>>296626If it was not just a rhetorical ploy, then all I can say is that I dont believe in a civilizational collapse. If any system of government just fails and becomes exactly like carnage horror stories of utter bestial inhumanity of the debased human, all I can say is dat, deserved!
But its interesting dat, now that I realize this, people do think about civilizational collapse a really lot. And they do have understandable reasons for such fantasy. After all, it is for decades now the world has been felt as on the path to destruction, so, there is always tension with believers and non believers
Atom bomb for example, many believers in civilizational collapse spelled end of humanity should it be used in a total world war. And interesting thing is how theyve imagined this moment-after future, in bunkers, catacombs, solitude, living underground(ie in hell), theyve imagined a somewat organized future, with preserved humanity, in fact, as a temporary catastrophe which humanity will and must overcome. Hope out of desperation, that how it was in cold war
But today, the rhetotic is different. If before an atom bomb hardly spelled total end of humanity, today, civilizational collapse is a mystical concept. It is not really understood or planned for, like believers did in the cold war with bunkers and watever. No, today, there is no moment-after, there is just a black hole with no contingencies
For example, today frequently people feel that world is directionally headed towards some kind of disaster that has importance somewat akin to an extinction event. In short, if total atomic war spelled life underground, today, mystical forces of nature, war, human nature, and all other, simply spell the end as in a terminal event after which nothing can be salvaged or amended
If we dont pay attention enough to the climate change, then, there might be extinction of the human species. There is simply no contingencies for the moment-after, all can be done is to try to reverse this worsening condition. But there are also unbelievers who take lightly such prophesies. They argue from positions that, perhaps, it is not so grave and extinction's chances are extremely minimal
Another rhetorical use of civilizational collapse is local civilizational collapse. Which has to do with economic worsening a lot. I think many people are now getting concerned about barbarity and society. In history, everyone knows wat happens to the conquered, stripped of rights and humane treatment. And from there the barbarity really comes, from fears of maltreatment, from fear of unknown forces beyond borders which can put up armies that then can march through the contry with such ferociousness that nothing remains in their wake
That is how it was and still is in colonies. Since enlightenment, people were concerned with morality a lot. It was a project to boost own moral values first of all, and second of all to establish wat is moral, or virtuous and wat is not moral, or not humane, or barbarous. So, here, enlightenment means both,enlightening of own selves and enlightening of other selves, so in this view barbarians could be taught
Today, barbarians are by definition are those who cannot be taught. They are mystical entities with unknown motivations. And thats how people tend to think about others, or Others, that they are unknown because they do not conform to the society. Which is a huge leap from enlightenment. So, if mystical people such as these start appearing every where, does this mean that the feeling of sense and coherence fades, and people begin to feel alienated from the country and by extension the society?
So, perhaps, people today cannot find answers to understandable questions. Why is there war somewhere there that makes our prices go up, there is no definite answer and people can feel it that there might be just no answer at all but they cannot really comprehend it. Same with changes, people really dont like changes, and when those changes unexplainable then they grow even more alienated and become openly hostile to every thing
So, it is not so hard to see how people become fantasy wanderers and trailblaze the ruins of their own imagined cities in ruins. Because that is how their cities would look like, for them, if they were to be excluded from it. There is no contingency, there is no alternative, it will all become carnage the second when you in your own place feel like a stranger. In that moment, it is as if the total atom war and all the armies from all the directions have already invaded, and even if the city streets look the same, is just a coincidence