Rewrite Reality: We’re Normalising the Unthinkable!

Welcome to Rewrite Reality, where we peel back the layers of how we imagine our world — then explore what it means to build different futures. I’m Gregg the Artivist. And on today’s episode, we’ll dive into We’re Normalising the Unthinkable!

Join me to reflect, challenge assumptions and spark possibility. Thanks for being here — let’s get into it.

Hey,

2025. Wow. What a year it’s been already. Definitely eventful no matter which corner of the world your living in!

And I don’t know it I should be filled with dread or excitement half the time. It’s a rollercoaster.

And we were talking about this the other day and someone asked me what’s your biggest fear?
And quite honestly… I couldn’t even give a straight answer.

I think that if you had asked me this, like five years ago, it would have been simple. The same fear I had always carried.
But now? It changes week to week. Every day feels like a new headline, a new disaster, another reason to feel overwhelmed. And… it’s exhausting, isn’t it?

But you know what really scares me?
It’s how quickly we’re started to normalise the unthinkable.
How things that should shock us,
just become “well… that’s life now” in a matter of weeks.

So today, I want to talk about the five things I’ve personally heard, read, witnessed this year that stopped me in my tracks — and made me ask: What if we didn’t normalise this? What if we reimagined it completely?

As always, I’m super excited to hear your comments so please do leave them below.

All of that said, Lets jump straight into it…

Climate Disasters are becoming just another news story…

Entire cities are literally sinking. Jakarta is dropping over 20 centimetres a year, ok that isn’t entirely CV due to climate change but it’s been exerabated by it. The Philippines had six typhoons in just four weeks… and I hear people casually say, “The weather’s always been like this, we’re just hearing more about it.”

Wrong! This isn’t just “weather.” It’s the product of a broken system that sacrifices vulnerable communities.

What would it look like if we treated every disaster as a call to transformation? To prioritise climate justice, community resilience, and care over profit?

Let me know what you think below.

Billionaires are rising, along with Greenwashing

Billionaire wealth is smashing records again this year, while the Global South drowns in debt. And someone told me recently: “Of course companies greenwash… what do you expect?”

That shrug of resignation is exactly how they get away with it.

What if we stopped treating billionaire philanthropy as saviourism, and instead demanded justice and redistribution? What if we invested in real community-led solutions, not corporate PR?

Billionaires are of course big topics right now, so drop your thoughts in the comments box.

When did Peace Turned Into a Dirty Word?

We’re normalising militarisation—record NATO spending, new EU weapons funds, nuclear rearmament—while anyone questioning it is called naïve or extremist. Peacebuilding has vanished from public discourse.
I read this the other day: “War is inevitable… it’s just human nature.” And this idea creeps into conversations everywhere.

But what if war isn’t human nature—what if it’s just bad governance? What if we imagined peace not as weakness, but as strength, resilience, and global responsibility?

Im sure a lot of you have an opinion on this, so please do share them with me.

How is it we are being Sold Surveillance as “Security”

Digital IDs, facial recognition, AI surveillance — all being sold to us as “security.”
All while ignoring the root causes of insecurity: poverty, inequality, and ecological breakdown.
I even heard someone say: “It’s just how things are now, you can’t stop it.”
But what if we reframed the conversation?

What if we asked: security for who? Control for who? And how could we build safety through justice, dignity, and freedom — instead of treating people like risks to be managed?

If you feel that big brothers watching you, please comment below.

When will we stop Framing Mental Health as Personal Failure?

Burnout is everywhere, especially among young people. And still, I hear stuff like: “If you can’t cope, just log off or toughen up.”
not ‘let’s fix the toxic systems making people sick’. We act like it’s an individual weakness, not a systemic crisis.

What if we stopped telling people to be more “resilient” and started fixing the environments making us sick? What if mental health care wasn’t an afterthought, but built into how we structure society itself?

Can you picture a society designed to support mental well-being at every level? – Let me know what you think.

So yeah — when people ask me “What’s your biggest fear?”
It’s not the chaos we see in the headlines… it’s how quickly we’re taught to accept it.

But its worth remembering – the future hasn’t been written yet.
We don’t have to normalise, we don’t have to accept it.

I would love to know — what are YOU seeing people normalise, that really worries you?
And more importantly: What’s one vision of a better world, you’re holding onto this week?
Again, drop it in the comment box below.

Let’s start this conversation — because the world we build, it starts with the stories we refuse to let die.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Rewrite Reality. If this resonates, pleases consider sharing with someone who might also be thinking deeply about the world around them.
Head over to greggtheartivist.com to explore more: I have the same episode in full, with extra content, as well as ways to connect.

Also, if you haven’t yet, subscribe or follow wherever you listen so you catch future episodes.

Until next time, stay curious, keep questioning — and remember together we can reshape what’s possible.