Anyone who is used to my writing will by now, I hope, know that I always try to keep things positive. I spend inordinate amounts of time working really hard to stay positive about myself, so it naturally follows that I want to be positive about the world and hopeful for the fate of humanity. Most of the time I do achieve this, but I cannot ignore the anger that dwells deep within me - a burning rage at the state of things in this world. So, this is a rare moment of shouting, ranting, complaining, venting, or whatever you might like to call it - because as I eluded to in a previous post, you can't just keep it all in. Strap yourself in, this will probably be a rough ride..
There's been a gradual decline happening to humanity for a long time now, but in recent decades the slide towards complete self-destructive cataclysm has accelerated. Many simply won't hear of it, citing all sorts of examples of our 'progress' in exercising our dominion over our planet and all life on it. Technological advance, miracle medicine and space exploration are held up on one hand as shining beacons of our success, but the other hand is held behind our backs trying to hide devastating ecocide, rampant inequality and perpetual warfare. We hide from the chaos we mete out by pretending we are so fucking 'civilised'. All that really means is that instead of sending our children to their deaths in foreign fields we pay someone to sit behind a computer and remote pilot a drone to bomb children to death thousands of miles away. Our 'progress' is the very definition of blissful ignorance.
Just in the last few years, the politics of intolerance have reached a frenzied pitch as the elite few attempt to hold on to their ever more flimsy power bases with outdated narratives that were so effective in the past, but which are becoming ever more transparent. Yet, despite a growing public mistrust in the old order, it seems the backlash is yet to come. We continue voting, believing in so-called 'freedom and democracy', whilst giving our consent to a continuous stream of self-serving lying scum who's singular intent is preserving the greed and corruption of the system, in order that they and a few of their already mega-rich friends can be further enriched. Nationalism, anti-immigration nonsense, fascism, anti-fascism, far-right, far-left, populism - all are just morally bankrupt ideologies and propagandist narratives, which always end in nothing but hatred and division.
I can almost hear the sighs and boos from the galleries! Nothing new here, is there? Just the rantings of an angry snowflake, some might say. So maybe just move on and forget about all this, because I cannot promise any comfort. This is me, no holds barred, getting this shit out of my system. I can only offer my assurance that this is as apolitical, honest and unbiased as I can possibly be, and that this truly is real talk. I won't be pidgeon-holed into someone's narrow fucked up worldview just for the sake of diplomacy. I'm angry at the evil that men do, sure, but I'm also angry at the evil that we allow men to do by refusing to stand against them, and don't even get me started on excuses - it is incumbent on us all to stop being cowards and care more, not less, about our fellow humans.
If I thought there was value in listing everything that I see as wrong in the world I would, but there isn't, so screw that. Suffice it to say that wherever life, in all its forms, is devalued, destabilised and destroyed to suit the evil machinations of some psychopath in a suit, I am raging. Whenever people choose to hate on other people because some self-appointed media figurehead or some fucking politician told them too, whenever people decide to believe nasty shit about whole religions and races of people because of the actions of a tiny minority, whenever people judge other people on anything except a proper working knowledge of who they are as a person and what they have actually really done or not done, I am fucking furious. People in glass houses should learn how to build themselves a new house from scratch, and do the damn work it takes to construct their own homes, from the ground up. Then they might just get some perspective on the bigger picture.
As individuals we have basically two choices when faced with the evil shit perpetuated by humanity against itself. We either deal with it internally and react accordingly, or make like an ostrich. Some of us just ignore everything and it all turns into water off a ducks back. Some of us only allow issues and atrocities that are local or national to affect us whilst turning a blind eye to crimes against humanity in far-off lands. And some of us are troubled by every act of evil in every part of the planet, and have to insulate ourselves from too much bad news out of pure self-protection. Well, I'm in the third group. It sucks an awful lot a good deal of the time, but my overall appraisal is that given a choice between the three, I'm glad I'm this way. I'm glad because I'm a realist, and I'm dedicated to truth and reality, so this really is the only way to live as authentic an existence as I can. I'm glad that I care so much. I don't know any other way to be.
Look across the world.. from your local neighbourhood to the furthest flung reaches of Earth.. as long as we judge any other human life as less valuable than our own, for reasons of colour, creed, faith or whatever other poor excuse, we are doomed as a race. Truly doomed. The reckoning is coming, and soon. We have to look inside our hearts and minds. If we do not grow up, and pretty damn fast, we will realise the self-fulfilling prophecy of our own demise, as all that is good in the world is marched off the cliff edge by a small group of determined oxygen-thieves.
Copyright ©2018 Richard C. Greenlow. All rights reserved.
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