Every time I read a comment "reminding" me that there have always been people who think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and that therefore today's Climate, Class and Terror War "Concern Trolls" are no different and so should just get over themselves for thinking that they and their worries are any different, I have thought of this diary. THIS diary. Well, I just re-read these remarks in numerous newly-minted, facile, inane comments, so, without further adieu...
Not at all times have the rich and powerful concentrated so much wealth. The surprisingly few times they have have been turbulent at best.
NEVER before have the lower and middle classes been so pacified by entertainment while concurrently being misinformed and manipulated by sophisticated, instant, mass propaganda.
NEVER before since we became a species has life on this planet faced the threats of resource depletion and climate change we now face and which are advancing at warp speed.
NEVER before have the rich and powerful had so much law enforcement and military wherewithal so as to feel themselves impervious and unaccountable to the rest of the world.
NEVER before has individually deliverable terrorizing destructive force been so widely accessible.
NEVER before have we been at the stage where advances in genetics, robotics and nanotechnology will soon make possible an exponential growth in virtually undetectable, unstoppable delivery systems for miniaturized biochemical-mechanical weapons.
To which I add the following astute observation by
CitizenOfEarth
Never has corporate control been so global in nature.
The US is under full corporate control (aka Fascism). The selloff of public assets to corps has accelerated (started by Bush continued by Obama). Citizen United ruling essentially was the final take over.
Corporations are 'men without a country'. So what is happening here is happening world wide.
It's almost comical that Obama said in his security speech that it is our "Duty" to spread democracy around the world.
Please also consider that the enormous forces running the plutocracy are against any sudden changes that might upset the status quo, and that their collaborators in society are legion.
The concerns of the Class, Climate and Terror War "trolls" are only extreme in relation to the vast masses who disregard them for reasons too numerous, dangerous and mostly self-serving to fully appreciate. If a lot more people shared our concerns over class, climate and terror and were working to address them as we are rather than seeking and accepting hopelessly insufficient increments of "change," our concerns would neither seem so extreme nor would we be so despairingly shrill, because there would be more progress and hope and less simple-minded complacency and fewer vast reaches of irresponsible wastelands of "serious" lemmings marching us off the cliff for "practical" reasons, because the garage door openers all work, the lawn is tidy, your 401K is heading in the right direction, and the suburbs are in order, at least those without too many foreclosures to keep up with...
So if you are laboring under the unhelpful, inaccurate notion that things aren't so bad that you and the rest of the world can't continue on with your current lifestyle for the most part intact, for any reason whatsoever, or conversely that things are too bad to even try to help, at least do those of who us do have clocks and compasses and know the time of day and just where we are on that path to hell the favor of not standing in the way or, worse yet, aiding and abetting imminent disaster by sharing and supporting counter-productive people, organizations, and lifestyles. Try at least to be a little considerate about the future if not the present. And that would be in all ways and relations to the Class, Climate and Terror Wars. That would include (but not be limited to) Social Security cuts, kid gloves for Wall St, economic growth by consumption above all, the ever-increasing servitude of the 98% and laborers throughout the third world as the inevitable result of desirable globalization, KXL, fracking, endless war, omni-present surveillance, and warrant-less anything anywhere. These things are not to be treated like burnt coffee or spilled milk.
All the bad times in the past were imposters merely threatening to have the destructive potential of this time. None of them came close by virtually any friggin' measure that matters.
Please look around, re-consider, and at least try to tell the difference. Everything and everyone, including the things and the people you claim to care about, depend upon it.
Here. I'll throw in the globe.
This Memorial Day, perhaps we should also try to remember the value of getting and keeping a bead on reality, even when it hurts. After all, that's when it's most critical.
AFTERWORD
I am all for looking at the bright spots. But I am not going to engage in unrealistic optimism, false comparisons between the past and present, or false equivalences to glasses half full and empty. These aren't accurate or helpful. We can't avoid the truth in any way and expect to deal with it effectively. We need to be brutally honest about it to know what we are up against, what kind of time we have, and what direction we must take.
btw, one of the areas I look for bright spots, where people are talking, experimenting and developing pathways to solutions for the future is Yes! Magazine. Most of my recent diaries have been about such things and have been posted in the following groups: Affordable Sustainable Housing, Intentional Communities Research and Development, and Stuff That Really Matters. If you look at these groups and see that you can help cover these territories, I welcome your contributions as writers and/or commenters.