The Endarkenment? The Coaxial Age?

History is change. Frankly, it’s histrionic. As a child of the 90s I thought we were at the end of history and a long, gradual cost towards capitalist democracy all over the world. Nope.

Turns out that capitalism is indistinguishable from cancer from the Earth’s perspective. Turns out that white democracy got scared of colored voters and is doubling back to ‘originalism’, ie white supremacy.

We’re at a moment where many, many ideas are up in the air, and even the idea of where and who ideas should come from.

As they say, we are cursed. We live in interesting times.

To me, the broadest shift happening is one of perspective. The perspective of the white man, which has rewritten history back to a white God, is eroding rapidly. White people have, for example, conclusively shat the bed on COVID-19, from Europe to America.

At the same time, the perspective of man man, which goes back to the first violence I would think, is also being eroded. The only white leaders left are white women (Angela Merkel [boo] and Jacinda Ardern). More to the point, women are demanding and getting more across the world, starting with less rape.

Gender

Like the ≈500 BCs — when mind-benders like Socrates, Kongzi (Confucius), and the Buddha were all active — this larger period is an Axial Age, though I would call it a Coaxial age. Rather than white men waking up, we have a broader humanity. Which should be better.

I often think of the fact that my kids preschool does not employ men because they can’t be trusted around children. How the fuck are they in charge of everything else? Including philosophy.

Human civilization has been growing with one hand behind our backs. The talents of 50% of us. The literal better half, which includes far less murderers and rapists.

Geography

To return to the geographical shift, at least is actually a regression to the mean. White people act like they invented everything but they’re merely the latest custodians of civilization, which they received through Muslims through Asia, through Africa, through millennia of interchange.

Their brief period of total dominance is a historical blip, an anomaly, which is rapidly being corrected. The wealth mean is returning to Asia — where it was before white people looted everything — and the future population growth will mostly come from Africa (more young people is good, it’s actually the greed of the 1% that’s melting the world, not babies).

We’re moving from one point of power (White Power) to multiple power centers, a Coaxial Age. This is a reversion to the mean. This was all happening, but slowly.

Enter COVID.

All of these trends which were happening are suddenly now. The entire mask of ‘development’ has been ripped off and it’s shown that the white power are actually in decline. The UK has spent 2X the entire GDP of Rwanda to have a 120X shittier contact tracing program. The US is a plague state, banned from traveling anywhere in the world.

Meanwhile China has almost completely recovered, its neighbors — from Mongolia to Vietnam and Japan to Korea — have either completely stopped the thing or are competently soldiering on. And even the maligned ‘poor’ nations of Africa, parts of Asia and the Caribbean have proved themselves rich in health. In the ways that matter. Hence the developed world is dead. Now you’re either developing or in decline.

The only outpost of white, colonial power that has remotely survived is in Australasia, effectively in Asia. Hence we start this century, for reals, with the old white empires effectively sick in bed and almost everyone else stubbornly alive. And moving forward. This changes your perspective.

Hence we live in a time of great change, entering a time of even greater climate change. My heart welcomes change but I know enough to remember how fucked up things can get, and how quickly.

But that’s where we are. The Wokening. The Endarkenment. Whatever history will call us. ‘Minorities’ all over the world waking up to the fact that they are actually the majority. ‘Developing’ nations realizing that they are actually more developed. Different people waking up and asking, nay, demanding to endarken the world with their experience.

This is happening. Indeed, if you look at history as centuries it has already well begun. A time of great hope and great risk. As black people used to say to each other as a warning, stay woke. We live in interesting times.