Does it ever feel like nothing ever happens? You may have ever heard the phrase before, which is a bit of a meme now. But the basic idea is that there are no global events that fundamentally change the world order. Current events occur, horrible (Palestine, Sudan, some shitty election) and great (Luigi Mangione, the recent string of arsons) things do happen, but the premise is that the power balance of the world, either between classes or states, fundamentally remains the same or reflects those of recent history.
I am reminded of The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama, which I will quote at length:
What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. This is not to say that there will no longer be events to fill the pages of Foreign Affair's yearly summaries of international relations, for the victory of liberalism has occurred primarily in the realm of ideas or consciousness and is as yet incomplete in the real or material world. But there are powerful reasons for believing that it is the ideal that will govern the material world in the long run.
Now, Fukuyama is criticized for simplifying world developments and many responded that the rise of Salafism and Jihadist strains of Islam contradict his optimistic view of ascendant liberalism. One could reply now that the current and ongoing world conditions are just an extension of liberalism’s attempt to solidify itself against the “Old world” (though, modern Salafism is actually quite modern, as are most Traditionalisms!). Regardless, it feels a growing number of people want something new and better but see no opportunity for it.
Naturally, I see Wayne Price commenting to affirm the need for a well-organized anarchist labor movement. I’d reply it is less effective than the Jihadist attempts, at least they took the fight to the American Corporate World! (Too soon?) Equally, all the new or so-called new revolutionary projects fail and don’t produce exciting, world-shaking impacts. There is always some new attempt to revolutionize thought or ideas and they stay stuck in Academia or Instagram algorithms,
Between the lack of revolutionary (or if you prefer, insurrectionist, or just fun) projects and world events seemingly always returning us to some Circa 2012 conditions, it does indeed seem like nothing ever happens!
In my own life, I admit this leads to some strong depressive feelings. It seems no projects or actions I take feel important. Maybe the Anarcho-Nihilist may reply that I need to “give up hope, and go [redact] the police officer” but I think many of us can admit that not even the Nihilists are doing that, either. And with Flock Safety, etc, good luck! Wanting things to happen isn’t directly a matter of hope, but of growing exhausted of the way the world is. There is no maximizing freedom under these conditions.
Questions:
1. Is it fair to say a growing number of people feel “stuck” or express an idea similar to “nothing ever happens”? Why is that?
2. Is “nothing ever happens” an accurate depiction of the current world order?
3. How do you deal with what seems to be a time of inertia?
Comments
Perhaps "nothing ever…
anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/19/2026 - 09:11
Perhaps "nothing ever happens" because you're fixated on the macro of politics and don't take any agency over the things you can do in your daily life to feel joy or excitement or weirdness or entertainment.
right? these buffoons should…
anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/19/2026 - 10:30
In reply to Perhaps "nothing ever… by anonymous (not verified)
right? these buffoons should get busy getting entertained! agency is what channel you watch, what videogame you play, what brand of slop you eat, which indistinguishable intersection in the city gris you jaywalk through.
leave the world order to the billionaires and the ruling class! they're not having any fun with their jet-setting and their yachts, and lavish parties.
1. no, most people are fine…
anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/19/2026 - 10:26
1. no, most people are fine with being foodies, watching netflix, and getting laid.
2. yes, it fits all of human history
3. by languishing
The short answer is read…
Max Stirner (not verified) Sun, 04/19/2026 - 10:59
The short answer is read Baudrillard who I'm sure Francis read and ripped off a bit. Stasis, simulacra can't produce ideas of its own any more than an AI could, the sign above all, a specific historical window frozen & looped etc. The longer one is, and I'm not being funny, but have you spoken to people. Original thoughts are not very high up on their list as prerogatives. It's very universal, anarchos are conceptually dotards as much as Buddhists, trade unionists or liberal political scientists. It's over but then you never know...
yes i have heard variations…
km (not verified) Sun, 04/19/2026 - 11:35
yes i have heard variations of this phrase since forever. the graphic at the top implies it is from Lenin, (which probably accounts for why someone thinks this a worthy totw), but it seems it is not from him.
i think that it does appear that things are in some sort of stasis until suddenly it appears things seem to be in flux. i would argue that this is due to scale. looking at the largest scale often makes it all appear solid, unchanging, nothing is happening. and yet, zooming in from the macro to the mezzo to the micro will afford a view that notices change occurring all the time.
the post WWII Pax Americana has held for 70+ years and those of us born during it and within its protective sphere might be forgiven for not noticing the turbulence elsewhere. which is to say never has "nothing ever happened". worlds have been shattered in that time, movements crushed, etc. meanwhile, we are pumping toxicity into the air, water, soil and those debts will at some point come due, which will usher in their own a whole lot of happening happening.
i mean, weeks where years happen is just straws breaking camels' backs.
small things leading to large things has been ever known.
Like Fukuyama's, don't think…
Max Stirner (not verified) Sun, 04/19/2026 - 14:06
In reply to yes i have heard variations… by km (not verified)
Like Fukuyama's, don't think you're meant to take the aphorism literally. Capitalism has proved to be far more resilent and absorbative than feudalism. Flux is even welcomed for new markets of which the demand is inexhaustable. You need Bolshevism to pave the way for oligarchs a century later, you need Maoists for Dengism. Per another misattributed quote, it's easier to imagine the end of the world than capitalism because this shit could just go forever until nothing does.
Beyond capitalism,…
anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/19/2026 - 16:08
In reply to Like Fukuyama's, don't think… by Max Stirner (not verified)
Beyond capitalism, civilizations, archism, cities with governments and centralizations, with forced labor, a priestly class, classes, castes, specialization, etc.
Yes, there is a pre-history, yes there are people who live on the margins. The corn sprinkles on the same turd.
Anarchist can continue to be the discordant note in the same symphony of destruction. It just blurs into the background hum if you're not paying attention. Sometimes the one's paying closest attentions are the authorities trying to jam along.
Anarchy's neither about…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/20/2026 - 04:02
In reply to Beyond capitalism,… by anonymous (not verified)
Anarchy's neither about causing discord or about order. Both can be used is suitable, but really it's about minding your own business, and reminding the despots to mind theirs. Like for instance the coastal people who lived off Sparta, free from the city-state's otherwise despotic regime. They were left alone, to run their own lives.
not
km (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 08:55
In reply to Like Fukuyama's, don't think… by Max Stirner (not verified)
not taking it literally, i'm saying even if one were to take it literally it is not the case.
In relation to what Lenin…
Max Stirner (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 12:34
In reply to not by km (not verified)
In relation to what Lenin would be talking about if he said it, it is. The nothing and happening are the same, as he quickly found out; there is only capital (scuse the source but it's got funny quotes), https://communist.red/lenins-struggle-against-bureaucracy/
That's why it's the boring…
GO3 Sun, 04/19/2026 - 16:08
That's why it's the boring dystopia. Everything is commodified even rebellion and alt culture. I don't know if people who have tried just about everything can possibly be entertained anymore. I don't think current events happen for our own edification, you have to find your own things to do in the world. Post-capitalist desire begins with acid communism which is a change in consciousness and a break from the commodity form. Academic rigor is the rigor mortis of the imagination, that's why I prefer speculative fiction.
I LARGELY prefer alkaline…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/20/2026 - 00:59
In reply to That's why it's the boring… by GO3
I LARGELY prefer alkaline anarchy to acid communism.
I'm a house punk caregiver…
GO3 Mon, 04/20/2026 - 11:51
In reply to I LARGELY prefer alkaline… by anonymous (not verified)
I'm a house punk caregiver so I sleep in air conditioning and take a hot shower every night. I still roll out twice a day on my longboard and do push-ups and squats at the house. There is some money in it but not enough to retire on. I'm 57.
Life
https://youtu.be/qlP43fiYNPs?si=5djj_w0RgSS57q9L
"Naturally, I see Wayne…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/20/2026 - 03:29
"Naturally, I see Wayne Price commenting to affirm the need for a well-organized anarchist labor movement. I’d reply it is less effective than the Jihadist attempts, at least they took the fight to the American Corporate World! "
Orly? In which alternate universe?
If anything, American corporations (let's be specific here, rite? Arab oil princes, Chinese, Russian and Euro billionaires are really just the underdogs!) are benefiting from these theocratic regimes or groups. But regardless... what have Jihadists accomplished?
They won two wars on the…
Max Stirner (not verified) Mon, 04/20/2026 - 08:06
In reply to "Naturally, I see Wayne… by anonymous (not verified)
They won two wars on the bounce against both hegemonies, they rattled the Yanks enough to back Ocelan's latest grift, they're currently scrapping with a nuclear armed state and over in Africa, they're putting the continent in peril. To top it off, their rhizomatic capabilities are so effective that militaries and warfare academics study them extensively. Anarchos are getting mogged by cavemen in ballies and flip flops basically. How is this a real question.
Ikr?
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/20/2026 - 15:34
In reply to They won two wars on the… by Max Stirner (not verified)
Lol, lmfao even, @ this:
"Maybe the Anarcho-Nihilist may reply that I need to “give up hope, and go [redact] the police officer” but I think many of us can admit that not even the Nihilists are doing that, either."
Gee, almost like its all undergrad hipster posers on a LARP. I can't be the only one to notice that the more extra and "macho" the anarcho rhetoric becomes- the more pathetic and ineffectual its actual praxis becomes in turn. Perhaps that's because the brain confuses all the talking/posturing at your lame bookclub for the actual DOING.
Notice how all the people doing the things that "anarcho nihilists" jerk themselves off to while reading Serafinskis absolute joke of a book (Bourke, Mangione, Warehouse-Mangione, etc) - do NOT adopt these sad little labels? They just DO SHIT with no books and labels required. But that's assuming any of these lames are anything but a bunch of frauds just waiting to inherit mommy and daddy's money.
It's like...
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 00:00
In reply to They won two wars on the… by Max Stirner (not verified)
"Can't stop, won't stop."
BRO LOL! You never truly and actually "began" in the first place! Just a whole lot of performative fucking around. But hey, at least your equally vapid and shitty hipster friends think you're cool!
Are Jihadists More "Effective" Than Anarchists?
Wayne Price@ (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 12:54
In reply to They won two wars on the… by Max Stirner (not verified)
"Naturally, I see Wayne Price commenting to affirm the need for a well-organized anarchist labor movement. I’d reply it is less effective than the Jihadist attempts, at least they took the fight to the American Corporate World! "
This misses the point, big time. Which is, what are their goals? "effective" at what? Sure, in recent years theocratic jihadists have made a bigger impact on the world than anarchists have. So have fascist movements. In fact, anarchists have been a minority, small tendency, these days, having less of an impact than evangelist (white) Christian nationalists. But we are fighting for freedom and all other political tendencies are (more-or-less) for authoritarianism and repression.
The question is: what can we do to increase our impact, to grow our tendency. There have been times and places when anarchists had significant impacts It is not impossible for this to be done again.
The
At obtaining power Wayne. I…
Max Stirner (not verified) Wed, 04/22/2026 - 02:07
In reply to Are Jihadists More "Effective" Than Anarchists? by Wayne Price@ (not verified)
At obtaining power Wayne. I know (social) anarchists get the ick about this, bizarrely even more so post the utter routing of the Spanish Revolution but success breeds succeeds. It's not like jihadism, neofascism & anti-Christ nationalism haven't also been infinitesimal sects, but they've managed to dust themselves off, regroup and adapt with/ahead of the times while the ultraleft watches on the sidelines with an ever enlarging Pikachu face and a list of excuses to match. You know the answer to your question but people are not willing to bin the modes and tactics of the horse & cart era, what can you do.
I can show you the great…
GO3 Wed, 04/22/2026 - 06:41
In reply to At obtaining power Wayne. I… by Max Stirner (not verified)
I can show you the great Pikachu on Square One server.
Obtaining power... for who…
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2026 - 01:19
In reply to At obtaining power Wayne. I… by Max Stirner (not verified)
Obtaining power... for who/what/why? Especially upon who? Wayne had a broken clock moment above, as yes, Jihadists are really just super-authoritarian statists... who conveniently are focused at gaining and securing power for their gangs. By any means necessary. They're pretty much Mexican cartels but with Allah as the central ideology, instead of capital. They're fluid and hard to contain like fascist football insurgents, but equally dim-witted, obtuse, childish, ignorant, sexually-frustrated, brutish and of course retrogrades. You go to the more diverse Muslim countries, and they're the troglodyte rural types no one else wants to deal with. I seen some Muslim women shout insults at their mosques, for a reason.
All this to say that yes, in many countries they gained major political advances, yet their model is not just incompatible but literally contradictory with any sort of anarchism... Like they're the fucking enemy. An even bigger enemy for anarchists than they are to US imperialists, as a matter of fact.
For themselves obviously. I…
Max Stirner (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2026 - 03:39
In reply to Obtaining power... for who… by anonymous (not verified)
For themselves obviously. I mean I know the answer, but do you want to win (literally anything) or do you want to put out this pat shite that's preaching to the choir. Like anyone with a brain; states, governments, militaries, theorists, I study the enemy if they've been successful without moralising or endorsing. I don't study other anarchists, especially Yank ones, who couldn't organise a piss up in a brewary.
"The" I felt that.
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2026 - 03:43
In reply to Are Jihadists More "Effective" Than Anarchists? by Wayne Price@ (not verified)
"The"
I felt that.
Bored!
Anonimouse (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 08:17
You can get bored of everything except being alive? To be bored of this is apparently a mental illness and not an accurate conclusion. No, it is simply impossible to get bored with living... apparently.
Bored of life as the product…
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2026 - 03:52
In reply to Bored! by Anonimouse (not verified)
Bored of life as the product of systems of bureaucratic management of resources for compliant and docile minimum existence.
Bored of life can also be a thing, separate from the conditions of life. But boredom itself is not bad if one is free to do with it what one wills. The problem is when tedium is an imposition by others who profit from it. Boredom as a symptom of exploitation and alienation. Same with other affects. People can deal with anxiety, but when you're anxious because you can't make ends meet and might get evicted or can't eat, then the problem goes beyond the anxiety.
You're making the stupid…
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2026 - 08:53
In reply to Bored of life as the product… by anonymous (not verified)
You're making the stupid basic mistake normies often do... which is to confuse society with "life" and vice versa. As yes, for any social conformist, society is the totality of the biopower without which no life can exist.
Luckily, the whole "exploited by the
CalvinSmith Thu, 04/23/2026 - 17:17
In reply to Bored of life as the product… by anonymous (not verified)
rich" is too simple, or otherwise it would be fixed...it would not be a problem.
...or not, some aspects about life are pretty terrible.
Both perspectives are valid IMO
There's always urbaneering,…
GO3 Tue, 04/21/2026 - 09:23
There's always urbaneering, dumpster diving, wanking under bridges and foitin around the world!
You're on a kick today. ya…
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 13:13
In reply to There's always urbaneering,… by GO3
You're on a kick today. ya know the kids are on the newest "freedom thru emergent action" thing, though... they can't hear you until you somehow hack evasion (2001) onto tiktok
I am on TicTok already. I…
GO3 Wed, 04/22/2026 - 06:43
In reply to You're on a kick today. ya… by anonymous (not verified)
I am on TicTok already. I found it.
I prefer natural parks and…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/22/2026 - 06:40
In reply to There's always urbaneering,… by GO3
I prefer natural parks and riversides these days... but how didja know!? Anews hackers better than the FBI!
I like people who have Taco…
GO3 Wed, 04/22/2026 - 12:09
In reply to I prefer natural parks and… by anonymous (not verified)
I like people who have Taco Bell tattooed on their knuckles. Order fast food with apps you get deals, rewards and free food.
When I was younger I saw the…
Boletus (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 12:03
When I was younger I saw the Revolution or the Collapse around every corner. I met some older anarchists who explained that the reason they hadn't burned out wasn't because they believed in some sort of upcoming Event, but precisely because nothing substantially had changed. That worldview has stuck with me twenty years later
After reading some Lyotard I…
Lebou (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 17:05
After reading some Lyotard I've just resigned myself to the existence of a libidinal economy, what he called a "great ephemeral skin" or "libidinal band," the flow of society's energies which create the surface reality, and how events wax and wanewith libidinal intensities; often manipulated by marketing, propaganda and FEAR. It's a tad nihilistic, with no real boundaries or unity, no palpable meaning, only eternal struggle. My empathanarch energies defy its fearsome potentialities.
Cultivate the counter libido…
GO3 Wed, 04/22/2026 - 07:25
In reply to After reading some Lyotard I… by Lebou (not verified)
Cultivate the counter libido, the way out is through.
Yes, empathanarch energies…
Lebou (not verified) Wed, 04/22/2026 - 08:44
In reply to Cultivate the counter libido… by GO3
Yes, empathanarch energies break through the walls of enslavement and ressentiment.
its a stag-nation
blair g (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2026 - 18:25
i think it was said that, culture has ceased to progress since the 2000s. i think, for the ownership class, they need cultures dissapating. everything they sell replaces everything we deem important as humans. if you can't imagine a better future then step out of the way. the hinderance is a mechanism of control. your output is codeified monetarily, and power is exerted through making that output insignificant. you believe you can't change people's minds. people are chronically ignoramus because they made a choice, they simply choose not to think any further, to not challenge the mechanisms by which they function. their complacency empowers the state over their neighbor. when your stripped of your protections, defenses, and agency, what is left but the words weaved from memories?
Yes words weaved from…
GO3 Wed, 04/22/2026 - 17:02
In reply to its a stag-nation by blair g (not verified)
Yes words weaved from memories. Times are changing.
The Patchwright
https://youtu.be/-Rzl7nUdEs4?si=zRxjehhFNGQo-nba
It's not dissipation of…
Wildlyfist (not verified) Fri, 04/24/2026 - 00:51
In reply to its a stag-nation by blair g (not verified)
It's not dissipation of culture... The mechanism of recuperation by the Spectacle makes it that only representations (images) matter, so that every culture gets hollowed out. Hence why pop culture appeads to be on an endless loop of regurgitating past cultures from some "eras". We just came out of a Zoomer regurgitation of the '80s cool, so that we appear to be re-entering the '90s now... which might lead us back the '60s hippies (for like the 7th time) or maybe the '50s conservatism, I dunno.
It's a broken mill turning from its own internal void... if only we could plug to it for creating heat and kinetic energy! No more need for lithium, can u imagine?
I love molecules with iron…
Lebou (not verified) Sat, 04/25/2026 - 07:34
In reply to It's not dissipation of… by Wildlyfist (not verified)
I love molecules with iron in them flowing unshackled through my critically thinking mind. Not lithium ;)
Liberal democracy might not be
CalvinSmith Thu, 04/23/2026 - 15:54
The last government style, "communism" and governments more cozy to the blatant mobster psychology (like The Russian Federation) still exist, maybe in the future, there will be more of a mixture between these 3 styles.
But yeah, powerful people overtime learned decentralization is a better means of control, i personally don't see megalomaniacs experimenting beyond this paradigm...
"Army of One" was an…
Max Stirner (not verified) Fri, 04/24/2026 - 02:12
In reply to Liberal democracy might not be by CalvinSmith
"Army of One" was an official U.S military slogan for 5 years; the IDF had a philosopher theorist implementing rhizomes and bubbles for combat (yup, auld Delueze and Guattari). Wouldn't be surprised if a theocracy starts banging on about their formations as leaderless unions of egos, freely associating and dispersing at will...
If it wasn't so funny, you'd cry.
Whats is that right after i posted that,
CalvinSmith Fri, 04/24/2026 - 08:28
In reply to "Army of One" was an… by Max Stirner (not verified)
I realized i forgot about theocracy: there have been US "intellectuals" in fairly recent years garnering attention with the prospect of stoning gay people, and other offenses, etc. Maybe sharia will be real in the U.S., it would take a long time though, as the cultural landscape is currently bad for that.
*Whats weird is right after i posted that..
CalvinSmith Fri, 04/24/2026 - 08:30
In reply to Whats is that right after i posted that, by CalvinSmith
*sharia law...
I'll be called a crank (and…
Max Stirner (not verified) Fri, 04/24/2026 - 09:43
In reply to *Whats weird is right after i posted that.. by CalvinSmith
I'll be called a crank (and what bruv) but I totally believe you will see leftoid jihad in the United States in the not too distant future. Calla Wally and to some degree Aaron Bushell are the first shots across the bow.
Meh... go back to 4chan u…
anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/24/2026 - 11:26
In reply to I'll be called a crank (and… by Max Stirner (not verified)
Meh... go back to 4chan u Rightard. Only violence Bushnell did with his "Jihad" was against himself, and that bougie activist Wally is just a newer iteration of the Weather Underground type, except even the WU didn't have a rich kid like stupid Chambers as financier/kingpin.
I don't understand that chain of
CalvinSmith Fri, 04/24/2026 - 18:37
In reply to Meh... go back to 4chan u… by anonymous (not verified)
Logic really at all beyond "if you don't like islam, then ur right wing." It's this kind of shit that has killed the little social value this site could have...i like story about the megalomaniacs, but i can't glean much from your shitty post, even for further research purposes.
*the story
CalvinSmith Fri, 04/24/2026 - 18:38
In reply to I don't understand that chain of by CalvinSmith
About the megalomaniacs
Jihad means great struggle,…
Max Stirner (not verified) Sat, 04/25/2026 - 02:58
In reply to Meh... go back to 4chan u… by anonymous (not verified)
Jihad means great struggle, which probably covers self immolation. Like I said, it will not be too difficult to radicalise the American left; they are not bright to begin with.
It's hard to leave decentralization out
CalvinSmith Fri, 04/24/2026 - 11:32
In reply to I'll be called a crank (and… by Max Stirner (not verified)
Of the equation though, islam is not compatible with progressive ideology. Liberalism may not be the popular stance, explicit MLK talk waned since the 90's, but it's the core of modern ethics.
There may be some jihadis in…
GO3 Sat, 04/25/2026 - 13:03
In reply to It's hard to leave decentralization out by CalvinSmith
There may be some jihadis in the middle east fighting a righteous battle against imperialism, on the right side of history but that doesn't mean I can live with them, if they are religious fundamentalists. The problem with progress is uneven development. Some countries are marked for exploitation and excluded. It has to be global. There's nothing wrong with civil liberties and sound laws and there is great diversity in the Muslim world.
and universal "human progress" doesn't even exist.
CalvinSmith Sun, 04/26/2026 - 12:31
In reply to There may be some jihadis in… by GO3
It's a fairy tale: who's to say a medieval peasant wiping his ass with sticks and leaves is worse that some european spraying their ass with bidet? We have made no promise folks, and nothing is going on....
Of course there's no…
GO3 Sun, 04/26/2026 - 13:42
In reply to and universal "human progress" doesn't even exist. by CalvinSmith
Of course there's no universal human progress. There is just the spread of industrialization, urban monoculture and bourgeois governance. There's nothing wrong with primitive people but they are vulnerable to exploitation unless they are assimilated.
Hahaha...nice try...
CalvinSmith Mon, 04/27/2026 - 12:04
In reply to Of course there's no… by GO3
We need to build anarchist schools, effective immediately, with mandatory office work for primitive hunter gatherers.
Calvin, that's the nature of…
GO3 Mon, 04/27/2026 - 14:42
In reply to Hahaha...nice try... by CalvinSmith
Calvin, that's the nature of capitalists and primitive accumulation, they can't leave these people alone. If you've ever watched an episode of The Office you've seen the effects of bourgeois ideology on the working class when they are assimilated into a corporate structure. It's like the Borg.
i was just trying to reciprocate your trolling, i didn't mean
CalvinSmith Mon, 04/27/2026 - 16:12
In reply to Calvin, that's the nature of… by GO3
anything beyond "haha, nice try".
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