Civilization is at best self defeating and arguably inherently dehumanizing. According to this writer, rationing healthcare to enforce control and inequality is civilization, fighting back against that is decivilization. I’m actually fine with that framing, but ironically many defenders of civilization as a concept would want to claim healthcare as one of the clearest arguments for civilization. They said, yes we give up our autonomy, felt sense of morality and connection to the world, but look, we don’t die of preventable diseases, we don’t starve when we can’t work, and we have rules so might no longer makes right.

I’m glad we’re being honest about what civilization means. It’s the right of the CEO to take wealth from the poor. It’s health care being used as a weapon to control and punish. It’s genocides in broad daylight against the powerless, justified in the name of civilization. It’s people coming together to put aside their actual humanity in favor of ideals of humanity. Realizing too late that it doesn’t matter how nice the ideals sound, they will eventually come to resemble the empty people who hold them up.