Forming the pivot of the book Breaking Together by Jem Bendell are Chapters 8-10 . We had a lively, interesting conversation about the points made and the useful strategies for us in the collapse of the old world.
The first seven chapters diagnose what is breaking . Chapters 8-10 ask the following hard questions …
How do you think clearly with all the propaganda, manipulation and over whelm ?
How do you release the inherited conditioning of progress and superiority ?
How do you liberate from economic and social mechanisms that enforce exploitative lifestyles ?
All whilst in the middle of it all along with the challenges of daily living.
Breaking Together maps what liberation from collapse actually requires, not just emotionally, but strategically and intellectually.
Here are some key points from our conversation, do listen/watch if you have time and inclination. Everything is relevant to your heart centred living in times of deliberate chaos and confusion.
Chapter 8: Freedom to Know-Critical Wisdom
The core argument is that freedom isn’t just access to information — it’s the ability to think clearly and critically. We live in a manipulation age where information quantity has exploded but quality has collapsed.
Key threads:
Fear is the primary tool of compliance. During COVID, the biggest driver wasn’t health fear but fear of social exclusion — losing your in-group.
Education actually reduces critical thinking, training people to accept mainstream narratives rather than question them.
Media consolidation (Larry Ellison now owning CNN, TikTok, Warner Brothers, Paramount/CBS) means people think they’re hearing multiple sources, but are really hearing one story. This is important as we mostly need to hear information several times to convince us of its ‘authenticity’.
David Hughes’ “camp one/two/three” framework — camp three being genuine independent thought, which is lonely but necessary. (I will put the link to this below as its interesting to understand why so many fail to see what is going on).
Matthias Desmet’s point: the antidote to mass psychosis is simply people continuing to speak.
Chapter 9: Freedom from Progress- “Feeding all life in order to gain from that life”.
Bendell challenges the myth that modern civilisation equals better.
Humans aren’t inherently destructive — that narrative serves those who want to control us.
Indigenous cultures (Australia, the Americas) demonstrated sophisticated, regenerative relationships with land for tens of thousands of years.
The real tension raised in discussion: values-based societies historically get conquered by power-based ones. The “Parable of the Tribes” problem — you can’t opt out of a system where one player plays by different rules.
Accelerationism: the Silicon Valley “move fast and break things” ethos has become the operating logic of concentrated power — burn down the old system to install the new one faster.
Chapter 10: Freedom from Money/Debt
Debt as a control mechanism, both personal and civilisational:
Debt forces perpetual service to the lender, constraining not just individuals but democracies.
The traditional control mechanism (mortgage + steady job = compliance) is breaking down, so digital systems — leaderboards, social credit, CBDCs — are the replacement architecture.
Only 7% of UK population now uses cash — convenience chosen over financial privacy/sovereignty.
Where individuals can reclaim freedom: reducing consumption, eliminating personal debt, detaching self-worth from status goods.
The meta-thread running through all three:
Anger is both necessary and a trap. We’re not nearly angry enough about what’s actually happening — but misdirected anger (culture war, online outrage) keeps us fighting each other rather than those creating the conditions. Clear sight is what directs anger usefully.
The “comply to get by” mentality — airport biometrics being the current example — is the incremental path to total compliance. Each small capitulation normalises the next and looses another freedom . This is how fascism works its way into our existence and permeates our thinking and actions.
Become a Refusenik
Instead find daily acts of ‘transgression’ maybe start with your own rules and then move on to others. Building the muscles and skills of transgressing. I found this out during CoVid by refusing to wear a mask. I got more courageous more competent and less affected by any confrontation.
As always let me know your thoughts and comments so we can keep this vital conversation going.
Jem Bendell is coming on BOOK CHAT on Sunday 28th June at 17.30 UK. This will be a rare opportunity to discuss these points with Jem directly as he limits his public appearances now.
I will finish with the encouraging words at the end of Chapter 10 ..
“ We do not actually know what unmanipulated and uncoerced humans might do about our planetary predicament , but now would be a good time to find out”.
With love and Solidarity ,
References :-
Dr. David A. Hughes is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Lincoln (he left academia in September 2024 to speak more freely). His book is “COVID-19”: Psychological Operations and the War for Technocracy. He did appear on Collapse Life — the episode is titled “Inside the Omniwar with David A. Hughes.” Collapselife
His central concept is the Omniwar — a total, undeclared war waged against populations across all domains of life simultaneously by a transnational elite, fought in health, economy, psychology, culture, and technology, hidden behind crises like terror, climate, and pandemics to justify restrictions on freedom.
The Parable of the Tribes by Andrew Bard Schmookler provides a new way of analysing the human condition. This panoramic work, which incorporates history, philosophy, anthropology, and psychoanalytic theory within its sweep, is troubling and difficult; nevertheless, it is surprisingly readable and, in the end, hopeful.
7% of the UK using cash BBC Money Box, radio 4.
Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.
