That great ideas (or visions) that proffer to serve humanity, can also be captured and subverted, by the 1% (ruling order) and by the old structures of oppression which have held the majority of humans down, always at the receiving end for eons. In his book ‘The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality (2017)’ Walter Schiedel explains the paradox of our age, with humor. “In 2015, the richest 62 persons on the planet owned as much private wealth as the poorer 50% of humanity = more than 3.7 billion people. If they decided to go on a field trip together, they would comfortably fit into a large bus. The previous year, 85 billionaires were needed to clear that threshold, fitting into a double-decker bus. And not so long ago in 2010, no fewer 398 billionaires together would offset the assets of the global 50% – a billionaires gathering would have required a convoy of vehicles or a typical Airbus 320…” You get the point. Inequality and violence have always been inextricably linked, throughout the history of civilizations. Through the ages, of ancient religions, empires, colonialism, enlightenment, industrial revolution, democracy, science and the current Anthropocene.
Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford 2017
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