THERE IS HOPE FOR HUMANITY
Overview
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Am I reading that right? Geopolitical tensions, an out-of-control
climate, raging economic inequality... and /there's still hope?/
There is no hope for humanity
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I picked up an issue of /Real Review/ last week and thought one of the
article's contained therein was called "There is no hope for
humanity". As I was reading, I had a felt sense of wanting to disagree
with the contents of the article--an amicable dialog between Slavov
Zizec and Tim Mottery containing freely-associated musings on
humanity. See: the article wasn't despairing the fate of the world. In
fact, it was underlining the importance of humanity's fate being
undetermined and inconclusived. In other words, /the worst things
haven't happened yet/, so why despair? Of course I later realized the
article was in actuality called "There is hope for humanity". How did
they get there? This is simplying what is ultimately a very nuanced
discussion, but Zizek remarks that: "the hope for humanity is, 'my
daughter forgot her phone.'"
How I'm doing with it all
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I feel pretty good about the plights facing humanity. Not good that
they exist, but good in the sense that I believe it's possible to
continue creating and making connections in spite of their
presence. Humanity has always faced conflicts and challenges. Sure,
the scale of the conflicts and challenges today are likely as
difficult to surmount as they've ever been. All the same, it's
important to remember that their conclusions haven't been drawn. War
can still become peace. An anthropacentric era can still prioritize
better ecological ethics and responsibility. There is hope for
humanity, so long as despair doesn't get in the way.
The comics below detail the range of emotions that I go through when
thinking or speaking about some of the issue that feel ever present in
my life. Importantly, I'm striving to remain engaged in the activities
that bring be happiness, pleasure, and health. My thinking here is
that so long as I continue to care for myself and find engagement in
the world around me, I continue to be able to find ways to engage
humanity's challenges. I can't take these things on myself. But no one
can. I'm working to find the little ways I can contribute to growing
what's around me--knowledge, people, communities.
As you can see, I took the same dialog and drew three variations on
color and texture. This was a bit obsessive, I'll admit, but I was
looking for the best way to land the impact of the final panel. I'm
not sure any really capture how this impact feels. Interestingly, my
favorite execution of the dialog is actually in the thumbnails I drew
before the three larger versions. The scale and lack of polish in the
roughs look best to me (I'll upload the thumbnails soon). Of course,
you can decide for yourself, dear reader, if any of these appeal to
you.
IMG 2022-10-17_19-29-07_comic-7.png
IMG 2022-10-17_19-29-07_comic-8.png
IMG 2022-10-17_19-29-08_comic-9.png