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All That We Must Do Is

There appears to be a hole in today's intellectual effort to bring about a better world. One would be hard pressed to list five alleged scholars, philosophers or literati who are pointing in the direction of improving human life. There is much being said about what went wrong in the past. A critique of current affairs knows no shortage of authors. Even the art of predicting a future more desolate and depressing than the life currently being led by the Earth's six billion people grows by leaps and bounds every year. Where, though, are those people who can show the way to a brighter day? They are very much in need now.

One can easily find vast amounts of scholarly work describing why and how the human race has gone wrong and how this will bring about the end of human existence. Very few take up the challenge of offering a way around this impending doom. Jeremy Rifkin in his book “The European Dream” takes a small step in that direction by describing how Europe is moving away from those tendencies that have gotten it into so much trouble in the past. Thomas Friedman's “The World is Flat” simply tells us how things are and how they came to be. Our national leaders have become so concerned with not offending their “base” that they dare not lead. Defeating “Terrorism“ is a wonderful idea that in no way addresses why there are terrorists (they are not born that way) or how a world will be created that does not bring about circumstances that give rise to groups of people wishing to succeed at the expense of others.

Karl Marx may have been wrong but he offered both a critique of capitalism and a way to alleviate the suffering that it causes. Very few sane individuals want to live in the world espoused by Islamic fundamentalists but the fundamentalists are getting out a message that includes their criticism of western culture and their answer to that perceived problem. The problem that western intellectuals and leaders (they are not necessarily the same) run into is a belief that human civilization has reached the end of history. All that is left, according to this thought, is a little mopping up.

According to those who make decisions on a national and international level, society has reached its goal. Once man conquers those few left who stand in the way of progress, the world will see all its ills disappear. Poverty will vanish through full employment. Science will overcome cancer, AIDS and all that man allows it to. Capitalism will provide. All that we must do is defeat Terrorism.

All that we must do is defeat Communism. All that we must do is defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. All that we must do is tame the West and the Indian problem. All that we must do is defeat England and form a more perfect union.

There is no future in an interminable parade of enemies, just an unending present. It may be argued that some are more prosperous, that they are better off than their parents were a generation ago. It is more likely that this gauge of material wealth does nothing to address the anxiety of the industrialized societies or the backwards slide of the third world. A great majority of humanity is enslaved to such a small minority of individuals through debt or want of basic needs. Americans’ have surpassed the remarkable milestone of obtaining a negative savings rate while continuing to finance its prosperity through loans from other nations. Africa continues to slaughter itself over borders drawn by white faced cartographers. Three religions are killing each other in the birthplace of civilization just as they did 1000 years ago. What is touted as economic prosperity in the world’s most populous democracy leaves hundreds of millions mired in a poverty the west can not imagine and could never stomach.

All that we must do is defeat Terrorism.

What is needed is utopian thought. Ideas that open up minds and allow people to dream of a better world. Two dimensional thought will not solve five dimensional problems. Let it be admitted that Democratic/Capitalism is not the final stage of history. The landed gentry of 12th century England knew that they had discovered the way that God wanted them to live. Someday, historians will look to the 20th and 21st centuries in much the same way. This is by no means the end of history. Our past must be understood. Our present must be critiqued. However, most of all, our future must be envisioned outside of this stuffy box. But first …

All that we must do is ....

Posted by The Webtoad at 01:05 AM | Comments (0)

Fare Thee Well Crocodile Hunter

It seems especially tragic to lose an icon whose love of life is as overwhelming as Steve Irwin’s was.

Death of Steve Irwin

Posted by The Webtoad at 05:38 PM | Comments (0)

Dawn

At a mere 81 pages, Elie Wiesel’s second book in the Night trilogy is surprisingly captivating. It tells the story of a young Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who moves to Palestine and joins the Zionist movement to free Palestine of the English and build a Jewish nation. What may be most surprising to readers consumed by today’s fears is the method that the Jews use to send the British home: terrorism.

Wiesel at no time sugarcoats the way in which the Palestinian Jews fight. The word “terrorism” is used frequently. Today, of course, one associates that word with Arabs fighting to destroy Western Civilization. However, terrorism has been used through out history by the weak as a tool to defeat the strong. Black South Africans used terrorism in their fight against apartheid. Irish Republicans used it against the British. American colonists used it against their British oppressors. The Jews used it against their British occupiers. Of course in many of those cases, the term “freedom fighter” replaces the now repugnant expression of “terrorism”.

One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.

Elie Wiesel makes no apologies for the men fighting for a Jewish homeland nor does he seem to embrace them. To him they seem more a backdrop to the young man’s struggle that is the center piece of the story.

I recommend the book to all without hesitation.

Posted by The Webtoad at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)