A new adage has become common on the internet; it is a poisonous adage not intrinsically toxic to one’s health, but an adage toxic to man’s very own being— to his social character. The central focus of the idea that “nothing ever happens” being that life, man, and history remain static and forever cyclical— that change is bound to be undone at best, or more likely, a disappointment. It certainly a comforting nihilism, but no less poisonous nonetheless.
In an era of substantial losses for everyday people around the world, choosing to exist as if the world were in a constant stasis of neutral “nothingness” does generates a sense of control in one’s own life and being that is difficult to come by. If “nothing ever happens” at a global scale, then the only things that could possibly matter are those matters that directly concern a person on their individual level; however, this adage is ignorant of the fact that everything and especially human beings (and the societies they compose) are in a state of constant change. It is no more possible to declare that the courses of human history are constant than it is to declare that the Mississippi River will come to a restful stop.
Even on the most bassist level, it is nigh-impossible to deny that material things exist in the world and in relationships with other such things. Even if a person is aware of nothing but themself, they have an awareness of a thing existing in the world— that being their body and themself. At this level, we can see and acknowledge the most basic of relations between existing things. There is a fundamental relation between the mind and the body. The mind is dependent on the body for existence and the body is non-functional without the mind. If one were to attempt to move their arm in an attempt to drink a glass of water without their mind, they would be unable to do so. If they were continually unable to drink water for an extended period of time, their body would become non-functional and their mind would promptly cease to exist. Now this may seem unrelated to our ideas of “nothing happening,” but see that we have evidence of material things existing in relation to and changing with other things due to said relations.
Expand this notion of the body and mind existing together to a population of people. Like a body’s purpose to continue to continue itself, societies have a purpose to continue themselves through the production of material things that satisfy various needs. These things do not spontaneously come into being but are the end-result of numerous actions taken by numerous individuals all existing with each other and dependent on each other for the production of the thing that satisfies their needs. Just as the mind cannot independently quench thirst, one person cannot independently produce enough food to sustain themself or manufacture an iPhone. These are things that require significant collaboration and cooperation between various people that are existing in relations with each other in massive systems of need and need-satisfaction.
In their book, Man’s Destiny and Juche Philosophy, Ri Kwang Il noted that, “the main purpose of all cognitional and practical activities of man is to shape his destiny—” that being to improve their ability to live a happy, healthy, and satisfied life. The idea being that the actions taken by all people are done with the express purpose of improving their life and status. Say that societies are composed of two fundamental concepts: human beings, and the relations that they have with each other. Given that the main purpose of each individual person is to shape their destiny towards a more fulfilled life, it is logical that the main purpose of society would be to shape the destiny of the entire collectivity towards more fulfilled lives by way of the relations that each person has with each other and the world around them.
Relating this back to the idea of “nothing ever happening,” it would be impossible for society to progress or develop with the idea that human beings, power (power simply being a certain type of relation between people), or relations change at all— or indeed are in constant change. To deny this reality would be to usurp the idea that human beings aim to improve their material situation— which is demonstrably untrue.
To connect the previous ideas and simply express the thought, things are in constant change due in totality to the relations that material things have with each other. Thirst is only quenched (a qualitative change in one’s being) and the body sustained through the relation between the mind and the body. The product is only manufactured due to the relation that workers have with each other and their productive capacities. Change is constant, but— particularly in societies— not spontaneous.
When good-faith actors utter the idea that “nothing ever happens,” it can be posited that they are not failing to perceive the continuous motion of human societies in the natural seek. They are accurately understanding that spontaneous change is a false oasis. Interestingly enough, a corresponding idea with the idea of “nothing ever happening” is the reactions of great shock and surprise that can occur when an event is perceived as a spontaneous shift.
When researching and covering the ICE terror and subsequent protests in Minneapolis for The Daily Salad, it appeared at face value— based on media coverage and internet discourse— that pot had begun to boil in that region almost at random. However, much like how a pot of water will not boil without the extreme relations and physical reactions between individual particles of water, the conditions of Minneapolis were perfectly primed given a vulnerable immigrant population, a far-right campaign of fear-mongering based on a scam supposedly perpetrated by said immigrants, President Trump’s personal vendetta against two particular Minnesotan lawmakers, and the long history of strong community organizing in the Twin Cities.
All of these factors can be fundamentally broken down into long chains of relations between people of different classes and national identities vying for power, self-determination, and fundamentally the improvement of their own social standing. What remains true then is that while it may have been reported as spontaneous, it is not. These changes occur through the direct actions of and consequent relationships between people.
Fundamentally, it is not that “nothing ever happens” so much as that you must make things happen, and you can only do so through relations and interactions with other people. It must be shown and said clear that as the broad masses of the people, to elevate the social status— to shape the destiny of one of us— is to do so for us all, and that takes strong organization. Things are happening, and we must ensure that the change is positive.
