AN OPEN LETTER TO CHRIS HEDGES

Hello Chris,

            For many years I have admired the powerful brilliance of your thinking and writing.  But for me, what is even more remarkable is the way that you have sculpted such a principled and incorruptible life.  So I am writing to express my heartfelt gratitude.   

And there is an additional reason for my letter.  It is to suggest a less painful way that you can continue to press your campaign for a world of justice, peace, equality and happiness. 
It must be agonizing to reflect upon your many years of clear thinking and incisive writing, and to realize that in spite of your heroic efforts, the Corporate State has become even more powerful and despicable. 

Your increasing sorrow and desperation is evident in your essays.  Knowing that the electoral process cannot effect any significant change, you correctly have championed civil disobedience.  But that rallying cry has mostly been met with apathy from those who you need to inspire, and with greater oppression from those who you need to defeat.  My fear is that because of the nobility of your spirit, because of the incorruptibility of the life you have led, and because of the courage that you have demonstrated in war zones and editorial offices … my fear is … that you might be quietly edging towards martyrdom. 

As an unknown admirer and friend, allow me to propose another path.  I do not believe that we can defeat the Elites, and I suspect that in your heart of hearts you feel the same way.  But you probably also sense, as do I, that their hubris is so colossal and their vision so skewed, that they will immolate themselves.  The ruling classes in all of the past empires believed that the commoners would suffer, but the aristocrats would survive - securely protected in their villas and castles and pleasure domes.  And yet there is not a single Babylonian oligarch or Mesopotamian nobleman alive.  They too perished in the fires of pride and excess that they had stoked.

My suggestion is that you redirect your wonderful blend of idealism and realism away from attempting to change or destroy the system, and instead focus on ESCAPING from its tentacles.  And I have a plan to assist you.  It is something that I have been formulating for years, but that I have only begun sharing with kindred spirits in the last few months.  I call my tiny movement the Sea Gypsy Tribe.    

As you have explained so persuasively numerous times, the techno-industrial civilization that the Corporate State supports and expands is killing our planetary support system.  The Multi-Nationals will not cease their rape of the planet on their own, because it enriches them too obscenely in the near-term.  Most of the people who should oppose them are mesmerized by electronic addiction devices that have lulled them into an apathetic stupor.  And those willing to make a stand are too few and too weak.  Plus the Malignant Authorities have greatly increased their police, judicial and surveillance power.  Any genuinely threatening movement will soon have the boot upon its neck. 

But the Leviathan will fall … not because of resistance from enlightened rebels, but from its own internal flaws.  It is too big, too near-sighted, too complex, too over-extended and too insolvent.  The reason these traits seem so familiar is because they have undermined almost all of the other bloated Empires down through the centuries.  

Chris, when the crash does come, I believe that the best option for survival is the sea gypsy tribe.  Fleeing the marauders and mayhem in modest, well-equipped sailboats that are stocked and prepared for various emergencies is the best of the available strategies.  But besides just enduring, the mission of these small, seagoing clans scattered across the wide waters, will be to repopulate the planet wisely without repeating the mistakes of our current techno-industrial civilization.  “Mozart without the mushroom cloud,” is how I like to describe it.

As economic, energy and ecological crises continue to accelerate and broaden, analyze any of the worst-case scenarios, and it will be apparent that a well-prepared sailboat is the best survival module.   PANDEMIC – the contagion danger stems from large groups of people jammed closely together.  THERMONUCLEAR – None of the world’s ICBMs are aimed towards the open sea.  And the fallout danger is more easily mitigated in a boat which has ¾ of its surface area underwater.  GRID DOWN – Sailboats are self-contained survival pods with wind generators, solar panels, water makers and long-distant radios.  FAMINE – it’s easy to have many months worth of provisions stockpiled onboard and the sea provides fish, seaweed and shellfish.  SUBMERGED COASTAL CITIES – it’s not an issue with a floating survival vessel.    

The basic vision is this.  Here where I am located (outside the U.S.)  I have a 4 boat affinity group who I consider my tribe.  Should things start to get ugly, we would top off our water tanks and our perishable provisions and head out to the open sea.  This will only require a few HOURS, and then we can get underway.  When we are 50 miles out we are beyond the normal fuel range of most predatory small boaters.  We would “tread water” sailing in circles and monitoring with our HAM and single-sideband radios the conditions on land, while enjoying each other’s company. 

When things stabilized ashore, we would cautiously return to where I have made food growing arrangements with some like-minded shore-based expats.  I carry about 35 types of sturdy vegetable seeds in long-life foil packets.  My friends would provide part of their land in exchange for a portion of the crop.  And if things don’t stabilize, at least we made a gallant effort, and then it’s time for “the Black Pill.” We would precede this with a boisterous party worthy of the gang from M*A*S*H. 

My Sea Gypsy Tribe concept is quite thoroughly fleshed out at my website: www.theseagypsyphilosopher.blogspot.com  One of my essays deals with the “why to” aspects of my concept and the companion article provides enough “how to” advice to guide someone from being a novice to a well-prepared mariner.

The reason I am suggesting this unusual change of course for you, is because I so greatly admire your integrity, courage and incorruptibility.  You are most certainly high up on the “enemies list” of the Malignant Authorities and will continue to move closer to the center of their cross-hairs.  There is a strong possibility that incarceration - or worse - awaits you.  The alternative I am suggesting – a getaway with your family to somewhere “unknown” - would bequeath you some very positive benefits:

·        You and your family would be less visible to the NSA MegaSnoopGrid.

·        Instead of continuing to “fight the unbeatable foe” you could retool your thinking and writing towards helping lay the foundations for a more enlightened, post-Collapse society.

·        You could spend more time passing along your wisdom and principles to your sons, as your dad did so powerfully for you.

·        You could enjoy the pleasures of a mode of living with so many enriching features – immersion in nature where most of your neighbors live in the sea and the sky – more time spent under the Yellow Light of Mother Sun instead of the Blue Light of the electronic deception hologram – being a World Citizen who does not support the imperialistic perversions of any government.

If this “out of the blue” proposal has any appeal to you, please get in touch and I will be glad to coach you online as much as you wish.  This would be my way of thanking you for your vision and voice, and also a way of encouraging you to become one of our Sea Gypsy Tribal Elders.

Chris, you have fought so hard and so long to vanquish this monstrous monolith, but you know in your core being that you can’t beat it.  Don’t destroy yourself in quixotic futility!  Let it collapse beneath its own putrid, vicious obesity.  Instead, dedicate your thoughts and words to retooling a wiser future vision of humanity’s place in the web of life on our garden planet.