26 February

The bushfires showed me two big things. That the conservative project to turn society into a collection of disconnected individuals has largely succeeded. We don’t see ‘society’ any more, our response to the bushfires mostly ignored all the public institutions in place for generations. They’re seen as being in the way. Secondly as a result our response to real social challenges is mostly symbolic posturing, like the appeals, and now with domestic violence. Hopelessly ineffective, but makes all those millions of isolated individuals feel good. With a looming pandemic and simultaneous end of some major centres’ water supply, no amount of symbolic crowdfunding will fix anything. I doubt we’re ready for the potential shitstorm bearing down on us.