Daily Inspiration Quote by Ralph Steadman

That "seem" does most of the damage. Steadman isn’t accusing us of losing control of the planet; he’s mocking the pretension that we ever had it. The line lands like one of his ink splatters: messy, abrupt, and impossible to tidy into a comforting story about human mastery. It’s a jab at the managerial fantasy of modern life, the belief that with enough policy, technology, dashboards, and branding we can run Earth like a company town.

Steadman’s context matters. As the volcanic illustrator of Gonzo journalism, he spent a career depicting institutions - politics, policing, celebrity, war - as grotesque cartoons with teeth. So when he says "we", he’s not talking about some abstract humanity holding hands. He’s talking about the people who get to decide: governments, corporations, consumers in wealthy countries, anyone cushioned enough to treat the planet as a backdrop rather than a force with veto power.

The subtext is ecological but also psychological. Control is a soothing myth that lets us outsource responsibility: if we’re "in charge", then disasters are just technical problems awaiting a fix. Steadman hints at the darker flip side: our "control" often looks like extraction dressed up as stewardship, domination rebranded as management. The planet doesn’t negotiate; it responds. In that gap between our self-image and reality, Steadman finds his favorite subject: human arrogance, rendered absurd, right before it turns catastrophic.