In this time where oligarchies attempt to rise, I watch the word “Peasant” reemerge in common language. Not as a reference to pastoral living. Not about getting back with the land. It is a classist whistle meant to belittle others because they have less money in a system designed to strip them of every cent.
I took on the name Modern Peasant in honor of all those who worked until their hands were raw. I wanted to harken to the values of those who rose from bed before sunrise and did not rest until the moon was high. The single parents working two jobs. The farmers, the taxi drivers, the Uber drivers, the gig workers–doing their best to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.
Modern Peasant is meant to honor the makers and shift this idea that being poor meant worthless. These hard working individuals are the very people who understand how to build a meaningful life with their hands, their ingenuity, and their relationships.
But our society is sick. People call others “Peasants,” as if this insult can dehumanize and silence. Because if one group is to be special, someone has to be the scapegoat. And no matter how many groups they get rid of, someone will always be the scapegoat.
We have become an individualistic society scraping over each other for dominance. But we are not just isolated individuals. We live, work, interact in communities within towns, within counties, within states and provinces, within countries, within a global system, within a vast Universe. A Universe where we have yet to find another habitable planet for our life forms.
We are one ecosystem. “That the pinky gets a ring does not make it more important than the thumb.” Our perceptions have been twisted through an infection of thought. This infection wants control. This infection wants the resources. It is a black hole of narcissistic greed that can never be satisfied. It is a cancer taking resources from other parts of the body to feel more powerful, while it slowly kills the host body entirely.
The infection pulls resources from the rest of the ecosystem to feed its appetite. The infected feeling entitled to other people’s resources. And we are blinded by the “dignity” of history and the shiny baubles of consumerism. We have been conditioned to want what they have, what they are. Worse, we have been taught to feel shame because we do not have those things. That is why they call us Peasants–to shame us and dismiss us from the conversation.
Meanwhile, blinded by the infection, we celebrate posers in luxury cars flashing stacks of bills. We worship red bottoms, anything with validated interlocking C’s, and whatever is the latest “Must-have”. We have decided to value the ownership of goods based on the price tag. You do not hear detailed discussions of the artistry of the Birkin bag. We hear it is a “hard to get” bag with a waiting list and costs as much as a car. What are we prioritizing?
Our picker is off.
We are all connected on this one planet, as part of this one ecosystem. And no matter how many times people talk about colonizing Mars, we have no other life support in the Universe. There is, literally, no there there.
We let the shiny infection symptoms steal our focus on the truth. Over consumption leads to massive waste mountains and ocean plastic pollution. People forced to migrate to survive – vilified by the “First World” nations whose practices have made their homes unlivable.
The cancerousness of the infection is destroying us whole. We members of the living organism of Earth must decide if we will continue to support a regime of products made to break. But beware, your empathy is next because you have to harden your soul to live by the mantra of, “Greed is good.”
I believe a person’s value is not determined by their net worth. I believe all people deserve respect. We are one family, whether you harken back to Eve or the idea of the first single cell organism at the spark of life on Earth. And right now, we are self-harming.
Peasant does not mean less than. Peasant does not mean dirty, unkempt, or any of the disparaging assumptions made against people who have been cut out of the wealth systems. The Peasant is a doer and maker. The Peasant is resilient. The Peasant is innovative by necessity.
So, I am the Modern Peasant and I wear it as a badge of honor.
