Limitations of Stage Green wishful thinking

[tuckerwphotography]

This video for me highlights the need for more pragmatically integral (Yellow) and less utopian (Green) thinking. Russell Brand asks, "What causes COVID, The System or The Virus?" It's clear to me that it's both/and. 

He points out that "the system" doesn't value things like healthy eating, addressing poverty, holistic health, etc., all of which is pretty clear. But what bothers me is the implication that COVID and the need for vaccines would just magically disappear if only everyone somehow knew that The System is a culprit. It reminds me of religious dogma: "If only everyone knew The Truth, salvation would reign." 

The real world, from my perspective, is a more complicated beast. Maybe Russell could stand outside of a McDonalds and convince everyone not to eat fast food so that they reduce their risks of getting COVID. Even the few people who he does convince will still have poorly regulated immune systems that will take months and years to rebalance. Eradicating poverty (one of the "solutions" proposed to catching COVID) also feels naive to me as a short term response to this pandemic, and even if he did invent a magic wand to eliminate poverty, the trauma from years of living in poverty will still take years (or a lifetime) more to heal. Meanwhile, those who are most vulnerable to the effects of COVID will still be most vulnerable. 

It feels like simplistic thinking to say, "Why don't we just magically reshape all of society, our entire culture and economy, all of our customs and traditions, and all of our institutions and systems all by end of day tomorrow so that I, the enlightened upperclass vegan, don't have to get a vaccine." 

I'm grateful that so many folks are "awakening" themselves and others to the importance of systemic societal shifts and the importance of holistic health, trauma healing, etc. But I feel it's also important to recognize how privileged of a position this is. I'm in NYC right now - 9 out of 10 people around me are not living the lifestyle Brand is advocating for. It's going to take time for society to shift. Evolution is slow. It's actually happening at warp speed these days thanks to the internet, but still, it's slow. 

A thought I've been pondering: maybe millions of people are getting the vaccine because their intuition and spirit guides know how shitty their health is, and they're listening to their bodies which are asking for help and protection after years of abuse. If the "awoke" ones are saying no to the vaccine because they're in good health, it makes sense that the "asleep" ones are saying yes to the vaccine because they're in poor health. Maybe a greater intelligence is guiding them, too.

My proposal is this: let's individually and collectively work together to shift society in a direction that makes future viruses less likely to spread through our immune systems while also recognizing that we are where we are, and not everyone is where WE are. So we need different responses for different people who are at different stages in the journey of Life. It's a more complex approach, but it's the only one I see being viable and sane. Curious to hear other's thoughts! 

Edited April 24, 2021 by tuckerwphotography