HOW QUICKLY THINGS CAN CHANGE

 

HOW QUICKLY THINGS CAN CHANGE

 

Less than a century and a half ago we didn’t have any of the following things that today we take for granted.  It’s an extensive list and more than likely I forgot quite a few and you can add your own.  Without any particular order.

Automobiles, super highways, chemicals and synthetics, traffic lights, megacities, subways, full electrification, plastics, throw-away items or one-time use items, landfills, widespread air, water and soil contamination, industrial smog contributing to global warming, central heating, tap water, showers, water heaters, natural gas furnaces, computers, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, the internet, cellphones, tablets, automation, robots, digital and nanotechnologies, artificial intelligence, cyberspace, rockets, GPS, sonar, radar, nuclear energy and bombs, passenger airplanes, jet fighters, stealth bombers and submarines, aircraft carriers, automatic pilots, drones, hypersonic missiles, space travel and let’s not leave out modern medicine and healthcare.

We take all of the above and more for granted, but what do all these things have in common?

A lot of them are expensive to produce and use a tremendous amount of resources and energy.  The bulk of the resources and energy used hails from non-renewable resources; coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear power, rare earth minerals and ore.  Poof!  Most of it gone up in smoke and gone forever.  On top of that, most of what we produce is constructed from materials that are non-compostable.  Which means that at the end of their lifespan all those materials are dumped in landfills where they slowly rot and disintegrate, contaminating groundwater sources in the process.

We’re gobbling up the planet.

All of this has been achieved at the expense of the planet and to the detriment of the natural world.  To bring us ease of living, comfort and a plethora of consumer products; many of them totally useless, mere trinkets to amuse for a short period of time.  The last item on my list and probably the most important is modern medicine and healthcare.  Wonderful improvements in health and nutrition caused a huge drop in mortality rates and as a result human lifespans have been extended dramatically.  We’re keeping more people alive than ever before.  In 1902 we started out with 2.5 billion humans, fast forward to 2025 and in record time we have added nearly 6 billion more.  Add to this our growing need and demand for energy and consumer goods and a quadrupled human population hell-bent on joining the consumer frenzy with all the perks and toys and we have now created the ultimate recipe for the perfect storm that is about to descend upon humanity.

Running out.  Die off.  Extinction.

Go back that century and a half ago and to all the things we did without and yet even in those days they experienced a host of setbacks and disasters.  We have been blinded to what technology and science have been able to accomplish within a super short time and yet we have failed to grasp that while on this wild merry-go-round, that everything comes at a cost.

I like to compare our situation to a large pizza.  It’s a fan favorite that all of us like to sink our teeth in when nobody feels like cooking.  We’re now nibbling on the very last slice and nobody is thinking about that last bite and who will get it.

An example only silly me can relate to.

Another example to drive home the reality of running out is a bit personal.  Can you imagine waking up one morning and there is no cheese.  None in the house, none in the store and none anywhere in the whole wide world.  No biggie for some of you but you’re talking to a chap who was born and raised in the Netherlands.  Milk products are part of our DNA and it runs through our veins: cheese, milk, yogurt, butter; a fine piece of Gouda, Edam or Beemster Vlakaas.  You can keep your Brie or Gruyere, give me a piece of fine Dutch cheese anytime.

Anyway, the point in all of this.  Can you imagine waking up in a world where there is absolutely nothing left?  Nothing left to buy, nothing produced.  The cupboards are empty and in shuttered stores shelves remain bare.  No refills.  Nothing moves because there is no power.  No power in any form or shape.  No power to provide water pressure to taps that run dry and toilets that don’t flush.

When everything stops running and we run out!

We will fight over scraps.  We will kill over what is left.

No law and order.  No protection.  No healthcare.  No hospitals.

It turns into a race for survival and anyone sick, old, feeble and unable to join the scroungers and scavengers will be left behind to die.

A wakeup call.

That is what my novel, Diary of a Spoiler, is all about.  The end of human civilization as we know it.  Done in by our numbers and consumption habits, greed and stupidity.  Those who manage to survive, who hold onto life, live by their wits and their mantra is simple: don’t get hurt, don’t get sick and if you’re lucky you’ll make it to forty.

The world around them grows silent as billions of people die.  None of us have ever seriously contemplated what it would be like if all that easy living comes to a grinding halt.  We take so much for granted.  Things can change quickly, especially when everything runs out.

I wrote Diary of a Spoiler in 1996 and when it came out a lot of people shrugged their shoulders and said that none of my predictions would ever take place.  The last decade has seen a lot of converts.  Give it a read and you be the judge.   

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THE UNCOMFORTABLE MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE

 

THE UNCOMFORTABLE MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE

 

In the natural world we often talk about the phenomenon of fight or flight, about aggression and the reaction to it, but one that is omitted and which applies even more so to the human world, is fright, the uncomfortable monkey in the middle.  Fright is a paralyzing, passive reaction; an emotion based on fear which affects most of us when escape is elusive and doubtful, whereas fight and flight are active verbs.  Action, not inaction.  An escape is attempted so that you may live another day.  We’re not exactly inspired by a character trait like fright that affects most of us, and that mostly includes running with the herd.  An instinctive herd reaction that is neither perceived as noble nor worthy of any prize winning medals.  Fright and fear are regarded as shameful attributes, cowardly and unworthy.  Yet fright and fear have played a huge part in human history and have led to the slaughter of millions of innocent men, women and children, the hapless victims of aggression.  And another uncomfortable truth: the longer people cower in fear and fail to resist, the worse the aggression gets out of hand.  Violence that is not checked spins out of control as wars and conflicts drag on.  Fright and fear dehumanize the victims of aggression.  They’re no longer treated as human beings, but as a lesser species that deserves to be exterminated.  Ukraine and Gaza come to mind!  Nearly 100 million people across the world are refugees.  When it comes to innocent victims the numbers are staggering.

During World War II millions of Jews were systematically rounded up, put onto cattle cars and shipped to concentration camps where most of them met a gruesome death.  There are images of thousands of Jews standing on railroad platforms with only a handful of armed guards in attendance.  Why didn’t they try to overpower their captors?  Yes, dozens might have been shot, but it could have saved hundreds!

Fight or flight is only effective in small numbers.  Aggression and resistance is the domain of those who are hardwired for action.

And ask yourself.  Where would a large group of people go?  There is no realistic escape and most are filled with disbelief.  Where is the flight plan?  The organization?  Very few Jews actually dared to escape and most were rounded up and housed in ghettos.  They were devastated by the fact that suddenly they were hunted down like animals and despised, that it was open season on Jews and that flight was the only option left.  Flight, so that you could fight another day.  Most of them didn’t!

Fear and fright belong to the masses.

Instead it was fright and fear that struck the masses and it zapped any kind of resistance.  A passive, helpless surrender because flight and fight require purpose and organization.  What connects the masses is fear.  And the answer I have alluded to is so simple because most of us are not wired for fight or flight.  Over time all resistance is bled out of the victims and a sense of defeat and resignation takes over.

The masses have always been the easy target.

The scariest part: evil wears a normal face.

Look at the images of the tens of thousands of Gazan citizens snaking their way through the rubble of what once was their city, now lying in ruins around their feet.  Deliberately forced to constantly move.  From one tent city to the other and never feeling safe.  Beaten into submission by hunger, thirst and by fear and fright.  And all around them the aggressors keep up the pressure and it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.  Aggression brings out the worst in people.  The kind of suffering that is inflicted will leave behind a psychological damage that will fester for decades.  And there is no doubt in my mind that a deep seethed hatred and resentment will set in once the violence stops and a rebuilding takes place.

Why are we turning a blind eye to genocide and ethnic cleansing and do so little?  Glad it’s them and not us?  Fear!  Deep down in our hearts we know that we would not act or behave any differently.  Not that we’re cowards and would willingly allow ourselves to be slaughtered, but because we belong to the masses and we’re not raised to fight or know how to fight back when the unthinkable happens and a nation or race is caught up in vindictive struggle for survival.

We, the masses, when disaster strikes, we’re that uncomfortable monkey in the middle.

During and after the holocaust many Jews made their way to Palestine in the hope of establishing a new state of Israel in what once was their ancestral home, before the diaspora and the pogroms and before being evicted and persecuted from one nation to the other.  Determination and hope and a renewed sense of identity and a political resolve never to let this happen again.  A renewed sense of cultural and national identity is not unique to the Jews.  It takes place all around the world and throughout human history nations have reasserted their identity, culture and language.  In happened in Poland on a number of occasions.  A nation attacked numerous times, divided, occupied and destroyed and yet they keep coming back stronger and more determined every time.  However, a growing sense of nationalism and patriotism only takes place with intent and purpose in a small percentage of the population.  The masses will go along with the current flavor of the month because it is easier to follow than to lead.  What comes to mind is the Blue Jays baseball fever that hit Canada in 2025 when the team made it to the world finals.  They have always had a hardcore base of fans and followers, but the nation as a whole was temporarily infected by their enthusiasm, excited to follow and cheer on the team.  Friedrich Nietzsche: Insanity in the individual is rare, but quite common in the masses.

However, another uncomfortable truth: enthusiasm in the masses never lasts long.

Follow and obey.

We, the masses, are raised to be followers, to work, to be compliant and behave.  It’s a group thing.  We’re following a pattern that applies to most animal species.  There are a few who lead, a small group of enforcers, soldiers, protectors, and the bulk consists of workers.  In a military family the offspring is much more likely to follow in their parents’ footsteps and join, than for someone with no military background signing up. 

We don’t raise our offspring to become strong individuals, critical, taught to take charge and aggressively pursue a unique and individual path through life.  Our institutions guide and mold people into predictable patterns of behavior, to induce cooperation, conformity and compliance.  The domain of fight and flight belongs to a select few and what we have induced in the masses is a longing for peace, normality, food, shelter and security.  It is a basic structure that has served the natural world well.  Does it make sense that a few rule and live well while the masses struggle and go out of their way to provide wealth and all the essentials to those lucky few?  You would probably say no, yet most of us fall into that pattern.  Fear and fright paralyze the masses because there is no easy way out.

It is the mass in masses that prevents an escape. 

The Russian revolution was supposed to usher in a workers paradise.  The masses first.  Shedding centuries of abuse and neglect by the nation’s nobility and the Romanov family that ruled with an iron fist.  In reality communist rule created a whole new layer of control that didn’t differ much from the yoke they had just shed with a whole lot of fanfare and international hoopla.  The apparatchiks and the party elite created a society along similar lines as that of the Tsar.  A few living well and the masses continuing to struggle as usual.

Although democracy has to be the most fair and equitable system of governance it is not immune from abuse.  Fail to corral greed and unchecked power and it degenerates into a society where the elite have all the wealth and exercise all the control.  For reasons I cannot fathom we continue to worship wealth, status, titles and possessions.  Tesla shareholders granting Elon Musk ludicrous bonuses, artificially inflating share prices and extorting huge lucrative government contracts and concessions is but one example of how deep we have sunk in protecting our democracies from blatant power grabs and abuse.  Every century spawns a whole new collection of the Super Rich who don’t hesitate to flaunt their wealth and influence.  And we, the masses, are eager to assist them with tax havens, exemptions and loopholes big enough to drive a truck through.  We have perpetrated these ludicrous schemes throughout human history.  And it doesn’t matter how you dress it up.

Evil chills the heart in so many ways that even love shivers in its presence.

Aggression in the masses only erupts when demanded by a nation’s leadership and the highest level of aggression is predominant in those who lead.  And the main reason why there is such a willingness at their level to use violence is simply due to the fact that not a single one of them will be first in line at the battlefront.  The natural world is rife with similar examples and I always like to go back to the lion pride.  Every pride has a dominant male and female and then there are those who lead a hunt and the rest of the pride are followers.  Why mention this?  We’re neither unique nor special.  Most of our behaviors hark back to our primitive past and we follow similar power structures because it seems to work.  If we programmed our youngsters to question and explore, to raise them to aggressively pursue their own path through life, we would be at each other’s throat in no time flat. 

I have stated in previous articles that most of us are basically underachievers and lazy and we’re not alone in this department.  Almost all animal species are wired that way and we’re no different.  Just worse!

Politicians start wars with words and the masses end up fighting them with bullets.  It is an insane scenario that is played out over and over again and with the same predictable results.  We’re either workers and contributors or cannon fodder.  We’re the uncomfortable monkey in the middle.  War is the worst thing to be exposed to and I hope that my explanations about fear and fright are hitting home.  There is no leeway for the masses.  If all of us were raised as aggressors we would be killing each other in record time.  Few of us are able to kill and there is a reason why we recruit youngsters barely leaving their teens to become soldiers.  Most of them are unattached and don’t have families of their own.  They’re easy to manipulate and indoctrinate.  And the masses are pressured to glorify their contribution to the nation’s so-called freedom.  War is a net-negative activity that doesn’t make us stronger or turns a society into warrior addicts.  Celebrating the needless killing and glorifying it as noble is the kind of stuff left to historians and writers, who will turn everything into an epic battle, heroic and totally justified.  Why we resorted once more to violence is an inconvenient detail.

We have become experts at massaging the minds of the masses so that we accept sacrifice and the loss of human life as a necessary sacrifice.  We do lie a lot and love to put a positive spin on even the most gruesome events in human history.  Remembrance Day in Canada is getting bigger and bigger, despite the fact that few survivors remain of the last big war.  Sentiments are being ramped up to new highs and there is a valid reason why we try to make it personal and that all of us feel obliged to wear a poppy.  We’re cranking up the emotions within the masses to new highs because we’re being primed for the next battle.  Farfetched?  Canada is investing billions more in upgrading its military capacity.  It is being pressured by the US and NATO to increase its spending well past 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP.

Ramping up the threats and the conflicts.

Setting the stage for a new global was.

The US has bombed a nuclear facility in Iran, dropped bombs on suspected Yemen rebel bases, verbal threats about invading Sudan, military strikes obliterating suspected fishing boats from Venezuela carrying drugs.  Threats and belligerent statements are issued on a near daily basis.  When aggressive rhetoric ramps up around the world and ongoing conflicts show no signs of a solution, it usually ends up in a violent confrontation.  And again, history is proof that once verbal threats escalate, real violence is just around the corner.

And don’t get me wrong.  When I see the faces of old veterans on Remembrance Day my heart weeps because I can empathize with their loss.  They came back while they left thousands of their comrades behind in mass military gravesites.  I know loss.  Our first born died at age 32, a dear friend and my youngest sister died from cancer at an early age and I lost my mother at age 21.  But I have never suffered the deprivation brought on by war, the dehumanizing brutality.  I am at a loss to comprehend our aberrant aggressive behaviors because it doesn’t correlate with that supposedly higher and advanced intelligence of ours.  What we’re doing to each other and the planet defies all explanations. 

If you are a faithful follower of my articles you will have noticed that I don’t subscribe to the notion that we’re the product of divine inspiration.  Our actions and activities belie that fact despite the promissory notes slipped into every major religion that leave us filled with hope, even if we totally screw up on Earth, that somehow resurrection and eternal life awaits believers.

What do you think?  Do you think we’re headed in the right direction or the wrong one?  We, the masses, we have been lied to, taken advantage of, used and abused.  We’re that uncomfortable monkey in the middle.  Is it by design or by choice?  Will it ever change?

Feel free to comment and share.

To receive a free copy of my e-book: We, the Masses, send an email to wbes6646@gmail.com

No strings attached.  I don’t keep an email list and I rarely respond or correspond.

SHOW NO MERCY

 

SHOW NO MERCY

 

When it comes to acts of war, what matters is not the truth, but the mood of the nation.  Donald Trump handed Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu and early Christmas present that he desperately needed.  He needed to get the protestors within Israel of his back and with the last remaining living hostages freed he got his wish.  There will be no huge crowds protesting and waiting for dead bodies to be repatriated.  Family members affected probably realize that their remains are buried in the rubble, victims of indiscriminate bombardments.  Therefore the resumption of the conflict, although on a lesser scale, doesn’t come as a surprise.  It is really difficult to call this a war because the damage and casualties inflicted are rather one-sided.  Palestinians are dying by the tens of thousands and the last bit of what remains of their homeland lies in ruins.  Nethanyahu needed two things: get the disenchanted home crowd of his back and put a stop to the increased calls for his resignation by the opposition.  He can once more concentrate on his end goal: the total destruction of the Gaza enclave and with Israel in complete control of the survivors and their future (if there is one!).

Whose side are they on?

He’s been getting away with murder.  With genocide.  And the world watches on with much handwringing and protestations that amount to little world than an ineffectual tut-tutting.  With American support remaining strong and American-made bombs doing the destroying, there appears to be little or no appetite for anyone to step in and put a stop to this.  The Palestinians have few allies left and even fewer friends.  The conflict has been dragging on for nearly a century and as Israel gained independence and increased its power in the region, any attempt to integrate the two tribes, Jews and Arabs, into one state, has been consistently ignored as the preferred option.  Language, religion, culture, history, isn’t it amazing how it can separate people, even if they have lived in the same area for centuries.  How can you even contemplate a two-state solution when the mood between the two parties has soured to such an extent that the only thing that remains is an implacable hate.

The Middle East has been split in two.  There is no cohesion and cooperation between Arab states.  Some are dirt poor and are struggling to keep it together as a nation.  Regional wars and conflicts, religious differences and factions of Hezbollah and Hamas stirring the pot and hundreds of thousands of refugees permanently stuck in camps.  The bills are piling up and nobody knows what to do with this hapless bunch of humanity that keeps hoping and dreaming of a land they used to call Palestine.  The Middle East has become a region of extremes.  The impoverished states lack the resources to mount any kind of offensive and the oil rich states have no desire to risk their wealth on a war they might lose.  All of this has given Israel a window of opportunity to solidify their position, getting rid of Palestinians or at least reduce their population to such pathetic levels that they no longer form any kind of terrorist or military threat.

Show no mercy

As a writer, a student of philosophy, history and the humanities, I don’t take sides.  I don’t condone violence of any kind, no matter what the intended objective is.  I do have my doubts about the October 7 attack which saw an estimated 6000 Gazan militants breach the border of their enclave in 119 locations during the Nova music festival.  Nearly 1200 civilians were killed and nearly 400 security forces and 250 people were taken hostage.  Between the IDF and Israel’s Mossad they have one of the most impressive and lethal security forces.

Do you honestly think they were asleep at the wheel?

Create a crisis.

You would think that with so many Israelis and international guests celebrating a large festival that security would have been heightened.  Not so.  Security was incredibly lacking.  There are also nasty rumors circulating that government and intelligence sources were aware of an imminent attack.  Remember, we’re not talking a few insurgents, but thousands.  And with vehicles and weapons!   Space and drone surveillance is so sophisticated that any abnormality or oddity can be spotted in an instant.  Why did it fail in such a stupendous manner?

Human history is filled with dirty tricks and provocations to justify retaliation, war and occupation.

For those intent on provoking a conflict the casualty count is immaterial.  People can be replaced.  What is important is not the truth, but the mood of a nation.  Fire up the masses and if the masses want revenge, give them what they want.  Mission accomplished.  When it comes to the lengths we’re willing to go through to justify murder and mayhem, I have to confess that I’m a cynic when it comes to human aspirations.  We disappoint.  Over and over again.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, because you don’t always get what you want.

Thank you Mr. Trump for putting Nethanyahu firmly back in the saddle—Qatar has been forgiven thanks to Donald holding a phone to his hand while Benjamin begged for forgiveness for his brazen attempt to take out a Hamas negotiating team.  A bit of a political stumble and a gambit that could have gone horribly wrong.  As a result of this misplaced Mea Culpa the IDF can continue virtually unmolested in neutering the Gaza population.  Israel has no desire to allow for two independent Palestinian enclaves to exist within Israeli borders.

Show no mercy

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and part of the US team that helped negotiate a temporary truce (I wouldn’t call it a lasting peace agreement), made one very valid observation and it shows his insight and maturity: Israel will have to come to some kind of negotiated settlement with the Palestinians that is fair and guarantees a lasting peace.  I hope that you realize than within the current political climate and with everything that has taken place, that Palestinian statehood and independence is but a dream.  We can cast serious doubt on our so-called humanity and human aspirations when it constantly calls into question the state of our morality and ethics.  Despite all the marvels of modern technology it has done nothing to improve base human instincts that are as primitive and reactive as ever.  Whether you pontificate in front of TV cameras dressed in suit and tie, or whether you’re dressed in filthy rags, if the real intent is murder and mayhem it makes little difference.  You can’t dress up murder as a noble enterprise.

The face of modern warfare and armed conflict has changed dramatically, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that war has never solved anything, it only leads to shaky truces and festering grievances.  The days of decisive battles are long gone and most wars drag on for years, even decades.  You only have to look at the past one hundred and fifty years and check the timelines, the devastation and the number of people killed and maimed.  Despite all that sophisticated weaponry and the immense destruction they can unleash, wars and conflicts continue to drag on.  In the air and on the ground.  Devastating new weapons are countermanded within weeks or months with countermeasures.  Political and battlefield stalemates.

We’re hoping and praying.

The Arab states currently lack the cohesion, the technology and the armies to conduct any kind of meaningful warfare against Israel.  Poverty, internal strife and religious tensions have fractured the region.  Global battle lines have been drawn up, divvying the world up in spheres of influence.  Globally the world is fracturing along uneasy political and economic lines and profitable economic strategies and ambitions trump the whole notion behind potentially unpopular and unwinnable wars.  For now that is.

Nobody really wants an all-out war, but we’re working on it.

Fraying political nerves will defy common sense and rational thought in a heartbeat and before you know it, we’ll be at each other’s throat again.  Catering to our primitive instincts and emotions.  When the mood in a nation sours, when globally we’re faced with political stagnation and instability we will once more reach for the apron strings of immaturity and ineptitude that are the characteristics of humanity at its worst.  Cutting ourselves loose from our primitive and instinctive emotions appears to be nothing more than wishful thinking as intellectual maturity continues to be as elusive as our efforts to get along with each other.

We have created an existential crisis because we continue to obsess about borders, cultures, past experiences, grievances and spheres of influence, when we should be concentrating on the kind of cooperation needed to tackle some of the worst problems that we face as a species.  Tackling overpopulation, a fairer distribution of wealth, sharing skills and technologies and improving global living standards and opportunities.  Just to name a few things that we should pursue rather than ramping up defense budgets, military spending and weapons development.

As always I invite you to comment and share.         

TOO FAR GONE: WE'RE FACED WITH AN EXISTENTIALIST CRISIS

 

TOO FAR GONE: WE’RE FACED WITH AN EXISTENTIALIST CRISIS

 

A very ominous heading, but one loaded with a level of truth that we can’t afford to ignore, as in; look the other way, pretend that everything in our lives is just hunky-dory and that this Bes character is once more reaching for his doom and gloom pen predicting a nasty ending for our species that will put an end to all our aspirations and accomplishments.  All is not well with our world is such an abused theme, almost like cranking up the horror stories around Halloween.  Boohoo, ghosties everywhere!  Therefore, Bes!  What’s up!

As a writer, a student of philosophy, history and the humanities, I take no pleasure in writing any of this down.  It hurts to admit that despite that much vaunted superior human intelligence we’re letting ourselves down.  And I am not the only one.  I have mentioned in previous articles that at this point in time we’re faced with an existentialist crisis and this has now been echoed by writers and scientists from around the world.  Not a temporary hiccup and the much abused promises of give it a bit more time and everything will come out in the wash.  Things will improve.  They always have before.  We’re always vague about ‘things and they’.

We consistently ignore that with the passing of time ‘things’ are not getting better, but are gradually growing worse in intensity and impact.  If you look at life as a balance sheet, the negatives are now outperforming the positives.  We’re running up deficits in every aspect of our lives.  You don’t have to hit rock bottom for adversity to start in earnest.  I am going to stick with some basic examples to give you an insight and a better understanding of what humanity is about to face as a species.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love life.  I have two beautiful granddaughters and I want them to grow up in a world that is green, healthy and full of promise.  Nobody pays me to be positive or negative and as an intelligent person it pains me to no end that oblivion is staring us in the face and we don’t do a damn thing about it.

Bees and us.

This is a micro example we’re all familiar with and which serves as an overlay or template of the macro.  What applies to the bees applies to us as well.

Bee colonies are dying and struggling all over the planet because of a lack of food and food diversity.  In addition they are weakened from the ill effects of herbicides and pesticides and as a result their immunities are compromised to fight off parasites and diseases.  Human impact is devastating the bee hives and jeopardizes the pollination of crucial crops we depend upon.  Although bees are not the only crop pollinators, they’re like the canary in the coalmine.  Bees are like a barometer indicating the overall health of the planet and when bees are dying off it is a reflection of the whole.

We have turned our backs on global initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses and a host of other initiatives intended to stop the pollution and contamination of soil, water and air.  We’re not only ignoring targets and deadlines, we’ve once more swung the other way.  All around the world we’re scrapping green initiatives and reversing promises of cleaning up the environment.  The current batch of global leaders is either wholly ignorant or they blatantly ignore what needs to be done.  We’re right back to profit and balance sheets, trade wars and conflicts.

Humanity is the only species in the planet’s entire history that has advanced by killing others, not only other lifeforms, but it includes the destruction of wetlands, prairies, bogs, forests, rivers, lakes and oceans.  Greedy, selfish and blind to how diversity and symbiosis are key ingredients necessary in order for all life to flourish.  By excluding all others and moving forward at their expense, even driving them into extinction, we’re basically tying a noose around our collective necks.  We’re killing diversity when diversity is the only solution that will keep us alive.  We need more of that green stuff and a lot less of all that asphalt, glass, steel and cement.  A lot more nature and fewer of us.  A lot less!

It’s not the economy stupid, it’s us!

Governments around the world are buried up to their eyeballs in debt and all the anticipated and hoped for economic growth miracles won’t stop the hemorrhaging.  The fiscal realities are not lining up with the physical realities.  We have become a study in contradiction and I will only mention a few examples to drive this point home.  Environmental scientists who study human needs versus impact and sustainability have postulated that at the current rate of consumption, needs and demands, we would need a planet 4 to 5 times larger to accommodate present human population numbers and impact.  Progress has allowed humanity to dramatically increase its numbers and progress is now killing us.  We’re no longer an asset or a promising possibility, we have turned ourselves into a liability.  Technology is making people redundant.  Machines and robots are taking over.  They don’t take breaks, they don’t take time off, they don’t demand all kinds of benefits and they don’t unionize.  All they require is maintenance, repairs and replacement.  The workforce that remains is highly skilled and educated and we no longer need people who push a broom of who fasten a nut to a bolt.  Those days are over.  We’re sidelining billions of people as non-productive, non-contributors.  On top of that we’re going out of our way keeping people alive and living longer.  The cost of carrying those billions is not sustainable, especially within economic systems that lack a fair distribution of wealth.  Homeless people in Canada were a rarity a decade ago, now we’re faced with over a quarter of a million people living on the streets and the numbers are only picking up.  There is a massive hidden number of people who are struggling to make ends meet and they are fighting a losing battle.  It’s a ticking time bomb.  Too many people are falling through the cracks because they can’t meet today’s expectations and requirements and plentiful job opportunities no longer exist.

There is no discount warehouse for surplus people.  Nobody wants them!

Societies are fraying and coming apart at the seams and witness a huge increase in mental health problems and addictions.  We’re not creating happier, fairer and more sustainable societies.  Around the globe confrontations and conflicts are on the rise.  We don’t know how to turn ourselves off.  Even if nuclear fusion became a reality and cheaper power will keep the lights on and machines running, it is not going to change or resolve all the other issues that are threatening the survival of humanity as a species.  We’re running out of space, resources and opportunities.  Mines will not miraculously fill back up with ore and minerals, depleted oil wells will not be replenished, water, soil and air contamination will not vanish and microscopic plastic particles will continue to find their way into our bodies, water and food systems.  Plastic is a carcinogen and our bodies were not designed to serve as a repository for a product that didn’t even exist a century ago.

We’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off to keep everything going, rather than concentrating on turning ourselves off.  Why are we even subsidizing birthrates?  Why are we handing over cash to people who can’t afford to raise kids in the first place?  Fewer people who do with less is the answer, not the opposite.  Why are we stacking up people like cordwood in megacities?  We are using media gadgets as mass pacifiers, entertaining minds with an endless stream of bits and bytes, meaningless chatter and images.  We are trying hard to put a brave face on everything, hoping and praying, but it will not erase the stark physical realities we face.  I hope you realize that we’re well past the point of no return.  We’re on the wrong side of the curve.  We’re not going up but down.

We are the only species in the natural world that has evolved using everything else on the planet to further ourselves at their expense.  We exploit, extract and destroy.  No other species out of those millions, acts as destructively as we do.  In the natural world taking more than you need doesn’t take place, because it serves no purpose.  No gratuitous killing.  No needless destruction.

If we take a hard look at our achievements of the past century have any of them turned us into a better and more caring species?  Has it made us act more responsibly towards each other and the planet we share with millions of other lifeforms?  Even if we live longer, are we living better lives?  Bear in mind that there is no magical pill out there that will cure all and there will be no spaceships waiting in the wings to whisk us away.  And as far as divine intervention goes?  Well, we have always been great at promising a lot and delivering very little.

We’re so hung up on the economic models we have created (at this point bear in mind my novella Energy & Origin which explains how energy and momentum are the two primordial forces that drive everything in and around us and in the universe.  All our needs and demands are energy driven and it is now turning us upside down in our attempts to keep everything going) that we don’t know how to turn them off.  Hung up on growth, profits and market share, competition and expansion, cornering markets and gobbling up competitors.  A useless merry-go-round.

The odds are not stacked in our favor because of our numbers and the simple fact that none of us look or think alike.  Not a recipe for positive change I’m afraid.  What saddens me is the fact that despite all that promising intelligence we have failed to make the intelligent choices needed to truly create a heaven on earth.  We’ve got all the tools we need and yet we have allowed ourselves to become distracted by our shortcomings and failings, by ageing and disappointments and human minds ill-equipped to deal with failure.

We can blame that superior brain of ours.  The natural world has endured and lasted so much longer because it has a natural level of acceptance that we try to get away from.  It doesn’t behave any better than we do because life is a crapshoot from start to finish.  Most of our behaviors and that of all other lifeforms are instinct and energy driven, and it is all about today, survival and living for another day.  Everything in life, in us, and around us, reflects that reality.  It is the uncertainty that gnaws away at us.  Always has.  We want more.  We want better.

The way of the world is not based on certainties but on the unpredictable behavior of everything in and around us; the impact of energy and momentum.

The biggest irony lies in that persnickety and mostly ignored fact that we pretend to be in control when in reality we’re flying by the seat of our pants.  We’re not in the driver’s seat and never have been.

No solutions from this author, just observations.  Feel free to comment and share.

WHITE-A-LAGO

 

WHITE-A-LAGO

 

The White House belongs to the American people and is only the temporary residence of the current president.  The White House has come to symbolize America’s struggle for independence and democracy.  An historic monument and a landmark that represents the image of America as a nation.  It is recognized as such around the world.  The walls, the furniture, the artifacts, it all breathes the nation’s history and is a testament to what America stands for and has become.  The latest occupant of the White House is showing America and the world that he has no respect for the past, for America’s history and its people.  He is turning America’s premier landmark into a tacky entertainment lounge for America’s wealthiest.  In typical Trump fashion he is showing everybody that not only he’s the boss, he can do whatever he wants and nobody is going to stop him.

It is easier to please a tyrant than to stand up to one.

The construction of this monstrosity has been aided and abetted by donations from hundreds of wealthy donors and corporations who will have their logos embedded in the walls and floors as an indication that corporate America rules the nation and not the millions of hard working Americans who day in, day out, produce the goods and services that make the nation strong and wealthy.  It is a travesty to watch how corporate America is tripping over itself in handing over their financial tributes to the new “Don” and his White House makeover.

A farcical display of corporate pandering.

From charging exorbitant fees and tariffs, to bullying and threats, he puts any mafia don to shame.  With this latest move Trump is showing that he has incorporated the White House into his business empire as if he intends to turn this into a permanent Trump property.  A Trump dynasty?  He is enthralled by wealth, by titles, by royalty and for a man whose ego knows no boundaries, why not crown yourself king?  Napoleon crowned himself emperor.  Putin has placed a permanent claim on the Russian presidency.  What will it be for Trump?

Go for the gold and everything else that glitters.

With democracies struggling around the world, dictators are once more in vogue it seems and you demonstrate your thirst for autocratic power by disregarding and destroying anyone and anything that opposes you.  By turning the White House into his own personal dancehall where he will entertain all his buddies and followers he is showing to the world that he’s king.  A putting green may come next.  This is typical in your face Trump.  He is thumbing his nose at all ordinary, hard-working Americans and his message to them: you voted me in, you silly buggers and I’m going to run everything my way.  Who needs democracy when I can run roughshod over everyone and everything!

The man has no propriety, no sense of history or destiny.  A vainglorious psychopath drunk on his own aspirations of importance and his role in history.

Napoleon found his Waterloo.

He would do well to remember where Napoleon ended up; alone, a prisoner on the island of St. Helena, stripped of everything.  They brought him back as a corpse and put him on permanent display at the Hotel des Invalides, in Paris, France.  He has become a historic curiosity in a display that represents the illusory nature of power, of humiliation and suffering and how aspirations of this nature carry a downside rarely contemplated by tyrants and dictators.  Would people like Trump ever look back and contemplate on their actions, words and behaviors in an honest fashion?  The answer is no.  People like him lack empathy and remorse.  They have no moral compass.  As long as they get what they want, all is well.  They only care about themselves.  As a writer, a student of philosophy, history and the humanities, I am saddened by the way the nation is tearing itself apart at the hands of an utter buffoon, sowing hate and discord, division and paranoia.  No bets on this one!

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