It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, as the popular observation goes. But, according to Betsy Hartmann, that’s an especially American outlook. She discusses what she calls the America Syndrome: the national propensity toward apocalyptic thinking, rooted in religiosity and imperial expansion.
Resources:
Betsy Hartmann, The America Syndrome: Apocalypse, War and Our Call to Greatness Seven Stories Press, 2017
I often record ‘Against the Grain.’ I think this episode’s topic is so important it could save lives. The crazy Bible beliefs about the end of the world, and being selfish, I remember these concepts in the right wing and Libertarian movie ‘Mad Max.’ It is, in the real world, when people cooperate that people flourish, there is no unchanging nature and there probably will be no Apocalypse. Thank you for the show and freeing my mind a bit.