Don't Listen to Your Parents:
Their Love is Leading to Ruin
Joe Moncarz September 2022
Your parents are full of lies. Not about everything, sure, but they are full of lies about the most important things. When they send you to school, they're lying. They're lying that school is healthy. They're lying that you need school to learn. They're lying that school will get you a “good job” and a “good life.” They're lying that going to school will help you make the world a better place. They're lying that there's nothing to worry about, that you should just study hard and everything will be all right. You could even say that your parents are gaslighting you. They're trying to convince you of a reality that is not true. They're trying to convince you to ignore what you can see and hear.
The fact is, your parents are handing you a world in the middle of social and ecological collapse – society is crumbling and the ability of the Earth to support life is disappearing. They're filling up the planet with landfills, toxic waste, radiation, pesticides, synthetic chemicals, nuclear weapons, guns, drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, and surveillance cameras. They're making nearly everyone poorer, sicker, and more miserable. More and more young people develop a chronic illness, and more and more suffer from mental illness – just like adults. Everyone's getting sicker.
Your parents have completely failed the test for any living organism: increasing biodiversity. Another way of saying that is: the purpose of every living thing is to help there to be more life on the planet. The way people live should increase the amount of pandas, increase the amount of elephants, increase the amount of whales, increase the amount of hummingbirds, increase the amount of tigers – you get the idea. Wolves do that, mussels do that, worms do that, ducks to that, wombats do that, mosquitoes do that, every single tree and plant do that – actually all living organisms except humans do that. Or, to be specific, all living organisms except your parents – and all civilized humans. The humans who were able to pass the test were the many hunter-gatherers that lived during the past two-to-three million years before the outbreak of civilization. (“Outbreak,” like an outbreak of pimples. Or the plague. It's never a good thing.) That's why hunter-gatherers lasted for more than two million years. Civilization, on the other hand, has only been around for six thousand years, and it's shown how cruel, barbaric, destructive, and suicidal it is. It won't last too much longer, unless we do something about it.
Your parents will gaslight you that you can “make a difference” by voting, or by signing petitions, or protesting, or buying solar panels, or buying an electric car, or becoming a vegan. Or by changing things “from the inside.” All bullshit. None of these will make difference. What will make a difference is never trusting any government or corporation, and working towards rebellion, revolution, and de-civilizing the world – dismantling civilization and replacing it with an actually healthy way to live.
My point is, it's better to listen to people who demonstrate wisdom. Wisdom means living in a healthy way and making decisions that are prosocial and pro-nature. It should be pretty clear that civilization is not prosocial and not pro-nature. It's not smart, it's not intelligent, it's not even dumb – dumb would be a compliment. It's the most idiotic way of life ever.
So if you're going to listen to someone, listen to hunter-gatherers. You probably don't have any hunter-gatherers in your neighborhood, and you probably don't know any that you can call on the phone. So we have to rely on the writings and teachings of their descendants, and also on what evolution and anthropology tell us. They tell us quite a bit about how to live in a wise way. That way of life involves simplicity, living close to nature, respect for nature, respect for each other, humility, patience, and that no one is better than anyone else, or better than any other creature. And it sure doesn't involve money, schools, corporations, jobs, governments, politicians, banks, taxes, police, prisons, or armies.
So don't listen to your parents. They'll pressure you to study. They'll pressure you to do homework. They'll pressure you to go to university. They'll pressure you to play sports. They'll pressure you to practice piano, or violin, or chess. They'll pressure you for so many ridiculous things. But they won't pressure you to do whatever it takes to fight the actual cause of social and ecological disintegration – civilization.
Your parents will use guilt on you. They'll say, “I work hard to buy you ice cream that will rot your teeth and give you diabetes, and I work hard to buy nice clothes so that you become fixated on looks, and so that you become insecure about yourself, and so that you become shallow, so listen to me and do what I say. Study hard and get a job.”
Your parents will try to blame others to give the illusion that they do care, but that other people are ruining things and other people are to blame for your insecurities, for your depression, for your anxieties, for your confusion, for your student debt, for your poor job prospects, and for a world full of stupid, soul-crushing jobs. They'll blame the Democrats or the Republicans, the Labour Party, or the National Party, or the Conservative Party, or whatever idiotic group of idiotic, narcissistic adults are prostituting themselves for corporations and the elite. They'll blame immigrants, or Chinese, or Jews, or blacks, or Mexicans, or Maori. They'll blame rats, roaches, possums, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, and wolves. And of course, they'll blame their exes – an ex-husband or ex-boyfriend (or ex-wife and ex-girlfriend) always serves as an excellent scapegoat. They love to blame others, they love to accuse others, and they love to condemn others. But they will never blame themselves. They will deny their culpability until the end of the world.
They'll mislead you in so many ways. School, university, jobs, sports, getting married – and having kids. For fuck's sake, there's already nearly eight billion people on a planet turning to shit, so the last thing we need are more people, needing to eat more food, needing more houses, and driving more cars. But they'll keep pressuring you to have kids, and to “give us grandchildren.” Tell them to shut the hell up and go handcuff themselves to a pipeline. Tell them to do something useful for a change!
Your parents may love you, but it's a dubious love. They love you but they're still lying to you, gaslighting you, and filling you with insecurities and anxieties. Their love is leading you to ruin.
Smile at them, be respectful, go out to dinner with them, give them birthday presents, laugh at their jokes – but whatever you do, don't listen to them.
Think for yourself!
The fact is, your parents are handing you a world in the middle of social and ecological collapse – society is crumbling and the ability of the Earth to support life is disappearing. They're filling up the planet with landfills, toxic waste, radiation, pesticides, synthetic chemicals, nuclear weapons, guns, drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, and surveillance cameras. They're making nearly everyone poorer, sicker, and more miserable. More and more young people develop a chronic illness, and more and more suffer from mental illness – just like adults. Everyone's getting sicker.
Your parents have completely failed the test for any living organism: increasing biodiversity. Another way of saying that is: the purpose of every living thing is to help there to be more life on the planet. The way people live should increase the amount of pandas, increase the amount of elephants, increase the amount of whales, increase the amount of hummingbirds, increase the amount of tigers – you get the idea. Wolves do that, mussels do that, worms do that, ducks to that, wombats do that, mosquitoes do that, every single tree and plant do that – actually all living organisms except humans do that. Or, to be specific, all living organisms except your parents – and all civilized humans. The humans who were able to pass the test were the many hunter-gatherers that lived during the past two-to-three million years before the outbreak of civilization. (“Outbreak,” like an outbreak of pimples. Or the plague. It's never a good thing.) That's why hunter-gatherers lasted for more than two million years. Civilization, on the other hand, has only been around for six thousand years, and it's shown how cruel, barbaric, destructive, and suicidal it is. It won't last too much longer, unless we do something about it.
Your parents will gaslight you that you can “make a difference” by voting, or by signing petitions, or protesting, or buying solar panels, or buying an electric car, or becoming a vegan. Or by changing things “from the inside.” All bullshit. None of these will make difference. What will make a difference is never trusting any government or corporation, and working towards rebellion, revolution, and de-civilizing the world – dismantling civilization and replacing it with an actually healthy way to live.
My point is, it's better to listen to people who demonstrate wisdom. Wisdom means living in a healthy way and making decisions that are prosocial and pro-nature. It should be pretty clear that civilization is not prosocial and not pro-nature. It's not smart, it's not intelligent, it's not even dumb – dumb would be a compliment. It's the most idiotic way of life ever.
So if you're going to listen to someone, listen to hunter-gatherers. You probably don't have any hunter-gatherers in your neighborhood, and you probably don't know any that you can call on the phone. So we have to rely on the writings and teachings of their descendants, and also on what evolution and anthropology tell us. They tell us quite a bit about how to live in a wise way. That way of life involves simplicity, living close to nature, respect for nature, respect for each other, humility, patience, and that no one is better than anyone else, or better than any other creature. And it sure doesn't involve money, schools, corporations, jobs, governments, politicians, banks, taxes, police, prisons, or armies.
So don't listen to your parents. They'll pressure you to study. They'll pressure you to do homework. They'll pressure you to go to university. They'll pressure you to play sports. They'll pressure you to practice piano, or violin, or chess. They'll pressure you for so many ridiculous things. But they won't pressure you to do whatever it takes to fight the actual cause of social and ecological disintegration – civilization.
Your parents will use guilt on you. They'll say, “I work hard to buy you ice cream that will rot your teeth and give you diabetes, and I work hard to buy nice clothes so that you become fixated on looks, and so that you become insecure about yourself, and so that you become shallow, so listen to me and do what I say. Study hard and get a job.”
Your parents will try to blame others to give the illusion that they do care, but that other people are ruining things and other people are to blame for your insecurities, for your depression, for your anxieties, for your confusion, for your student debt, for your poor job prospects, and for a world full of stupid, soul-crushing jobs. They'll blame the Democrats or the Republicans, the Labour Party, or the National Party, or the Conservative Party, or whatever idiotic group of idiotic, narcissistic adults are prostituting themselves for corporations and the elite. They'll blame immigrants, or Chinese, or Jews, or blacks, or Mexicans, or Maori. They'll blame rats, roaches, possums, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, and wolves. And of course, they'll blame their exes – an ex-husband or ex-boyfriend (or ex-wife and ex-girlfriend) always serves as an excellent scapegoat. They love to blame others, they love to accuse others, and they love to condemn others. But they will never blame themselves. They will deny their culpability until the end of the world.
They'll mislead you in so many ways. School, university, jobs, sports, getting married – and having kids. For fuck's sake, there's already nearly eight billion people on a planet turning to shit, so the last thing we need are more people, needing to eat more food, needing more houses, and driving more cars. But they'll keep pressuring you to have kids, and to “give us grandchildren.” Tell them to shut the hell up and go handcuff themselves to a pipeline. Tell them to do something useful for a change!
Your parents may love you, but it's a dubious love. They love you but they're still lying to you, gaslighting you, and filling you with insecurities and anxieties. Their love is leading you to ruin.
Smile at them, be respectful, go out to dinner with them, give them birthday presents, laugh at their jokes – but whatever you do, don't listen to them.
Think for yourself!