Suddenly, Rousseau Makes Sense *

(The world becomes a force that one's instincts and ideals are at war with. One's relationship to the world, in its geopolitical and economic realties, is one of pushing and pulling-- something has to break.
In a capitalist society, one must concern herself with matters of her personal survival first, above all else, therefore trapped in a system she doesn't have the time, money or energy or escape or change. Progress toward digging out of the economic and existential hole gets pushed aside.)


Lisa Klow

* "The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."

-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1754