My List Of Demands

I want to live in a world where being a manipulator is more shameful than being the victim of manipulation.

I want to live in a world where manipulation of any kind stands out as weird and creepy.

I want to live in a world where the subtleties of sovereignty are understood by kindergarteners.

I want to live in a world where the spirit of the law is upheld over the clever diddling of loopholes.

I want to live in a world where actual justice takes precedence over being found to have adhered to the rules of engagement while committing grave injustices.

I want to live in a world where empathy thrives and psychopathy fails.

I want to live in a world where war is seen clearly for the horrific and disgusting thing that it is.

I want to live in a world where people understand power dynamics.

I want to live in a world where people are skeptical of power and give the disempowered the benefit of the doubt, rather than the other way ‘round.

I want to live in a world where the only time all politicians and media unify across partisan divides is to advocate for something healthy that we all agree is in everyone’s best interest, rather than to advocate for war and tyranny.

I want to live in a world where more value is given to those who contribute to the thriving of the whole, rather than one that elevates a singular person’s ruthless desire to get on top no matter what he ruins.

I want to live in a world where a mother’s work pays better than a stockbroker.

I want to live in a world where you can spend a lifetime of caring for others and retire well on savings of your own.

I want to live in the world that values a forest being left alone more highly than one being stripped for resources.

I want to live in a world where it’s impossible to make a profit out of illness.

I want to live in a world where it’s impossible to make a profit out of perpetuating illness.

I want to live in a world where it’s impossible to make a profit out of creating illness.

I want to live in a world where it’s impossible to make a profit out of mass murder. Which means I want to live in a world where it’s impossible to make a profit out of war.

I want to live in a world where it’s impossible to make a profit out of scaring people into thinking they have problems they don’t have in order to sell them “solutions” that they don’t need.

I want to live in a world where garbage is not a thing. I want to live in a world where if it can’t be recycled, reused or composted, then it isn’t used.

I want to live in a world where resources are considered the property of all living beings and they cannot be hoarded by a few of the most ruthless and predatory members of a single species.

I want to live in a world where informed adults are free to choose what substances they put into their own bodies.

I want to live in world of private citizens and public servants, where citizens are entitled to quiet enjoyment of their private lives, while those that have the privilege of serving the needs of the many do so in a glass house, under intense public scrutiny. Power will not seem so desirable to those who would use it badly if this were the case, and it would be no impediment to those who wish to use it well.

I want to live in a world where you can’t sell your ideas. You either share them for no profit or profit off them yourself, but artless predators can’t mine (or hide) the inspiration of others for financial gain.

I want to live in a world where culture is created by the people, rather than by Hollywood.

I want to live in a world where propaganda of any description is considered psychological abuse and stands out against the background of normality like a black cat shitting on a white carpet.

I want to live in world where the behavioral patterns set by trauma atrophy as people love themselves enough to undo them, one by one.

I want to live in a healthy information ecology where people are sincerely attempting to describe their pinhole view on the diorama as truthfully as possible, even (and especially) when that truth contradicts their beliefs or their agenda.

I want media companies to be tiny, agile, and beholden to no one.

I want indie journalism to become the new punk rock.

I want people to fully understand how mental narrative works and how easily it can be manipulated.

I want women to know their worth.

I want women to deeply know they are the sexual choosers. I want women to have the entitlement to choose whoever they want, or not choose anyone at all.

I want all the machinations of sexual manipulation that reverse the position of women as the natural sexual choosers to stand out as weirdly as a monkey smoking a cigarette.

I want women to start embodying their naturally large, intelligent, intimidating presence so that men have to rise to meet it, rather than making themselves small so that men feel like they can safely control them.

I want to live in a world where being able to “press someone’s buttons” is not an admirable trait but rather seen as being deliberately abusive.

I want to live in a world where one person controlling the resources of millions is a cause for alarm, not a cause for idolization.

I want to live in a world where people feel as entitled to food, shelter and water as any other animal born on the land or in the sea.

I want to live in a world where you can’t gamble away other people’s livelihoods on Wall Street.

I want to live in a world where government works more like organized crowdfunding, where money is collected and used for the common good in the most transparent way possible.

I want to live in a world where any attempt to unduly influence the spending of taxes beyond one-person, one-vote is considered extremely antisocial behavior.

I want to live in a world where money is for helping people, not for killing them.

I want to live in a world where humans understand that money was invented by humans, for humans, and humans can change the way it works whenever they want. Or replace it with something else entirely.

I want to live in a world without intelligence agencies.

I want to live in a world where every decision about the use of land is ultimately arbitrated by the original custodians of that land.

I want to live in a world that understands that manipulators are always accusing others of doing what they themselves are doing, and that you can learn about their real motives by simply applying to them what they’re saying about others.

I want lobbying to be illegal.

I want think tanks to be mocked.

I want poverty to be considered a shocking aberration which must be rectified immediately.

I want the inequities of the past acknowledged and reconciled with material wealth and a big fat apology.

I want an end to victim-blaming and consequences for victimizers.

I want to defund the Pentagon.

I want to defund the Queen.

I want to defund the Vatican.

I want to return all the false constructs of power-mad men to the earth for renewal.

I want to end patents.

I want ideas to be free.

I want people to be so relaxed and secure that they cannot be manipulated by the false siren of fear.

I want to call an end to the insane competition we are all trained to engage in from birth, and I want a no-contest declared, and the prize to be divided by 7.7 billion.

I want a playful collaboration to begin with each other and with our ecosystem.

I want us all to truly, deeply see each other.

I want us all to truly, deeply see ourselves.

I want us all to become natural terrestrials, back at home on this planet at long last.

I want everyone to make their own list of demands.

https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/my-list-of-demands-971ece115852