The Human Race deserves - Democratic Underground

hyphenate

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Wed Aug-15-07 01:06 AM
Original message

The Human Race deserves

Edited on Wed Aug-15-07 01:08 AM by hyphenate

whatever it gets, don't you think?

Let's face it. The dinosaurs were around for millions of years. In fact, roaches have been around longer than that, even. Humanity, in all of its "glory" has been around for roughly 3 million years, give or take a few 1/2 million years. And in the minuscule amount of time we have existed we have put a major dent into the world--and not a good one at all.

Pollution. War. Garbage. And a whole lot more.

Nah--this isn't the first time this has been discussed, and it certainly won't be the last. But at least this time, some of us really are afraid of what's coming.

And no, there will be no rapture. And no, we will likely never make it into space as colonists of other planets. And no, the future of Earth as part of a rosy "Star Trek" scenario will never be (More like Soylent Green or Max Headroom or Blade Runner, if you ask me). In fact, if the human race makes it past the next 93 years until the next century, I would be surprised. We can close our eyes and dream, but it's when we open them again that the future is even more clear.

Religious fanatics hoping to "push" us toward Armageddon, just so they will have a better chance at sitting next to their god;

Rich assholes the world over with the express intent of making this a slave/master world again;

Politicians who really don't give a shit about their constituents only about how well-paid they are by lobbyists;

Countries where the "gun" is the only law, and if you don't like it, say goodbye to the world and hello to a six foot deep hole in the ground;

Third world nations where the people are so destitute that dying is preferable to living;

Countries so filled with oppression that everyone is terrified of saying anything at all;

Countries where families kill female babies because they are only allowed one child and boys are preferred;

Countries where it's okay to have fathers rape their daughters;

Countries where AIDS is as common as a cold, and medicine is as rare as a diamond;

Places in the world where having even one meal a day is considered "eating well."

What have we wrought? And why do so few see where we're going?
This was once the greatest country in the world. Granted, we never had an empire like the Brits. Granted that haven't been as inventive as the Romans and the Greeks. Granted that our store of knowledge has been severely lacking in many areas, but we had freedom, we had the ability to progress in the world, and we could pursue whatever goals we wanted without bowing down to anyone. But those days have changed.

We're no longer a free nation. You try shouting that GWB is a fucking asshole on a street corner and you'll find out exactly how long it takes to have an Agent Mike on your doorstop hauling you off to Gitmo.

You try owning a house of your own and see how many hoops you have to jump through to get a mortgage.

You try getting anything better than a basic high school education, and you will find yourself indebted for the rest of your life.

You try making ends meet with a single paycheck coming in and you will know futility.

You try to buy a car and you will soon discover it's nearly as bad as buying that house.

I would love to see our citizens live without credit cards. I would love to see people going without the latest electronics "toy" or managing to survive without that cellphone pressed to their ear (actually, now with the latest Bluetooth technology, they don't even need that cellphone in their ear), but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon. Science fiction authors have written for years about the dangers of technology, but few could ever see the dangers that they now embrace eagerly.

And it brings me back to the first observation. We're doomed. We are fucking doomed. And we have come so far, so fast and so completely, that caution is the last thing people want to express.

I spent an hour one time talking with someone about how the children of today are losing the basic tools of coping, and of something as simple as common sense. He asked me if the kids of today aren't smarter because they have far more technology and the ability to use it. But I still, even now, say, no. Technology to our children is as commonplace as swinging hula hoops and riding a bicycle was to most of us. There is an ever widening gap of those who can handle cataclysms and those who cannot. And those who refuse to learn the basics are never going to be able to do things which count far more than the technology of the ages. I gave up being appalled at the spelling that I see on a daily basis. And I shudder to think of more and more graduating from high school without knowing one damned thing. History? Little to none. Science and math? Who are you kidding? English? Uh, huh--sure. Spell anything with more than two syllables in it (and don't rely on a spellchecker, for crying out loud!). Critical thinking? Uh, yeah--Creationism and ID versus evolution? I don't think so.

Let's just agree on something, please? We aren't going to get any further along any evolutionary track unless the religious right coughs up some blood and dies; until nations around the world share at least some common ground; and until the 1% of the population that controls the top 1% of the money in the world finally loses it and it ends up in the hands of the other 99%.

But then, don't quote me. I've already decided that I have a wonderful fantasy life, and it sure beats living there than it does in the real world.