One of the great things about retirement is that I now have the time to read ANYTHING THAT I WANT!
So I've been on a history kick for a couple of years, and especially relevant to this piece have been several books examining modern and/or historical periods of social/imperial/environmental collapse and upheavals. I certainly don't agree with all of their interpretations and conclusions, but they've helped to keep me from getting too mired in the daily flux of headlines. A selective listing:
Miguel A. Centeno et al. (eds.) 2023. How Worlds Collapse.
Eric H. Cline. 2021. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. (rev. ed.)
Jack Goldstone. 2016. Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. (2nd ed.)
Peter Heather & John Rapley. 2023. Why Empires Fall.
Luke Kemp. 2025. Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.
Peter Turchin. 2023. End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration.
I confess: from having made a living working in one of the environmental sciences for ~ 40 years, I do get a bit impatient with scholars and commentators trained exclusively in the humanities and "social sciences" who treat the physical world around us as just some kind of scenic backdrop to human adventures. Both RW and LW writers can be equally blinkered in this respect.
I joined the volunteer emergency services team in our tiny northwestern Ontario community about one and a half years ago. I feel like that kind of community service is a practical way to contribute to civil defence. I may never need the skills I'm learning (fire fighting, vehicle extraction, emergency first responder) for anything other than accidents in our community, but it's good to know I'll be able to contribute in some way if the worst really does happen. I'll never carry a gun, but I do believe we can all do something. Feel a little ridiculous considering this contingency, but it's my answer to "what now?"
"I overheard a conversation in a bookstore ... One fellow was particularly keen in a fashion that I ought not to repeat here. Let’s just say he’d ... scurry right off to the armoury. "
Wow, not the sort of behaviour you'd expect from bookworms eh? But maybe he was a George R.R. Martin fan ...
OK, yes, I think we need to take stock seriously of where our deprecation of all things military has got us over the last 60 years (remember Paul Hellyer?) and actually do something about it. Including decide what we'd do individually if the unthinkable were to happen.
We have been ‘prepping’ for potential US invasion for over a year. I started learning to shoot a gun. I boycott anything g US and call out the Maple MAGAs every day. I support our elected reps and candidates who still understand the rule of law and value of democratic principles and institutions.
I’m in the category of dwelling on it, partly as a reaction to those around me who, I would argue, are in the category of ignoring it. Both can lead to a state of inertia or paralysis as we are overwhelmed with the destruction and chaos. Reading articles like this provides the impetus to act, to counter the normalization. If we want a future world that is based on humanitarian principles we have to recognize that we need to act now. Things are bad. We all have the capacity to resist the collapse. Your Yeats reference was perfect. “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. History has taught us that being passive is being complicit.
An excellent and very necessary article, David, driving home the message that IT COULD HAPPEN HERE. Of course it could. We take our democracy for granted at our peril; it's being eroded everywhere. I live in Ontario, where Doug Ford is assuming quasi-dictatorial powers, and there seems to be no way of challenging him except in the next election. In the meantime, Ontario holds municipal elections this coming fall. I'm going to try to get voters in my city interested in holding a series of Town Hall meetings to name, discuss and then prioritize issues they want to see city council address in the next session. Then, ideally, we'd then invite experts on each of the selected issues and experience with addressing it, to show how what we decide might be put into practice. The results would be shared with all candidates, who'd be expected to speak to them. This was the basis of the People's Platform used in Hamilton leading up to the municipal elections in 2014. It's was a great example of citizen engagement and participation. It didn't catch on then, but I sense that people might just be ready for it now,.
Strong take on avoiding both numbness and cynicism when confronting chaos. The reminder that normalizing destructive behavior through wave-offs is as damageing as ignoring it is something people need to hear. I've seen entire friend groups slide into this trap btw, endlessly venting about whats happening but treating tangible local action like its beneath them.
I think perhaps the greatest thing we can do to prepare for...well, for anything, really, is to get to know our neighbours. Who can we turn to when the chips are down? Is there anyone we can help? How will we know if we don't know anyone in real life? There are thousands of people all around me who could and probably would lend a hand and look out for each other, if we could actually identify each other on the street.
It is sobering to see how radical Mark Carney’s speech at Davis was in its analysis of Canada’s and other “middle” powers (especially Europe) failure for generations to be lulled into a false security under USA’s military and economic dominance. It’s the opposite of the tale of the boy and the emperor: it this case it is the boys who have no clothes. Carney is telling us we need to get some ASAP and how we might be able to do it.
I thought an interview by David Frum with David Brooks last week was very helpful: There is no going back to preTrump. A pursuit of chasing all the corruption will just perpetuate the divide so we have to find a moral high ground and bring people to it. Right now there is only the pursuit of wealth.
Heather Cox Richardson positions it as a rebirth of the slavery era.
So, as some other comments have noted, I am increasing my volunteer activity, ie exercising the values we care about. Dictatorships hate civic engagement, that is the front line. Caring, compassion, respect for each other.
One of the great things about retirement is that I now have the time to read ANYTHING THAT I WANT!
So I've been on a history kick for a couple of years, and especially relevant to this piece have been several books examining modern and/or historical periods of social/imperial/environmental collapse and upheavals. I certainly don't agree with all of their interpretations and conclusions, but they've helped to keep me from getting too mired in the daily flux of headlines. A selective listing:
Miguel A. Centeno et al. (eds.) 2023. How Worlds Collapse.
Eric H. Cline. 2021. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. (rev. ed.)
Jack Goldstone. 2016. Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. (2nd ed.)
Peter Heather & John Rapley. 2023. Why Empires Fall.
Luke Kemp. 2025. Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.
Peter Turchin. 2023. End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration.
I confess: from having made a living working in one of the environmental sciences for ~ 40 years, I do get a bit impatient with scholars and commentators trained exclusively in the humanities and "social sciences" who treat the physical world around us as just some kind of scenic backdrop to human adventures. Both RW and LW writers can be equally blinkered in this respect.
Thanks, David, for this thoughtful commentary.
I joined the volunteer emergency services team in our tiny northwestern Ontario community about one and a half years ago. I feel like that kind of community service is a practical way to contribute to civil defence. I may never need the skills I'm learning (fire fighting, vehicle extraction, emergency first responder) for anything other than accidents in our community, but it's good to know I'll be able to contribute in some way if the worst really does happen. I'll never carry a gun, but I do believe we can all do something. Feel a little ridiculous considering this contingency, but it's my answer to "what now?"
"I overheard a conversation in a bookstore ... One fellow was particularly keen in a fashion that I ought not to repeat here. Let’s just say he’d ... scurry right off to the armoury. "
Wow, not the sort of behaviour you'd expect from bookworms eh? But maybe he was a George R.R. Martin fan ...
OK, yes, I think we need to take stock seriously of where our deprecation of all things military has got us over the last 60 years (remember Paul Hellyer?) and actually do something about it. Including decide what we'd do individually if the unthinkable were to happen.
But, the above passage did make me laugh.
We have been ‘prepping’ for potential US invasion for over a year. I started learning to shoot a gun. I boycott anything g US and call out the Maple MAGAs every day. I support our elected reps and candidates who still understand the rule of law and value of democratic principles and institutions.
I think the war has already begun.
I’m in the category of dwelling on it, partly as a reaction to those around me who, I would argue, are in the category of ignoring it. Both can lead to a state of inertia or paralysis as we are overwhelmed with the destruction and chaos. Reading articles like this provides the impetus to act, to counter the normalization. If we want a future world that is based on humanitarian principles we have to recognize that we need to act now. Things are bad. We all have the capacity to resist the collapse. Your Yeats reference was perfect. “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. History has taught us that being passive is being complicit.
I'll be doing what I can to keep social democracy alive and with some power in as many places as possible as we go through this period.
An excellent and very necessary article, David, driving home the message that IT COULD HAPPEN HERE. Of course it could. We take our democracy for granted at our peril; it's being eroded everywhere. I live in Ontario, where Doug Ford is assuming quasi-dictatorial powers, and there seems to be no way of challenging him except in the next election. In the meantime, Ontario holds municipal elections this coming fall. I'm going to try to get voters in my city interested in holding a series of Town Hall meetings to name, discuss and then prioritize issues they want to see city council address in the next session. Then, ideally, we'd then invite experts on each of the selected issues and experience with addressing it, to show how what we decide might be put into practice. The results would be shared with all candidates, who'd be expected to speak to them. This was the basis of the People's Platform used in Hamilton leading up to the municipal elections in 2014. It's was a great example of citizen engagement and participation. It didn't catch on then, but I sense that people might just be ready for it now,.
Strong take on avoiding both numbness and cynicism when confronting chaos. The reminder that normalizing destructive behavior through wave-offs is as damageing as ignoring it is something people need to hear. I've seen entire friend groups slide into this trap btw, endlessly venting about whats happening but treating tangible local action like its beneath them.
I think perhaps the greatest thing we can do to prepare for...well, for anything, really, is to get to know our neighbours. Who can we turn to when the chips are down? Is there anyone we can help? How will we know if we don't know anyone in real life? There are thousands of people all around me who could and probably would lend a hand and look out for each other, if we could actually identify each other on the street.
It is sobering to see how radical Mark Carney’s speech at Davis was in its analysis of Canada’s and other “middle” powers (especially Europe) failure for generations to be lulled into a false security under USA’s military and economic dominance. It’s the opposite of the tale of the boy and the emperor: it this case it is the boys who have no clothes. Carney is telling us we need to get some ASAP and how we might be able to do it.
I thought an interview by David Frum with David Brooks last week was very helpful: There is no going back to preTrump. A pursuit of chasing all the corruption will just perpetuate the divide so we have to find a moral high ground and bring people to it. Right now there is only the pursuit of wealth.
Heather Cox Richardson positions it as a rebirth of the slavery era.
So, as some other comments have noted, I am increasing my volunteer activity, ie exercising the values we care about. Dictatorships hate civic engagement, that is the front line. Caring, compassion, respect for each other.