this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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That's because there isn't one.
It is this very thought that prevents reform.
It isn't thought that prevents reform.
Thinking things can't reform does prevent reform.
To quote a fictional character, Eleanor Shellstrop, "You've gotta try, man".
If you don't think you can, you won't act. If you don't act, you definitely won't reform anything.
I think this is a case for pragmatism:
https://www.philosophizethis.org/transcript/episode-154-transcript
Thoughts don't form in a vacuum. They are the product of the underlying material conditions, produced by the intellectual labor of the army of propagandists that work in the fossil fuel industry, the meat industry, the ethanol industry, etc. You're putting the cart before the horse.
Thoughts matter, but they are a symptom of deeper structural problems that prevent reform. Combating bad ideas only treats a symptom.
I really don't understand what you mean by this.
So are you giving up?
You're saying that bad thinking is blocking reform.
I'm saying it is a result of reform being blocked.
Thoughts lead to actions, of which inaction based on defeatist ideas literally encouraged by the fossil fuels industries is included.
This is literally idealism; the theory that political action comes from ideas.
Ideas matter, but they can only reinforce the structural and material base.