Derrick Jensen

Having watched the video, I'm now reading Derrick Jensen's Endgame. It's pretty good, going into more detail than the video did. Plus it's in the written word which is easier to absorb.

His basic premise is that civilizations (and particularly industrial ones) are unsustainable and predicated upon violence.

From his own admission, he suffered under the hands of an abusive father as a child. Some critics have argued that this has informed his worldview.

Arguably so, but I don't know that it's wrong.

Consider that parents are the earliest models for government in a person's life. Good and loving parents may have that child grow up with a benevolent view of government. A broken home or single parent will lead to a cynical view and a belief that government is dysfunctional. A violent home, as in the case of Derrick Jensen, would then lead to a view of government as based upon violence.

In a violent home, a child tiptoes around and tries not to upset the parent whose violence is on a hair-trigger. Sometimes the violence is random and the child just hides or endures it.

The same can be said of a citizen under our government today. Stay in line or violence will be perpetrated upon you. Do what you're told or they'll threaten you with economic deprivation or prison (or both). When the violence is random, we tell ourselves that it's just part of what we have to deal with and surely the bad guys are to blame. Not the system. The bad guys. Sure.