In the Midst of It
From the September newsletter:
The blog has been a bit slim over the past month and that is likely to continue in October. Sides of annoyance have been served up with regular travel, resulting in large amounts of time spent on trivial errands or administration. (The administration of life, that is; readers of The Utopia of Rules will understand.)
Fall also means conference season. As a public sector worker and resident of a conference town, that has entailed lots of engagements.
And on our little corner of the North: Prince George has had a rough time of it in September. It has lost two structures – a popular downtown brewery and hangout hotspot, plus a recycling depot at the edge of city center. While the full nature behind both events continues to be under investigation, some of the populace here has been quick to judgment. Emotions are volatile and reactions easy to heighten in the age of social media, at least that is this humble observer’s view from the outside.
Coupled with the above was an announcement a few days ago from the Province that this town will be hosting a new involuntary care facility. What that means in B.C. (for now), may be a good starting point for understanding the current government’s attempted pivot to a make-everyone-happy approach, dating back to a close election last year. The response has drawn mixed reactions. Again, from an outsider’s perspective, it feels odd that we are always focused more on the effectiveness of the band-aid, rather than addressing the root and multi-faceted causes of societal issues. Like say, building a caring economy rather than one purpose-built to increase inequality, focused on equity and economic participation rather than extreme capital growth. Where life is not spent in labor but in love – in building community, art, and culture that we can share – in pursuits more noble than maximizing the bottom line. The wealth we have so arbitrarily concocted as a species is enough to meet these needs. The parasitic class would have us believe anything else.
Specific to the future urban state small and big cities in the ‘developed’ world are headed towards, and the one that has long since arrived in the ‘developing’ world, Mike Davis assesses in Planet of Slums:
- “Urban segregation is not a frozen status quo, but rather a ceaseless social war in which the state intervenes regularly in the name of ‘progress,’ ‘beautification,’ and even ‘social justice for the poor’ to redraw spatial boundaries to the advantage of landowners, foreign investors, elite homeowners, and middle-class commuters.”
- “The categorical criminalization of the urban poor is a self-fulfilling prophecy, guaranteed to shape a future of endless war in the streets.”
We get nowhere by creating outcasts and scapegoats.
(Given recent events, residents of Prince George and other fast-growing urban locales may find the book’s extended overview of fires in slums particularly absorbing. Weaponized arson utilized by landlord and tenant alike in a uniquely inflammable setting.)
I am somewhat glad I have been less online lately. Refusing to engage with digital spaces tailored by profit-extracting algorithms has always been a solid action in preventative mental health management.
In that vein, I guess I can share a personal comment posted to the blog earlier in the month, and this thoughtful essay from one of my favorite science writers. The former about our misplaced trust in digital systems, and the latter concerning the intersection of technological promise and fantasy, in reference to the current generative LLM AI craze and historical parables of nanotech.
I will leave it there for now. Three brief stops in Vancouver and a lengthier one in Ottawa in October, before a return to the North. I hope to have more for you in the winter.
Pratyush
P.S.: Some beats related to and inspired by the television show Taskmaster.