The planet is burning, and Emperor Nero is fiddling away.
Bees are dying off, and the company that was doing important work studying and protecting bees was bought by the company which made the very products which probably contributed to CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder). Whole species of animals and birds are dying off. Monsanto is today's Satan, along with all the politicians who support it.
Meanwhile, on another plane, war-mongers and manufacturers of weapons rule the world and promote more war to line their bank accounts. Drone aircraft destroy villages, and no one person can feel guilty, because, after all, those are drones, and the people being killed aren't white people from the Western world! Now, drones are being developed for domestic surveillance -- it will be the beginning of a far worse global Big Brother which will be far more insidious than 1984.
And then, in the sphere of daily life, in all the developed countries, people drive gas-guzzlers. Alternative modes of travel are not happening quickly enough, and the rich travel here and there on private jets with impunity. Nobody really thinks it shameful. Nobody calls anyone out on anything. It wouldn't be polite, don't you know!
Forests are being cut down, the deserts and arid lands are advancing, and the wilderness is NOT paradise anymore. Floods do damage in some places, while drought takes care of the rest in others.
The planet is collapsing.
And we continue to shop, go to school, buy electronics, eat plenty, waste food and water, and watch movies. I do some of the above, too (except that I use older versions of computers and am probably one of the few people I know with an old flip-up cell phone, something which I avoided buying for years, anyway). I don't indulge in some of the fancier technological devices used by the people all around me -- but who knows? I soon might, tempted by the lure of their easy availability. No, I won't. I shudder at the thought of adding more misery to the lives of those who toil away in places like China, or have to deal with the consequences of coltan-mining in the Congo).
Perhaps, for those of us consuming away in our frenetic fashion, it's too frightening to look reality in the eye. Perhaps reality is really one of those monster flame-creatures that J.K. Rowling conjured up in "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows." What's it called? Ah yes, Fiendfyre.
And so, we fiddle, while being burned up, along with the rest of those in power who set all this in motion in the first place.
Or perhaps, we are not the fiddlers, after all. The fiddlers are the makers of all those things we consume. Who are we, then?
We are the frightened populace who nervously eat the bread we are thrown in the circuses where we sit, maddened by fear and hunger, while watching some of the worse-off among us be killed off. After all, many of us don't have economic power, and lack the wherewithal to assume power, so we take whatever handouts that those who DO have the power toss our way.
The problem is: We might be lion-fodder next.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The End ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is my very first diary on DailyKos (I've lurked here, over my husband, WarrenS's shoulder, for years. I finally felt brave enough to post).
Crossposted from my webpage. Feel free to visit and read other posts there (poems, stories, musings and essays about teaching, music, homeschooling and parenting).
Wed May 15, 2013 at 3:39 AM PT: Wow! Just checked comments this morning! Thanks for the warm welcome, all. And it's on Community Spotlight! I'm amazed and touched. Thank you, all!
