Talking Donkeys and White Sticks

I haven't written a blog entry in five months. Mainly, because I now see that humanity is on an unpleasant course and there's little I can do about it. As our world economic system melts down and as our environment disintegrates, I now see that people will cling to their flags, crosses, or other icons and hold onto them tightly as humanity is flushed down the toilet.

What we are witnessing in this world is both a breakdown of our civilization and the loss of our ability to THINK. The partisanship that now rules in Washington is sickening. Every politician babbles what he or she thinks their constituency wants to hear, with little regard for the spirit of communal living and mutual survival. The Tea Party, in particular, is this goal-less, mindless rancor of nothingness — the rantings of angry people who do not want change. Yet change is rolling over them like a bulldozer.

We live in the age where people watch newscasts that are designed to tell them what they WANT to hear. The mindless masses which "reality" TV that is masterfully staged and scripted. And this forms the basis of the New America, where the Truthers, Birthers, Holocaust Deniers and other conspiracy theorists make themselves believe whatever they want, no matter now ludicrous.

Now, you can pick up the Holy Bible, turn to Numbers 22:31-33 and read about a talking ass, I mean, yeah, a donkey that talks. And people don't even question that, and I feel like I'm the only person who is going "what the heck?" And then I'm sitting in traffic and counting all the people who put white sticks to their mouth and voluntarily inhale toxic smoke into their lungs. And I'm thinking, "Are these people just totally insane, or is it just me?"

Thus, my point is that religious fanatics and cigarette smokers are the two groups of people that depress me the most because they show just how far gone our civilization is. How can we ever have a chance of saving ourselves if a large portion of the population accepts that donkeys can talk and that it's okay to suck smoke into your lungs? Is the world just that zonked out? Mentally fried? I mean, "hello," is anyone home?

Tragedy of the Commons

In addition to the total breakdown of critical thinking the second force that is destroying us is what ecologist Garret Hardin calls "The Tragedy of the Commons." In a nutshell, a tragedy of the commons occurs when people share a common resource and ultimately deplete or destroy it. No one really intends or even wants to destroy it, but they ultimately do so because short term selfish interests ultimately outweigh long-term communal interests. This is exactly the phenomenon we are seeing with global climate change and the fouling of our oceans.

A perfect example of "Tragedy of the Commons" is our U.S. Congress. On one side, you have a group of politicians who want to provide more rights for labor, more social services for the poor, and more environmental protection. The other dominant political party wants a strong military and a favorable climate for Big Business. Both parties load the federal budget up with giveaways, tax cuts, and subsidies for their favorite causes. In the end, the budget never balances and the nation sinks into greater debt. We've now reached the point where most of our tax money is going to pay interest on loans, instead of back into the economy where it could create jobs. Our decades of greed have made the federal government sick, and the economy is ailing as well. We are now slithering around in our own feces, and our elected officials continue to scream the same, pointless rhetoric like "cut taxes," "create more jobs, " etc... And even though the same old strategies are known to fail, every politician is afraid to step out of the box, for fear of losing the next election. This, my friend, is the "tragedy of the Congress."

Ishmael

I shall end my post with a quotation from my favorite book, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. The point is, we are trapped inside an elaborate cultural system that gives us comfort at the expense of destroying the world for future generations. Already, our children will not enjoy a world that was as good as ours. Where is our GUILT???? Where is our SHAME??? Most people have none. They simply deflect reality with some story contrived by an ancient goat herder, go into denial, adopt a conspiracy theory, or simply just get lost in front a television. And, thus, we die a slow death by our own, lazy hand.

Chapter 1-6:

... Ishmael thought for a moment, "Among the people of your culture, which want to destroy the world?"

"Which want to destroy it? As far as I know, no one specifically wants to destroy the world."

"And yet you do destroy it, each of you. Each of you contributes daily to the destruction of the world."

"Yes, that's so."

"Why don't you stop?"

I shrugged, "Frankly, we don't know how."

"You're captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live."

"Yes, that's the way it seems."