Unlearning Hopelessness
Give your life meaning. Unlearn hopelessness and set out to do something about making the world a better place. The world will thank you for it.
Unlearning Hopelessness
by C.A. Matthews
Seen on X: https://x.com/aashisjo/status/1947314052016824491
@DrNeenaJha Seriously what do we do?? We’ve protested, boycotted, campaigned, donated, written articles, pressured our government & institutions
@aashisjo What do we do? We organize real action, not performances. We disrupt the empire by refusing to work. We do not ask them to stop, we force them to stop.
While I was pruning back the dying raspberry canes in our organic garden, I contemplated just how hopeless the task was. The monsoon rain dumps this season had encouraged more raspberry canes and briers to grow than usual, then further rains drowned half of them with the excessive water around their roots. The out-of-control new brier growth was choking some of the older fruit bearing ones.
Why bother? I thought. I should give up now and avoid any more scrapes and scratches.
But I didn’t give up. I kept on until the task was finished. Why? Because I happen to like eating raspberries. I helped plant the first small canes in our garden, and they’d graciously had fed me (and others) over the years. So, I gritted my teeth and kept pruning. I vowed not to give up on them, especially when they needed my help the most.
Gardening is very much like fighting the unjust system we live in. Sometimes things go well, but most of the time it’s chaos and all hands-to-the-pumps—or pruning shears. Raspberries and other living things can be as unpredictable as the powers-that-be who control and punish us whenever we deviate from their plans. But we can’t give up on fighting back against the oligarchs no matter how tough things get. We’ve got to keep on hacking through the jungle and prune those briers. We’ve got fruit to harvest.
There’s been a lot of talk among psychologists and therapists about learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is when we believe we cannot change painful circumstances, so we stop trying and just endure what’s happening.
This “just enduring” behavior describes the actions of the majority of humankind in the year 2025, in my opinion. We are enduring, but we’re not growing and producing fruit that will feed ourselves and others now and in the future. We’ve thrown in the towel along with our gardening secateurs, and because of that choice to give up our circumstances will not change for the better.
Some psychologists believe that it’s actually learned hopelessness or a hopeless depression that keeps us from fighting back against painful circumstances. It’s easy to understand why and how depression sets in. Have you ever scrolled through your social media stream to check out the headlines or look at the memes?
No wonder it’s called doomscrolling!
While the odds of us succeeding in our goals to make the world a better place for all may be astronomical, we can at least try to fight the corrupt system and make some things better, right? The challenge is that we’ve heard too many horror stories and learned from others how hopeless the fight has become for them. We start to believe that it’s hopeless to even try and change things.
We’ve learned to act helpless and hopeless. We let circumstances run over us like runaway brier growth in a raspberry patch. We forget all about the fruit that could be ours if we just attempted a little pruning.
But if something can be learned, can’t it also be unlearned? So, how about we all work together on unlearning hopelessness?
It sounds like a daunting task, but if we take it one step at a time, we may just find ourselves regaining hope and discovering the help that can take us to where we want things to be.
Sometimes it’s not what we’ve been doing that hasn’t been effective, but our attitude toward our actions. Change our attitude—change our perception of what is and what isn’t working—and perhaps we’ll recognize that all is not lost after all.
Reread the example I caught on X above. It sounds like Neena has been really active. She’s protested, boycotted, campaigned, donated, written articles, and pressured both government and institutions in order to affect change. Very commendable. But she’s not happy with the results. I have to say I agree with her.
I’ve done all the above and then some, and our society still sucks. The US is still aiding and abetting a genocide in Gaza. People are starving before our livestreams, and our Congress just voted to give Israel more military aid. Many Americans are still without health care, clean air and water, enough to eat, and a place to call home. It does seem like all the tools in our activist bag aren’t working the way we want them to work, doesn’t it?
But Aashisjo doesn’t accept that learned hopelessness answer. To unlearn the hopeless position, he suggests that, “We organize real action, not performances. We disrupt the empire by refusing to work. We do not ask them to stop; we force them to stop.”
Hold on a moment. Real action? Some of the actions we’ve taken have been more like theatrical performances and aren’t strong enough to make real change? Could it be we’ve been sidetracked or fooled into thinking certain activities are going to accomplish our goals, but the organizers of them never planned on these activities to actually change the status quo?
I noted this dilemma a couple of months ago when the Bernie Sanders/AOC roadshow tried to pull disgruntled Dems back into the fold. These rallies weren’t for affecting real change to the DNC or to our screwed up system of government. They were designed to allow neoliberal voters vent steam at a status quo party unwilling to do whatever it takes to make lives better for American workers and human beings who are starving to death in Gaza. These rallies weren’t designed to enact any lasting changes such as creating a universal health care system or shutting down military aid to Israel. These rallies were simply a performance.
Perhaps people like Neena thought the Bernie/AOC rallies were actual protests organized to make change. Perhaps they thought the rallies were created by actual activists and not paid political handlers. No wonder Neena and others felt so hopeless afterward. AOC actually went on to vote to send more money for missiles to Israel!
When it appeared that these rallies by themselves wouldn’t bring back those who had left the Dems for good, more “protests”were planned with the financial help of Walmart heiress billionaire Christy Walton. The No Kings rallies were yet another place for unhappy Dems to vent their anger, anger that was carefully directed at Donald Trump and not at the Democrat Party and its support of the status quo.
Sure, it’s a lot of fun making signs calling Trump nasty names and getting together with fellow protesters, but what did these so-called protests actually accomplish? Everyone spent a pleasant afternoon yelling about what an idiot Trump is—which isn’t doubted by anyone with half a brain. But Trump is still in office, and the genocide in Gaza, first funded by a Democrat named Joe Biden, continues. So, what’s actually changed?
Performances to hide what the status quo is doing/has done aren’t really protests. We need to regroup, relearn, and rebuild actual protests to fight back against the status quo instead of reinforcing its standing in the community. Neena’s campaigning might be doing just that if she’s campaigning for duopoly candidates instead of working for candidates from alternative parties who share her values. The same goes with her letter writing and donations.
To unlearn hopelessness, we might just have to learn who our real enemies are and stop aiding and abetting them.
Boycotting is definitely a group activity that works. The apartheid regime in South Africa was boycotted effectively throughout the 1980s, and eventually it did collapse. But boycotts, divestment, and sanctions take time. We need to unlearn impatience as well as our sense of helplessness.
Whitney Webb on what’s needed to bring about real change (from the Bad Faith podcast youtu.be/O5t5fn6xS7c):
“The reason Israel invested so much money and time in destroying BDS… or passing these antisemitism laws in different states — is because economic boycotts are powerful. If we economically boycott the oligarchy in its entirety, that's when you'll see real change finally start to happen. But it starts with us. It doesn't start with them.”
Can you imagine how patient activist/abolitionist Harriet Tubman had to be? Slavery in the US didn’t disappear overnight. Abolitionists kept agitating for an end to slavery decade after decade after decade… Many suffered and died before it came to an end. But thankfully, most didn’t give up.
We can’t stop our “gardening” of activism and believe that a just system will instantly spring to life without weeding out the overgrowth. We must vow to stick to our task for the long haul.
The last two points speak for themselves: We disrupt the empire by refusing to work. We do not ask them to stop, we force them to stop.
In other words: General Strike. We don’t just say we’ll throw a wrench into the machine (or toss a spanner into the works). We actually all agree to walk out from our places of employment at the same time, and we stay out until we affect change for the better. An all encompassing general strike action will definitely grab the oligarchs’ attention.
And we stop “asking politely” for our Congress-things to stop voting for more arms for Israel or voting to give billionaires’ tax breaks. We demand that they stop or face the consequences. Shutting down their town halls and following them around town shouting our demands are just a start.
Use your imagination and think of ways we can force the military-industrial-Congressional complex to shut down. British activists broke into an RAF airbase and sprayed red paint onto jets that have conducted at least 518 reconnaissance flights over Gaza for the IDF since December 2023. Veterans for Peace fasting for a ceasefire in Gaza threw pig’s blood onto the US mission to the United Nations to draw attention to America’s hypocrisy.
These kinds of actions aren’t polite and could get you thrown into jail, but think of the publicity… Negative publicity and a public court case could be the means to force the establishment to listen to our demands.
“But what can I do by myself?” you might be thinking. “Actions such as BDS or a general strike need lots of people doing them in order to work. I’m just one person!”
You are, but change can start with just one person’s actions. To illustrate, here’s a short parable written by a fellow peace activist, the late Rev. Beverly Bingle:
A man walking the beach sees a boy picking up starfish and throwing them into the water, so he asks him what he’s doing. The boy says the tide is going out, leaving them stranded, so he’s saving their lives.
The man tells him that there are miles of beach and hundreds of stranded starfish; he’s wasting his time and energy. He can’t make a difference.
The boy picks up another starfish, throws it back in the water, and says, “It makes a difference to that one.”
In spite of the enormity of the task, the boy takes positive action. He finds a way to give meaning to his life, and he sets about doing it.
Give your life meaning. Unlearn hopelessness and set out to do something about making the world a better place. Even if you’re just throwing starfish back into the water, it helps. The world will thank you for it. Trust me. I know I will.
Unlearn Hopelessness—learn what’s happening in the world so you can think of creative ways to stop it!
Papers Project--flyers to print out and pass around at protests and elsewhere https://papersproject.com/
Trump deploys nuclear subs amid war of words with Russia's Medvedev https://thecradle.co/articles/trump-deploys-nuclear-subs-amid-war-of-words-with-russias-medvedev
Netanyahu Is Reportedly Planning to Annex Gaza Strip, With Trump Admin’s Backing https://truthout.org/articles/netanyahu-is-reportedly-planning-to-annex-gaza-strip-with-trump-admins-backing/
Is Europe pushing for Palestinian statehood or Palestinian surrender? https://thecradle.co/articles/is-europe-pushing-for-palestinian-statehood-or-palestinian-surrender
Dutch Intel Flags Israel As 'State Threat' https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/dutch-intel-flags-israel-as-state
“Where is my antisemitism money?”: A Columbia professor’s letter to the university president. https://lithub.com/where-is-my-antisemitism-money-a-columbia-professors-letter-to-the-university-president/
Israel is Starving Children to Death https://papersproject.com/2025/07/24/israel-is-starving-children-to-death/
Israel Apologists Support Genocide; Of Course They're Fine With Lying https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-apologists-support-genocide
Green Beret Who Worked for GHF in Gaza Says the US Is Complicit in Genocide https://news.antiwar.com/2025/07/29/green-beret-who-worked-for-ghf-in-gaza-says-the-us-is-complicit-in-genocide/
Palestinian activist who worked on Oscar-winning film 'No Other Land' killed in occupied West Bank https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-activist-who-worked-oscar-winning-no-other-land-killed-occcupied-west-bank
Colonel Wilkerson Reveals the Brutal Truth Behind Gaza and Ukraine youtu.be/dHFvEBWHWKk
Canada still arming Israel despite official ban, report finds https://thegrayzone.com/2025/08/01/canada-arming-israel-despite-ban/
Those Who Were Wrong About Gaza Should Admit It With Profound Humility https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/those-who-were-wrong-about-gaza-should
For Media, Trying to Help Gazans Survive Turns Heroes Into Zeroes https://fair.org/home/for-media-trying-to-help-gazans-survive-turns-heroes-into-zeroes/
Israel Apologists Think "No No, We're Starving SICK Kids!" Is A Winning Argument https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-apologists-think-no-no-were
The CIA Built Hundreds of Covert Websites. Here’s What They Were Hiding https://www.mintpressnews.com/cia-secret-network-885-fake-websites/290325/
Now That They’re Free: Venezuelan men want the world to know what they endured in CECOT https://www.propublica.org/article/venezuelan-men-cecot-interviews-trump
The Immigration Enforcement Ratchet: A 15-Year Perspective on Policy Continuity https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-immigration-enforcement-ratchet
DiCaprio’s $100M Israeli Riviera Dream: Luxury Eco-Hotel Approved in Herzliya https://www.jfeed.com/culture/dicaprio-herzliya-hotel
More Americans watch RT than CNN – former US intel chief https://www.rt.com/news/622226-rt-larger-audience-cnn-clapper/
Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/will-the-real-ai-please-stand-up
Lawsuit Filed After ICE Deports Three U.S. Citizen Children Without Consent https://nipnlg.org/news/press-releases/lawsuit-filed-after-ice-deports-three-us-citizen-children-without-consent
New Detention Numbers Are Out, ICE Still Hiding Data on 'Alligator Alcatraz' https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/new-detention-numbers-are-out-ice
ICE Detention Facilities Statistics https://detentionreports.com/
How Ohio Built a Business on Disappearing Immigrants https://dissentinbloom.substack.com/p/how-ohio-built-a-business-on-disappearing
Dream turns to nightmare for midwest town in grip of US migrant crackdown https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/02/immigration-crackdown-hamilton-ohio
Newlywed Palestinian woman released from ICE custody after months in detention https://abcnews.go.com/US/newlywed-palestinian-woman-detained-ice-released-custody/story
How Zionists Conquered American Christianity with the Scofield Bible https://thinkingabouttheology.com/how-zionists-conquered-american-christianity-with-the-scofield-bible/
Dare To Hope https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/dare-to-hope
Attitude is everything. It's going to take decades to get out of the mess created by centuries of capitalism and feudalism. We can't stop slashing through the jungle now.
So much to say in response to this. First, Gaza is just one issue--and solving that problem is not a matter of letting more food and other aid in--Gaza has been destroyed and is surrounded by a population trained to hate the Palestinians. The only long-term, just solution is one few if any dare voice--terminate the state of Israel, which has forfeited its right to exist if it ever legitimately had one. Allow those Jews capable of living peaceably beside their neighbors in the new state of Palestine to remain, if they choose to do so--the percentage of Israelis this applies to would be in the single digits. The rest go to whatever countries will take them, wherever they have kin.
But it's not just Gaza/Palestine, and it's not just the myriad atrocities of the Trump regime. We're in the endgame now, which is why these things are happening. Combine climate change--which is rapidly advancing and threatening human survival, whether the authorities and media acknowledge it or not--with plummeting biodiversity, and the reality that the material and energetic resources to accomplish a transition to a renewably-powered economy in which everyone, all 8.5 billion humans, have enough--is not possible, and attempting it would require a big ramp-up of necessarily destructive and unjust mining and drilling. There are two ways to get through this. One is very difficult: we slowly lower our numbers while rapidly reducing the impact and consumption of the richest half or so of humanity, and eliminate wealth and sizable militaries so that the poorest can have enough, at the same time rapidly restructuring the way we do pretty much everything to make it sustainable. The other way, clearly chosen by the tiny percentage of humans who actually have power, is to create fortress nations of the rich counties, and enclaves for the wealthy within them so they can hoard the remaining resources. They don't need to actively kill the "useless eaters" on the outside--just leave us to struggle for survival in a hot, depleted, polluted world in which the wealthy can loot resources at will and we have no rights. The wars the US supposedly lost left many countries as failed states--which means US-based corporations can loot them with no effective resistance from an absent or weak government. At home, the new fascist ICE/police units may not be enough to subdue the revolt that's coming when the realities become clear, which is why they're building all those Cop Cities, to "train" their goons. And why we've become polarized into two opposing camps--the real enemy of all of us owns all the major media and the electronic monopolies that act as gatekeepers.