JACK BURNS LIVES!

“What are we waiting for? The time is late.”-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Edward Abbey was born this day in 1927. He’d be 85 and while almost certainly in a state of utter outrage over our current affairs, I think it’s safe to say he wouldn’t have been surprised. Abbey’s work is amongst the most prescient in American literature. Even a cursory evaluation of our current affairs confirms Ed’s grave predictions for American society, environmentally, socially and culturally. With phenomenal clarity, he confronted us with some of the most simple but profound truths of our time.

One, unrestrained growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell. Unchecked, it will ultimately destroy its host. And two, when humans are too far removed from nature, from their natural homes, they become mad.

“Men and women are trapped in the drudgery and tedium of meaningless jobs and the despoliation of a continent, the gray skies, the ruined rivers, the ravaged hills, the clearcut forests, the industrialized farms, all to keep that Gross National Product growing ever grosser. Madness and folly Untouched by human hands. Unguided by human minds.”

As a people, we’ve unfortunately ignored Ed’s wise instruction. We’ve marched onward, bulldozing, cutting, drilling and fracking, making more and more of our magnificent planet literally uninhabitable. Fucking up the entire planet isn’t enough, however. A few lunatics on the right, along with their mad scientist friends, now want to fuck up the entire solar system.

Abbey predicted what happens to humans when they don’t have enough space. Enough room to roam, room to escape the suffocating grip of of the cities. We go mad, and I honestly don’t have enough time or perhaps even room on this server to list all the examples of our madness.

Although there is one recent example that sticks out.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “afraid of a mouse.” Turns out we probably should be afraid of them, because today, the electronic version has become the trigger of a powerful weapon. So-called freedom fighters in the employ of the United States government can end your time on the planet with a single click. They sit in comfy chairs, hidden in secret bunkers, staring into computer screens, effortlessly dealing death with their menacing toys. Like the Christian god, the reach of the United States military is now almost infinite and its gaze omnipresent. It’s apparently also omnipotent, as it reserves the right to determine policy for the entire planet. Global judge, jury and executioner. A rogue state.

What sort of sick mind comes up with these ideas? What’s happened to real science? Ed, as usual, was right. Science has become “the whore of industry.”

“Science with a human face-is such a thing possible anymore? We live in a time when technology and technologists seem determined to make the earth unfit to live upon…the mad scientist, once only a comic figure in a specialize branch of fiction, has now come luridly to life in a hundred thousand forms. Together with his co-workers in big government, big industry, and the military, he dominates our lives. Ultimately, they will tyrannize the planet.”-Edward Abbey, “Science With a Human Face”

Ed missed the gradual erosion of human rights in America. In his time, we made some progress with racial and gender inequality, but since then, we’ve taken ten steps backward. In 2012, an American citizen can not only be indefinitely detained without representation, he or she can be executed by agents of the United States government and at the behest of a single person. In the twenty three years since Ed’s passing, we’ve fully militarized our police forces and seen private prisons become one of our largest growth industries. Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot executed anyone that got in their way, but mass executions don’t go over so well in the U.S., at least not on our soil. Americans are driven by profit, and tossing more people into prisons, people who are often victims of economic inequality and economic oppression, is the solution du jour. Why kill ‘em when you make money off ‘em?

Corporations can now buy elections, as corporate powers are now free to spend whatever they want on whomever they want.

Abbey’s predictions about the effects of industrialization are nearly fully realized. Don’t believe me? Check the numbers.

Millions have lost their homes to foreclosure schemes. Thousands die without health insurance, and the gap between the wealthy and the poor is as great as its ever been.

And yet, here we sit wondering “what to do?” Most of us are so busy just trying to keep a job, pay expenses, take care of our families and have some peace. To most of us, the problems of American society, much less those of the planet, seem completely overwhelming. Ed himself said we should be reluctant enthusiasts, part time crusaders, half-hearted fanatics, that we should save some time for ourselves and for adventure.

But now things are more grave. We face a critical moment in time when inaction is unthinkable and half-hearted commitment seems unavoidably insufficient. A few brave individuals, like Tim De Christopher, have put their asses on the line for all of us, human and non-human. Bill McKibben has become an important voice. But it’s not the responsibility of any one person to fill the void or lead the fight. It’s the responsibility of every person that loves this planet, and all of its inhabitants, to take a stand.

Be bold and unafraid. Stand for what you stand on.

Oh, and happy Birthday, Ed. We’ll do better.

“This is what you shall do: Be loyal to what you love, Be true to the Earth, and Fight your enemies with passion and laughter.”-Edward Abbey

‎”New dynasties will arise, new tyrants will appear-no doubt. But we must and we can resist such recurrent aberrations by keeping true to the earth and remaining loyal to our basic animal nature. Humans were free before the word freedom became necessary. Slavery is a cultural invention. Liberty is life: eros plus anarchos equals bios. Long live democracy. Two cheers for anarchy.” -Edward Abbey

I had the pleasure of seeing Noam Chomsky Saturday evening at the 30th anniversary celebration for the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center in Memphis. His comments were tailored to the event and centered around Dr. King’s legacy and vision. His message was deep but clear.

The answer to the key question, are we any closer to achieving Dr. King’s dream, was pretty straightforward: no. Chomsky correctly made the point, that in many ways, we’re further behind. Just look at the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the upper classes since the 1970′s. This has been aided by the movement of manufacturing jobs overseas, one sector where African-Americans did have an opportunity to obtain better paying jobs with benefits. But of course American capitalists seized upon the opportunity to pay much cheaper labor rates overseas, frequently benefitting from the use of child labor. The jobs here were largely lost, and African Americans have been amongst the most heavily impacted.

Trace the decline of U.S. manufacturing since the 1970′s to the decline in net worth amongst the African-American population over the same period. Then trace the rise of a new sector, the private prison industry.

According to Pew, the median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households. Today, the typical black household has less than $6000 in wealth. The typical Hispanic household has approximately $6,500. Average white households have approximately $113K.

But the transfer of wealth is just one issue. All Americans have seen an erosion in human rights. Any American can be held indefinitely and without representation for vague, unconstitutional reasons. And thanks in no small part to a politically motivated Supreme Court, corporations anywhere in the world can essentially buy elections.

Have we made any advances? Sure. Women have seen clear advances. The Internet has become a valuable tool in spreading information and exposing misinformation. We elected a black President, although it now seems clear he’s not the leader we’d hoped for. American power, often supported by violence, has expanded exponentially around the globe, and the disparity in wealth is worse than its ever been. Our home, the only home we’ll ever have, now approaches a state of ecocide. This portends a very poor future for all of us, humans and non-humans.

The uncomfortable truth is we’ve moved further away from Dr. King’s dream and closer to an Orwellian nightmare.

“Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break.” -Edward Abbey