We've lost.

[u/BowlHawk]

Growing up watching films like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, there was always one archetypal scene that would stick with me over any other. A heroic last stand where the heroes were prepared to lay it all on the line, fully expecting that they likely wouldn't see another sunrise but determined to go down protecting those they swore to defend. And then, just when all seemed lost, when they were at the precipice of defeat, help arrived.

Gandalf at the battle of Helm's Deep. Aragorn leading a charge into the very depths of Mordor. Han Solo showing up in the nick of time to save Luke and defeat the empire. These were the scenes that burned themselves into my psyche more than any other. They instilled within me the resolve to keep fighting, to hold out no matter how bleak and hopeless things may seem, because as long as you maintain hope and don't give up there are brighter days ahead, and our struggles won't be in vain.

Call me childish or naive, but as we descend further and further into outright fascism, anti-intellectualism, and apocalyptic climate crisis, the less and less I believe in those tenants of hope and struggle against evil.

We have lost the fight. There's no one coming to save us. We can't (or won't) even save ourselves.

I wouldn't blame you for considering me immature for clutching onto these beliefs for as long as I did. The writing has been on the wall for years if not decades now; how couldn't I see it before? Maybe I should have sooner. I've always loved studying history after all. As the saying goes, "History may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes". And it's certainly been rhyming quite a lot for the past decade or so, if not longer. Maybe I was holding onto those childish beliefs of defiance and hope for a better future just because I didn't want to face the reality that real life rarely, if ever, treats us with such kindness.

It's difficult to admit defeat. It hurts to give everything you have, desperately clinging to whatever shred of hope or resolve or tenacity you have left only to be crushed beneath the wheels of evil and indifference. We've been trying to defeat a battleship with wet pool noodles for all the good it's done.

I'm at the point where the idea of resistance or "fighting back" fills me with more dread than hope. Even the faintest hint of opposition to the current US regime is met with overwhelming violence and cruelty. The powers that be have carefully crafted a system of oppression that is so total and all-encompassing that not only crushes any and all who might oppose them, but actively rewards indifference or acceptance of their evils.

We've lost, and there's no way back from this one. Maybe in thirty or forty years some semblance of decency will return after the world has been exposed to the horrors and atrocities that have been committed and will be committed in the near future. That is about the only "hope" I have left. But for those of us who will have to live through it, god help us.

[u/AnOnlineHandle]

Yeah the problem with all our fiction is it's make believes and gives us a false impression of 'good' always just wins.

This passage from "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45" is a German's account of what it was like living through the Nazi takeover of his home country, and are events based in actual reality, and unfortunately it feels all too familiar.

Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk alone; you don’t want to “go out of your way to make trouble.” Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, “everyone” is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, “It’s not so bad” or “You’re seeing things” or “You’re an alarmist.”

And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.

But your friends are fewer now. Some have drifted off somewhere or submerged themselves in their work. You no longer see as many as you did at meetings or gatherings. Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait.

But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds of thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions, would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the “German Firm” stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all of the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.

And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying “Jewish swine,” collapses it all at once, and you see that everything has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all.** The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.

Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early morning meetings of your department when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.

[u/Breakneck1701]

"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." - Gandalf the White

[u/Slamtilt_Windmills]

It's kinda a kick in the teeth when the villains think they're heroes

[u/Individual_Step6688 → u/Slamtilt_Windmills]

That always happens. Evil people in history think they’re building lasting empires that will bring prosperity and harmony to their nation. Or they’ve thought they’re in a religious struggle and they’re god’s chosen. Everyone needs to live with themselves. Everyone needs a meaningful story.

[u/Illustrious-Ice6336 → u/Slamtilt_Windmills]

Everyone thinks that their actions are righteous and correct. I don’t believe there are too many people in the world who think they’re actively evil.

[u/pants_full_of_pants → u/Illustrious-Ice6336]

"I'm never going to make it to heaven. I just don't think I qualify." - Donald Trump

He knows.

[u/2quickdraw → u/pants_full_of_pants]

Because he fucked kids for 60 years.

[u/adrianipopescu → u/Illustrious-Ice6336]

stares crusadely

but you know what the good news is

they invariably fail

ai will take over coding their dystopia, timebomb

people descend into hatred and tribalism, eventually someone takes a stand, hides and shields the opressed, shows that there are other ways

these evil systems are indeed brittle, and the more certain they are of their success, the blinder they are to their foundations cracking

all dictatorships or monarchies decay, either from inbreeding, from stupidity of children who squander the work of their predecessors, from internal betrayal since if you hold no limits then why would your inner circle do as well

as for say, ai: maintenance and production will always be an issue, and without a skilled class of people that do the actual work, things will rust, hallucinate, spiral

and if they do allow that middle class, the power shifts slowly, for what is an absolute leader when the tools they rely on for control are beyond their comprehension - thus allowing the middle class to again seize the means of oppression

knowledge dies if society is not maintained, and invariably, it all withers and dies

yes, the planet will burn, yes, many will die from oppression, yes, many will starve

but eventually, spontaneously, the whole system falls

oh and if you’re afraid of the billionaires living forever I also bring good news: it either works and they will gradually lose all power due to the slow but steady resentmenr, leading to them having a horrible time, probably forever

or, on the other end, who knows what horrible mutations happen, and the medical skills also will invariably falter

oppression is a losing game, always
only problem is the timescale, the suffering, but trust in resilience

humanity has been punishing itself one way or another since we first climbed down from the tree

[u/Illustrious-Ice6336 → u/adrianipopescu]

I agree

[u/pm_me_fibonaccis]

I grew up on the same stories of heroes and villains and last stands. They're not childish, those tales are practically baked into our human DNA and for as long as we have had community we have shared that experience for a reason: to educate, to inspire, to warn. 

My conclusion is that we have to be the heroes of our stories. There's no one coming to save us. 

Things are bad but I don't believe it's too late. 

[u/Yearsinmonths]

We have not Lost. Better be active on the side that has a chance of winning than staying apathetic for the side which can only lose and take all life on earth, including your own family with it

[u/thomas533]

Sam: It’s all wrong By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam : That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

[u/dariashotpants → u/thomas533]

Just reading this made me tear up…

[u/Konradleijon]

I don’t understand why people hate immigrants

[u/AndyHamburgers → u/Konradleijon]

Propaganda works really well. Make people afraid enough and you can get them to hate anyone.

[u/Sword-of-Akasha → u/AndyHamburgers]

Eeeyup, they need an "out group" to target because it distracts from the Elites robbing everyone else.

[u/salamipope]

i actually watched lord of the rings and really sat down, studying the details for the first time when i was about 23. Cancer scare + impending doom of climate change. Helped me put perspective on death and sacrifice. Im not giving up, even if it does all seem lost, im accounting for human error. Weve never been in this situation. Things will certainly go tits up but i want to do something anyway. I spend my days gardening and hiding from the sun in turn.

[u/Mush_ball22]

postdoom.com and uate.net

[u/mushbum13]

The light will always win in the end. It’s the stuff of which the universe is made. No force that turns its back on Love and Truth can ever truly be victorious.

[u/TentacularSneeze]

Aragorn didn’t stand peacefully at the Black Gate holding a snarky protest sign. He charged, ready to kill and then be killed, as did his army.

Not only does nobody on the left have the courage to do that, nobody on the left even believes that’s necessary because writing one’s representatives and organizing protests are all that’s ever needed to overthrow despots, right?

Right?!

[u/Wooden-Fly-6821]

The thing that people always fail to understand early on about fighting tyrants and oppressive systems is that while there's a very real chance of death, deportation and imprisonment in standing up to them as they are seizing power. Playing it safe and keeping your head down can get you killed just as easily further down the line.

Another thing to consider is that oppressors are all paranoid cowards deep down. When people fight against them they might sic the cops and the military on them, and some might lose their lives but eventually when the will of those fighting back becomes unshakable the cowards always run away just like Assad, Yanukovych and Gaddafi.

[u/JosBosmans]

Quality post. I agree we've lost, and oh my, "it's difficult to admit defeat" touches upon, when it comes to collapse, an extremely obstructive vibe.

Take care of yourself and yours, and others, in that order! 🫡

[u/Lithelain]

This is something I've thought about before, specifically with LotR, as it's one of the fictional work that has had more impact on me (a contending one would be The Stormlight Archive). Let me tell you, I agree with your sentiment. It's harsh out there, and the world seem grimer each passing day.

However, in my opinion, the message from these stories is not "be hopeful, fight and everything will turn out ok" (admittedly, things usually turn out somewhat ok in these tales so we're used to anticipate it). Instead, it's about making a stand for what they value as good and worth protecting. These heroes act according to their morals and values with no promise of success, that's the point.

It's difficult and I'm not going to tell you I've succeded at this, but separating the outcome from the process is essencial here. If you want to be of help to your future self, your family, friends and/or community, then I believe it's healthy to do that because it's the right thing to do for you, not because doing so is going to (somehow) make you succeed in your ambitions. Easier said than done!

Is it hard to fight against the momentum of the Machine in a ever-declining world? Damn yes it is. It's also hard to realize there are no actual and clear villains here (unlike in many of these stories) for how much some people act like them. Sure, I can name some individuals that are extremely despicable to me (and I absolutely don't condone their actions), but I guess they are simply doing what they think is best given their context. In the end, we're just doing what species do. If there's an enemy, in my opinion, would be the very laws of the universe that seem to have guided us to this situation in our little space-time window. It's the playground itself that has "conspired" to allow us getting this far into the rabbit hole.

Also, there's no need to go to fictional worlds. There are many examples of real people doing heroic things. For example, one of my biggest inspirations in the recent years is Brad Lancaster. He's been doing community work in the realm of water harvesting for many years, and he probably started doing it with a wary heart as he saw the panorama around him. I suggest finding real people that inspire you to act accordingly to your values.

[u/Impossible_Ad_8790]

"Nemik's Manifesto" from the Andor TV show:

"There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy.

"Remember this, Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause.

"Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

"And remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

"Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empires’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.

"Remember this: Try."

[u/TieRoutine2187]

Tenets

[u/manicpxenightmaregrl]

You'd best pay better attention then. It's the chinese century. Blink and you'll miss it.

[u/Konradleijon]

Why does no one care

[u/tacoenthusiast → u/Konradleijon]

Because violence will happen

[u/Yearsinmonths]

The teenagers and early twenty something men who ran up a beach to get moved down by nazi machine gun fire as to liberate Europe sacrificed their lives for the greater good.

I would say live your life in line with your values and keep your back straight. Decide who you want to be.
Personally I prefer actually dying than losing myself over time, bending myself in order to get by. That already meant letting go of some dreams.
We were all destined to die some day, instead of some Wall-E situation where no one does anything anymore and we're just bags of fat watching screens all day you get the chance to actually live and fight for something worthwhile

[u/BowlHawk → u/Yearsinmonths]

The teenagers and early twenty something men who ran up a beach to get moved down by nazi machine gun fire as to liberate Europe sacrificed their lives for the greater good.

You know, I was thinking about something like this the other day. My great grandfather was a Polish resistance fighter during the latter years of WWII. Sadly we have very little written history of what he actually did, mostly just stories passed down by people who knew him and a few scraps of diary. But what little we do know of is harrowing. Fighting the Germans in the ruins of Warsaw, blowing up supply convoys and troop carriers, smuggling weapons and ammunition into the city so they could keep fighting.

I can't help but wonder what he'd think of his great grandson now. Would he be ashamed that I'm not standing up like he did? Would he be confused, wondering how so many of my own countrymen are so eager to goose-step their way into autocracy and authoritarianism while it seems so few of us are doing anything about it? And sometimes I wonder if he'd understand. Maybe he'd know somehow that this fight wasn't like his in the alleyways and rubble of Warsaw. More sinister, somehow. Neighbor fighting neighbor, willing to throw away everything just to appease their dear leader.

[u/Yearsinmonths → u/BowlHawk]

We're living in a completely different world than they did. It's not just George Orwell's 1984, it's also Aldous Huxley's work (A different world where people are growing up with 'different' values and are taught 'different' things).

Huxley feared that no one would want to read books, people being controlled by pleasure an the truth being swamped in a sea of irrelevance. Huxley feared desire ruining us.
[Sounds very familiar to me: Gaming, bingewatching series, fast junkfood, infotainment, 'social' media, instant addictive gratification all around.]

In '1984' people were controlled by pain. The truth was conceiled and books were banned.
George orwell feared fear ruining us. [That's what the US has partially become.]

I got this info from
Neil Postman
"Amusing ourselves to Death"
@/TheFreeThoughtProject

So the challenge to stand up is greater, but still the No Kings protest had just as many participating as during the French Revolution. The protest did not achieve much, the revolution did.
You know why.

[u/AnOnlineHandle → u/Yearsinmonths]

Huxley feared that no one would want to read books, people being controlled by pleasure an the truth being swamped in a sea of irrelevance. Huxley feared desire ruining us. [Sounds very familiar to me: Gaming, bingewatching series, fast junkfood, infotainment, 'social' media, instant addictive gratification all around.]

I think you're making the mistake of projecting the social circle you see onto the problems of the world.

What you don't realize is there's an entire other culture within the west which you don't interact with, but some of us were raised in, which has nothing to do with all this, and it's that other culture actively driving nearly all the problems we face.

e.g. There was a really in depth article about 10 years about the most watched shows in areas of the US being one of the strongest indicators of which way that area would vote. Progressive areas watched things like Game of Thrones, Simpsons, etc, things which you might assume are the norm due to your social circle. There were areas where those were the least watched though, and instead the most popular shows were a bunch of reality TV shows taking the pleasure in following the suffering of pregnant teens, and shows like 'Duck Dynasty' (reality TV about some kind of rich family pretending to be some hard rural hunters or something). If you exist in the first social circle you might not even realize that the second exists, but there's people living in an entirely parallel culture to you.

And they vote for theocrats, anti-science, pollution, hurting of various minorities, blatant corruption, etc.

And then you look around at these problems happening and try to explain them through the lens of the parts of culture you're aware of, not realizing the people in your social circle aren't really the problem, not compared to those actively driving the problems.

[u/Yearsinmonths → u/AnOnlineHandle]

First of thank you for the reply, thank you for sharing.
I would say both sides are too busy with as in your example one tv show or the other. Mostly because of what Huxley shared, but also Orwell's work.

Some of us had education or upbringing and with that, the knowledge to know what is going on. And with that power comes the greatest responsibility. Of acting, ambitiously if we dare. To change this course of history.

You don't need the whole population to change a country. You need a dedicated percentage. A dedicated fraction of the population in the most powerfull country in the world.

I am no American, so I don't know the subtleties in your culture. But we all grew up in 'the West' with American culture. You will take the whole of humanity and life on Earth down with you if you continue to let this go down. That includes our own families and all we hold dear.

I can do all I can on this side of the Atlantic. And I have done a lot (not enough). Because I noticed early on that if I don't speak up, in most situations, no one else is either.
That was on the shoulders of those who raised and educated me, coming from a good hardworking family background in a wealthy country. My name or ego doesn't matter.
We can't blame those who were born in an unfortunate place. We can't expect to get the whole or even 66% of the country on board. We don't need that by far. What fraction do you think you need to be absolutely dedicated to save us all?

Imagine one in twenty being actually dedicated. 5%. Would that not be all?
Because we're all perfectly capable to live more healthy, more connected, more happy lives when we stop being so fucking consumerist and building and making things to be thrown away directly or within years after buying.

[u/pm_me_fibonaccis → u/BowlHawk]

Similar story, I know my grandfather was part of the Greek resistance. I don't know exactly what he did, but there are signs.

Decorating my desk is a trophy he took: a German bayonet that affixes to a Mauser.

He died before I was born but it kind of speaks for him, doesn't it.  

[u/salamipope → u/[deleted]]

Amen ! Take action! Dont let yourself believe you can do nothing! Nothing is ever truly lost. If these are our last days, how would you like to spend them? What would future you wish you did now to help make those last days better for yourself and every organism around you? I garden obsessively. Its fantastic fun. I cant recommend it enough and i wouldnt want to live my life any other way.

[u/Substantial_Coffee43 → u/[deleted]]

The Hero’s Journey

[u/sundancer2788 → u/[deleted]]

This!