Requiem for a terminal case
9/11 remains the most salient event in most people’s perception of living history, and for good reasons. It has indeed been a turning point in many ways, and yet also a reminder of how some things never change. 9/11 has anchored our future, and in spinning our wheels in the mud we have orbited it full circle.
Osama bin laden set out to punish Western adventurism is in foreign lands by surgically destroying the American fiscal and military hegemony. On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, there is a strong claim that he has been successful.
The attacks inspired an overreaction in the form of the Patriot Act, and Investigatory Powers Acts in many Western nations. These new laws sidestepped around the presumption of innocence, with secret lists, and secret reasons for potentially ending up on one. This has facilitated further encroachment upon liberty during the pandemic, and laid the foundation for social credit style mechanisms in the future.
The wars in the wake of 9/11 kickstarted the construction of narratives – lies to justify conflict, whether the ‘sexed up’ reports of WMDs in Iraq, or refusing to allow the Taliban to simply hand over OBL.
The worst thing about such tacitly accepted lies is that they metastasize. They justify other further ‘spin’ and outright mendacity. Now, all of our once great societal institutions in health, finance, and science are increasingly infested with the same issues, with the world moving not on policy, but on the construction of narratives. Lobbying has been replaced by outright regulatory capture through the revolving door between government and big business. This is being further cemented by the consolidation of power of a new technocratic elite.
In April 2001, the tech bubble, driven by end-of-the-century optimism finally burst, once the market could no longer bear its irrational exuberance about ridiculously over=valued dubious tech ventures.
Today, we live in yet another phenomenal overvaluation of tech, significantly accelerated by the forced digitalization of the pandemic, and the collapse of physical supply chains. The share price to sales ratio is now even larger than in 2001, and the inescapable chip shortages finally toll the bell for tech and everything dependent on it. The Chinese housing market, the largest in the world by far, long been viewed as a ‘sure bet’, is reeling from a looming collapse of Evergrande, which has investments and investors all over the world. Meanwhile, many people are borrowing money to buy crypto and meme stocks, with very little experience and a lot of exposure.
Before 9/11, America and most of its allies had a small surplus, and were paying off their national debts. The formidable costs of the War on Terror encouraged fiscal irresponsibility, and a lack of care for the future, which enabled the bank bailouts during the great financial crisis, and which has enabled in turn the massive inflationary expenditure during the pandemic. Federal Debt in the US is approaching $30 Trillion, exceeding GDP, with a far greater sum of unfunded liabilities. The debt is projected to triple inside the decade.
40% of all U.S. dollars in existence were made in the last 12 months. and the effects of this inflation are beginning to be felt in food and housing prices. The can cannot be kicked down the road forever. A hard crash is inevitable, one that will combine elements of 2001, 2008, 1973, and 1929.
Our bumbling adventures in foreign lands continue, with a blend of tragedy and farce. We again refused the Taliban’s offer, this time for the U.S. to administrate security in Kabul, leading to an unnecessary debacle. In revenge for an attack in which many civilians died under questionable circumstances, a retaliatory drone strike was launched that slaughtered an innocent family. How are we doing on that ‘war for hearts and minds’?
In 2015, documents leaked by whistleblower Daniel Hale revealed that during a five-month period between 2012 and 2013, 90 percent of the people killed by US drones were civilians. Hale was sentenced to 45 months in prison for leaking the documents.
Meanwhile, the continual conflicts in the Middle East fomented the migration crisis that has increased the influence of Islam upon the West, whilst making future destabilization easier. The effects of our adventures have come home to roost.
Like Cortez, Pizarro and Ho Chi Minh, the mastermind of 9/11 managed his meagre resources managed to sting a great civilization in just the right way to cause it to impale itself on its own follies.
We have lost our freedom, we have lost truth, we have lost fiscal responsibility, we have lost global influence, and we have lost moral authority. We have lost faith in the institutions of free speech, reason, and democracy, upon which enlightenment depends.
We have lost faith in a better future, and worst of all, we have lost faith in ourselves.
Rome was not built in a day, nor did it die in a day either. Even after its collapse, Rome’s rump form, The Byzantines, endured for a further thousand years. There was a steady decline over centuries, interspersed with occasional spurts of renewal under a few good leaders. But even they could not prevent the inevitable. The glory days were long over, and the corruption was too entrenched to battle. The torch of empire passed on to others, to eventually inspire new civilizations with their age-old majesty.
Can we escape this fate? Is sufficient reform possible to root out corruption? I wish it were possible, but I cannot see how. We can certainly delay the inevitable, and make a softer landing over several smaller drops in societal complexity. But a return to our former glory may not be possible. Perhaps only a smaller, leaner civilization which is less encumbered can continue where we left off.
We must carefully preserve the best of the West for our distant descendants, to bequeath them our collective wisdom, and entreat them to be wary of our follies. In a world where books are being banned and burned, and free discussion extinguished, it is essential that we prepare time capsules for the future.
There are two great works to be done now – firstly to make the inevitable failures less catastrophic and more graceful, and secondly to use our technology and knowledge to prepare and safeguard pre-packed civilization-building tools for the eventual re-enlightenment.
The next great renaissance will be one of strictest epistemic hygiene, with innovations that prevent the corruption that has befallen us.
RIP to American-backed Western hegemony. Long live whatever will be reborn anew from its inspiration like the phoenix.