When you really truly think about the "modern," "Westernized" world and all of its innovations and conveniences, it's difficult to comprehend. In fact, it's probably incomprehensible to most. As an example, our globalized socioeconomic system is so complex and convoluted that it's oftentimes cheaper to manufacture products overseas because resources and labor are so much cheaper (even heavier items that cost a lot to ship). And, as consumers in a post-industrial, hypercapitalistic world, inexpensive and abundant consumer items are what we have come to anticipate as the norm. As a person who has grown up in such a world, I find it a difficult habit to break out of, even knowing the consequences of buying, for example, shoes costing $14 - someone got paid very little to make them, said shoes will not last very long, their ultimate resting place in a landfill may leach chemicals into the soil, water, etc. And paying $125 for Nikes isn't much better, as most of the cost is actually going straight into the profit margin for the transnational corporate giant, not higher wages for the workers stitching those shoes together. "Fast fashion" is only one drop in the seemingly unending stream of convenient practices we engage in on a daily basis with little passing thought as to how our actions might be affecting the world at large.
Globalization is not a phenomenon new to the world for the 21st century. Humankind has been moving toward the degree of globalization we experience today since...always. As a species we move, adapt, interact, create and destroy, but never in a bubble. For instance, the endless obsession white nationalists have with Europe is predicated on a wholly bizarre, cherry-picked version of history. Sure, the Ancient Greeks and Romans had mighty civilizations...which were influenced by the Egyptians and Persians and other groups who coexisted or *gasp* even predated their advancements. The Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, et al, would not have been possible if Europeans were solely looking to themselves for inspiration. Their GLOBAL connections to great empires elsewhere, like the Middle East and China, helped rekindle learning and innovation on their continent. Of course, development is not something that happens worldwide in one fell swoop. Different areas may benefit initially, with others lagging behind. Sometimes, the places lacking development may actually be at the mercy of the more "advanced." The imperialization of land and labor occurs even today. It's what makes $14 shoes possible for us Target shoppers. And, as beneficiaries, we just accept it. Turn a blind eye to it? Well, more likely, what's out of sight is out of mind so we don't have to really confront the people (inclusive of children) employed for dollars a day to make our lives more comfortable and "rich" with goods.
My favorite novel (really a novella) of all time is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I read it in high school, and despite all of its flaws and the critiques leveled at it, to me, it still holds up as one of the best descriptions of the psychological horrors of modern life. Instead of existential dread brimming over each page, as in Kafka's works, Conrad's depiction of a journey down the Congo River to retrieve a lost European, Mr. Kurtz, begins much more straightforwardly. Yet, as the narrator, Marlow, edges closer to and finally reaches his destination, his experiences in the Belgian colony has already begun to change his outlook on not only his mission, but on Europe's place in the world as well. The disturbing realization he comes to is this: what everyone back home in England referred to as the "heart of darkness" wasn't the supposed unknowable and wild truths of the African continent, but instead the unsettling ambiguity within all of us. The supposed "cannibals" he was to fear treated him respectfully. The "uncivilized" laborers were actually the ones subjected to cruel treatment by his fellow countrymen. When he finally finds Kurtz, he's living as a "savage" and yet can still carry on a conversation with Marlow regarding his outlook on life, what he's learned and why he cannot return to Europe. Marlow, clearly shaken by his time in the Congo, does not return to Europe wholly changed. He still lies to Kurtz's fiancee about the conditions under which he died. He upholds the lie of the modern world - that the "modern" and "civilized" are somewhat better than the rest.
Its no wonder a novel that highlights the ambiguous morality of power and progress became the underpinning of the movie "Apocalypse Now." It puts the American role in Vietnam into sharp question. Were we there to "do right" by these people? Or was the ultimate geopolitical goal of the presidents and military top brass who presided over it at odds from what was drilled into the heads of soldiers and the American people? The Vietnam War era on the homefront was the end to American innocence in many ways; it exposed that the American establishment followed the same patterns of thought as so many other imperialist nations had previously, belying our own foundational ideology. It also seeded a deep mistrust of the government on the part of many Americans which has blossomed into the anti/alterna-fact orgy we are dealing with today.
Ultimately, to bring it full circle, the message of this story, written over 100 years ago, still rings true today. The modern world, with all of its development and progression comes at a price. As consumers living in the "first world" we are often not aware of the horrors that occur elsewhere in the name of providing the luxuries and comforts we take for granted. In an ever-globalized, highly connected world, the communication of such horrors as child labor, wage slavery and deplorable living conditions (among others) becomes more and more difficult to ignore. And yet, we feel powerless to effect real change. So I'm often left grieving for the way things are with a real sense of powerlessness about how to go about making them different. I often dream about running away to some mountaintop and washing my hands of all of it, but in the end, the same practices will go on whether or not I drop out. So it's vital to stay and think of ways in which to ameliorate the current system, if it's not possible to tear it down quite yet. The biggest threat to even those basic steps being taken is apathy. It's an everyday struggle to stay inspired and vigilant, but without even the attempt, all we have in the end are a bunch of hollow lies.
“Even extreme grief may ultimately vent itself in violence--but more generally takes the form of apathy” - Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
