still just happy I'm sharing.