Hobbes

The concept of the never-ending accumulation of capital, and that capital, needing somewhere to go, having nowhere else to go other than into the arms of expansionist imperialism, giving rise to the notion of some sort of inevitable progress toward which humanity marches--as first articulated by Hobbes--is more or less appearing these days as a series of catastrophes in which previously held political and social beliefs have found their absolute limits and no one seems to be thinking, "what do we do next?"

It's much the same old story: the crime of what has come to be called 'the system' is cracked down upon by the criminals themselves, the ones in charge, the powerful, politicians and titans of industry--the very ones most afraid of being found out as criminal. In this new system, a replica of the old Hobbesian system, a journalist, in this case Maria Ressa, an internationally recognized investigative reporter, can be found guilty by a Philippine court of cyber libel, a completely new category of punishment drummed up by those lovers of fake news and social media now in charge of autocratic government.

And just a few moments ago, on another one of these mornings that last forever, I cross reference Hannah Arendt and Ezra Pound and find them curiously joined at the hip, save their final 'conclusions.'  

Newspaper item, New York Times, May 28, 2020. Photo by author.