21st Century Doublethink

 The era I live in is utterly fascinating. I'm also fascinated by the past several decades and centuries, but content with marveling at them from a distance. I love the clothes and music, and I especially love reading stories, all of which are available for more people in greater quantities than ever before. I also love traveling, which is easier now (and by now I really mean the past twenty or thirty years) than it ever has been.

I'm a vegetarian because I think slaughterhouses are abominations that shouldn't exist. I also largely try to buy secondhand clothing, partly because I don't like supporting companies whose manufacturers mistreat their workers to increase their profit because they can get away with such behavior in their country. I do this to try and feel a little bit more in control of my life and the effects of my actions, not because I think it actually makes much difference.

As you've probably assumed, I also still use fossil-fueled transport frequently (mostly public transit when available, car when there is no public transit and walking is too inconvenient) and buy food from supermarkets, some of which has been flown long distances and was grown with pesticides. Sometimes I also buy clothes new, even if they come from places where laborers are not sufficiently protected from their employers by the law. I could go on, but I think I've said enough.

I like to think of myself as a person who never does things that hurt others unless I absolutely need to, but I'm simply not. 

I'm not alone. The vast majority of my fellow humans (at least in the wealthier countries) are as guilty as I am. My actions are no worse than those of my peers, so they're largely socially acceptable. That isn't unreasonable--there isn't a whole lot we can do about this situation as individuals. I could do more than I actually do, sure, but I will never be truly free from this destructive economy until it collapses by itself. Why make myself miserable when the effect doesn't amount to much?

That's not an excuse to do nothing, of course. I do what seems like it has some miniscule chance of making a tiny difference, and I avoid doing things that make me feel guilty enough so I can ignore the consequences that I don't spend energy thinking about. I feel like a responsible person and continue to do irresponsible things when they suit me. Doublethink.

Uniquely industrial doublethink, I think. When else in human history have our collective actions as a species had such myriad negative consequences? Which brings me to my point. 

I'm not writing this to blame anyone, and it's not a confession, either. Everyone I know is more or less the same as me in this respect. A lot of what I've written feels so obvious it's hardly worth putting into words, actually. That's the thing, though. It rarely is put into words (outside activist and political contexts, at least.)

I'm not trying to persuade you to do x to make the world better or make you feel bad about yourself--merely acknowledging of the doublethink that pervades my thoughts, every single day. The same doublethink I think you must live with. Maybe not as much as me, or maybe more. But I think more people think this way than most of us would guess. We just don't talk about it. 

Not that talking about the doublethink is likely to make any more impact than avoiding meat or newly-manufactured stuff or other things that contribute to the destruction of our world as we know it (or at least more suffering than is necessary.) But it's better than ignoring it, I think.