From End of History to End Times

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor have a new piece titled The Rise of End Times Fascism in which they state: "the most powerful people in the world are preparing for the end of the world, an end they themselves are frenetically accelerating." In his book Down to Earth, the late French philosopher Bruno Latour ( much maligned by Andreas Malm) reports on what he calls the "neo-hypermodernists" who, like those oblivious wealthy folks aboard the Titanic, plan to grab all the lifeboats and watch all the rest of us drown. As they purposefully accelerate the destruction of the biosphere, they fantasize about their own survivalist utopia, whether in bunkers or on private islands or out in space. They are now consciously abandoning the world as they profit from its destruction. This nihilist/fascistic attitude fits nicely with the Christian Right vision of End Times Rapture. They celebrate the genocide of Palestinians as it facilitates the Second Coming, the replacement of the Al Aqsa Mosque and rebuilding of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Yes, lots of people believe this sick shit. Think Mike Huckabee. The point is, it all fits nicely with the prepper narrative of race war and replacement theory, MAGA idiocy around Fortress America and Tech-Bro madness around the Singularity. Cohesive in its incoherence. This is what Klein and Taylor call " monstrous supremacist survivalism" and it is now our collective reality. The War Room Bannon types might not understand all the hypermodernity shit and Artificial General Intelligence, and as fierce nationalists they may not get Seascaping and moving to Mars, but those in power know all you have to do is keep the proles entertained. Keep offering memecoins. The new Times/Sienna poll reports that 42% of voters describe Trump as "exciting". All you need to know.