In this country, the third level is where the action is – the sociopolitical action, at least. The physiological and safety levels are well-served for more than 90% of our population. Where we’re most vulnerable is in our desire for acceptance.
Not that the Left hasn’t tried its damnedest to attack our physical and security needs. It’s just a lot harder in a society as well-armed and wealthy as ours. But material goods and the ability to “retire” a thug at need have little bearing on our desire to be accepted and valued by others.
Mark Tapscott addresses the political threat to our Level-Three interaction in his review of Stella Morabito’s book The Weaponization of Loneliness:
Americans and much of the rest of the Western world received a lengthy preview of what is coming, absent multiple major changes in public perception of the legitimacy of governance, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recall the controversies over proposed and actual vaccine mandates and passports imposed by governments at all levels and by corporate powers. No vaccine, no job. No vaccine, no access to public services. No vaccine, no travel. And ultimately, no vaccine, no public contact….
Morabito notes that “the picture of a totalitarian revolution in the making” is formed when such mandates are combined with the continuing development of intrusive digital technologies. This leads to controls such as the “kill switch” that would enable the authorities to dispense with the Smokeys and simply turn your car or truck off in the event you commit any of what are sure to be a growing list of sins, as well as the adaption of digital currencies that replace hard-paper and metal money, which enables bureaucrats to approve or deny any or all of your purchases.
The extent to which we’ve already digitized our interactions with others makes this especially ominous. Statists’ plans to saddle the digital horse – e.g., the elimination of physical cash and the ongoing collaborative censorship – raise the threat level to Defcon 2 at least.
I’ve written about this from my own perspective. It’s struck me as a threatening trend for some time. Miss Morabito’s book has just made it to the top of my reading list, with a bullet. I’ll be back to this after I’ve read it. But it already makes clear the importance of personal courage and forthrightness in the sociopolitical context. As Mel Gibson’s William Wallace says in Braveheart:
Food for thought.
