Dark God -

Dark God

26/12/2024

Culture • Literature • Books

By ANTONIO D. CATTANI*

Author's foreword to the newly released book

Anticipatory literature that does not involve elves, fairies, or dragons never brings good news. The work of fiction The one written in early 2016 and published in 2017, it already revealed the emergence of something latent in the Western world. Neoliberalism does not regenerate itself; on the contrary, it inexorably accentuates inequalities and the struggle of all against all, undermining the basic principles of democracy.

To continue dominating hearts and minds, the powerful need to rely on men of events: Donald Trump, a scoundrel multimillionaire, took office as president of the United States of America in 2017 and was reelected in 2024; Jair Bolsonaro, a sinister politician who held parliamentary positions for almost three decades, was elected president of Brazil; Javier Milei, a delusional demagogue promoted by the mainstream media, was sworn in as president of Argentina in December 2023.

Their supporters and, above all, their financiers, have been in place for a long time. The social disasters were announced in advance, but some victims have not yet understood the consequences of their choices or their passivity. Within their respective nations, these instrumental men are executing the orders of capital with force and speed: destruction and privatization of large segments of the state apparatus, especially the control bodies, repression of the vulnerable, increasing the intolerance and prejudices of the rich white people and the resentful of all classes.

The parallel with what happened in Germany in the 1930s and part of the 1940s is unavoidable. It is not a question of a few demonic personalities, of demagogues deceiving ordinary, idiotic people who, when the situation is reversed, will say that they did not know what was happening or that they were just following orders. It is the opposite. From the beginning they knew what they were doing. The perpetrators have peculiar moral and social judgment.

They are not uninformed or unaware of the results of their actions. They are driven by specific understandings of human nature, the State and History, forming a cohesive and articulated conception of the world. Obviously, these conceptions do not correspond to the Enlightenment standard that constitutes the basis of the civilized, democratic and supportive world.

Thousands of concrete acts of racism, inhumanity and villainy constitute an ideological, historical and structural pattern, consciously shared by certain individuals. Hannah Arendt contributed greatly to promoting a completely mistaken conception of the nature of evil and crimes. The concept of the “banality of evil” erroneously, not to say dishonestly, highlights thoughtlessness or the inability to think as a justification for the actions of perpetrators and their accomplices.

The uncivilized standard of living of large segments of the population is financed by wealthy individuals who seek to secure their privileges by counting on the support of people with conscience. Evil exists and is practiced by individuals who are aware that they are disrespecting the categorical imperative of treating all human beings as bearers of rights. Evil manifests itself in individuals who deliberately act against the recognition and respect for the dignity of others. Defending barbarity, horror, and inhumanity, and acting in an anti-egalitarian manner, turns normal individuals into criminals and murderers.

For this deadly transition to occur, permissiveness and speeches alone are not enough. People must be armed with lethal instruments. Written without knowledge of the Alex Garland film, Civil War (2024) Dark God, Dark Days seems to explain what happened before the events shown in the film. In the near future, the United States is torn apart by something long in the making (literally).

In the first part, Expectations for death – “Days of Waiting” – presents one of the many plots in preparation. In this case, by five archetypal Americans from the wealthy classes acting to reverse political issues in the direction that interests them: class logic, feelings of racial superiority, excessive greed in business, ability to mobilize resources.

On Monday, Diebus spectans – “Days of Observation”, a young Norwegian anthropologist researching a tribe of indigenous people (classic figures of the extinct population), gives a thought-provoking account of the situation. With a watchful eye, she spends a few days with other characters who are obsessed and prepared for the great event that is about to explode.

God bless you – “Days of Wrath” details the announced tragedy, the concretization of the syndrome of evil allowed by the individual possession of weapons, of a large quantity of weapons. They are no longer the mass shooting, a mistaken designation for individual and isolated actions, but selective exterminations, an equally mistaken designation to classify explosions of resentment, hatred and desire for death, death of the other, of the different in color, origin and biotype.

In a dry and impersonal journalistic style, it is written by family members and friends of victims of Las Vegas shooting, Paradise, Nevada in 2017 and Park Land high school shooting, Miami, Florida 2018. Activists like so many others who still mobilize after the hundreds of annual shootings. See https://www.thetrace.org/ and updated data in https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/

When the situation seems to calm down, we learn of the Silence God, of the Days of Restart, and the fatal connection between the macro and the micro.

US population in 2024: 335 million. Approximate number of firearms: 450 million. After each mass shooting important the demand for weapons increases. The same happened on the eve of the presidential elections in 2024. With Trump's election, people are calmer. Temporarily, says Cassandra.

Initially written for the American peace movement, Dark God was coldly received and then dismissed with responses like, “Anti-gun arguments need to be more subtle,” “Who is this guy to write about the deep-rooted culture of the American people regarding the Second Amendment?” The bellicose spirit of the empire prevails.

When choosing where to stay, requesting in pace.

*Antonio D. Cattani is a full professor of sociology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Author of, among other books, The one (Bestiary Publisher). [https://amzn.to/41RXCSy]

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