SILENCING THE SCREAMERS

 

SILENCING THE SCREAMERS

 

We’re living in a topsy-turvy world where little appears to make sense.  When we take a close look at the leadership around the world, especially on the political world stage and those grabbing most of the daily headlines, we’ve ample reason to be concerned.  An awful lot of saber rattling and bellicose threats flying back and forth, replete with trade sanctions, imposed tariffs and even acts of outright violence and military interference.  What appears to be lost in this dense jungle of distraction, lies, threats and fabrications, is any semblance of law and order, of justice and pursuing realistic solutions to tackle some of the most pressing issues that threaten humanity as a species.  With this article I hope to shed some light as to why all this bluster, threats of impending violence and conflict, highlights the impotence of our political and economic systems to realistically deal with an out-of-control species; and that will be us.  The current batch of incompetent world leaders uses nothing but smoke screens to hide their inability to constructively deal with some of the worst issues that mankind has ever had to deal with.

Just to name a few.

Climate change and global warming—all caused by human activities and huge population numbers—are wreaking havoc around the world.  Extreme weather patterns are disrupting harvests and the overall health and wellbeing of the planet and its ecosystems.  Irreparable damage has impacted climate and growing zones and are threatening our ability to feed the masses.  Billions of people are permanently stuck at or are living below poverty levels, lacking proper sanitation and access to clean drinking water and essential services—and that includes education and skill training.  Too many people are living in nations that are struggling in all areas.  Desperate to catch up, they instead are falling behind at in increased pace.  Poverty and income insecurity are rising globally at alarming levels, even in developed nations.  More than a quarter of a million people in Canada are homeless.  This was unheard of a decade ago.  Millions more are struggling in the face of a rising cost of living that doesn’t keep up with incomes.  Many more are affected by job losses and are trying to cope with a world that is becoming so specialized that it creates two classes of people: those who have plenty and those who are faced with daily struggles to survive.  Not a very nice picture and it is taking place with a speed that is knocking us over like bowling pins.  Band-Aid diplomacy and pinprick solutions.  We’re literally falling apart on all levels.  Around the world we have accumulated government and personal debt that runs over a hundred trillion dollars.  This mountain of mainly unsecured, bad credit and debt is but one of the nails in the human coffin.  As an aside, cyber theft, corruption and fraud have reached stupendous heights and even state actors are actively involved.  The new normal is insecurity and it is hyped up and used by unscrupulous leaders taking advantage of the masses who don’t know whether they are coming or going.  We have turned life into a balance sheet, an economic proposition, but when you look at the numbers they most definitely don’t add up.  Billions owe trillions and a ludicrous few have it all.

Running short.  Running out.

Issues we stay away from—trying hard anyway—are resource depletion and scarcity, waste accumulation in thousands of landfills and the subsequent groundwater contamination.  The pollution of air, water and soil; soil erosion, congested highways and cities and mega cities running into trouble due to a lack of clean drinking water, soil subsidence and crumbling infrastructures.  Crippling debt loads are causing cuts to essential services that hit the most vulnerable the hardest.  I am not going out of my way to paint a dire picture.  This is reality.  These are but some of the issues that we should be paying attention to.  I am in the twilight years of my life and too many of my generation and those slightly younger seem to shrug it off with a callous disregard as in, let the next generation deal with it.  As in our children!  Is that yet another indication of the great humanitarian gifts we bestow upon each other, an insolence that borders on total disregard?  I have been disparaging about our so-called superior intelligence before and I have explained this in much greater detail in my novel—Energy & Origin—where this rotten attitude comes from and why the outcome is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean that I like it.

A bit of venting.  Why try tackling major global issues through global cooperation and dialogue when it’s so much easier to beat the crap out of each other with wars and violence and keep distracting the public at large.  However!  When they’re done fighting, killing and destroying all the pressing issues are still there, despite all those efforts at distraction and the political lunacy that accompanies it like a bad penny opera.  I have written extensively about how difficult times attract the worst political actors because negativity drowns out reason and common sense.  Stirring the pot of discontent is a favorite go-to-tool of bad and mediocre politicians.  Their messaging of fear, hate and paranoia resonates with people for whom voicing displeasure and airing petty grievances is like manna from heaven.  In difficult and trying times everything takes a backseat to the legions of screamers drowning out all pleas for common sense and decency.  When things sour we’re right back to primitive and primordial instincts and behaviors.

Greed feeds paranoia and fear.

It’s not just the fear of losing everything, but also about having to give up even a little bit.  People are always desperate to hold on to what they have and are willing to go through great lengths to preserve it.  And that includes joining the screamers.  Why would we acknowledge our incompetence and inability to deal with any serious issues in a thoughtful and practical manner?  Why make sacrifices?  When you can scream instead.

One beautiful case of distraction: Ukraine.  Putin’s aggression towards Ukraine is a typical case of serious political overreach to distract the Russian people from the corruption and fraud that has devastated Russia.  Their economy is a joke.  All their market systems are weak and underfunded, plagued by years of corporate theft and malfeasance.  There is no foreign investment.  No made-in-Russia products exported to the world at large.  No innovation.  Government and criminal gangs have joined forces to steal the nation blind.  If it weren’t for oil and natural gas they would have gone belly up decades ago.  Then there are the growing numbers of leaders, one of them Benjamin Nethanyahu, who use conflict and war as a distraction.  In Nethanyahu’s case, to keep him out of jail and hopefully in power.  Political trust worldwide has hit new lows as political shenanigans and posturing have replaced sound policies and initiatives that benefit the population at large.  Policies that include dialogue and peaceful cooperation.  Policies that would include restoring the overall health of the planet.

We’re not talking to each other anymore.  We’re most definitely not listening to each other.  Everybody is too busy pushing personal agendas and nobody is paying attention to the bigger picture.  Political distraction is not an art form, it is nothing more than an escape.  When issues defy solutions create a distraction so you can avoid difficult decisions and making hard choices.  It is a really sad technique that incompetent leaders resort to time and time again.  And the screaming includes blaming individuals and groups that are in no position to defend themselves.  And they keep piling up the negatives.  A never ending stream of invectives, insults and baseless accusations.

If we could only stop the screaming.  The screamers fear silence.

A few decades ago I wrote a paper on the Quakers.  I knew absolutely nothing about them and when I started my research I was astounded by the fact that the Quakers were responsible for radically changing attitudes and perceptions when it comes to human rights and social justice.  They championed prison reform, changes to how we treat people with mental health issues, full integration of schools for boys and girls, founding hospitals and universities, forerunners in the abolition of slavery.  They were against the death penalty and were conscientious objectors to war.  And all of it done in a quiet, unassuming manner.  Hard work.  Simplicity.  And silence!  Their gatherings were marked by silence and one only spoke if there was a need. 

Silence is a powerful tool and most people are uncomfortable with silence.  Even the Quakers have been affected by modernity and the cacophony of noises and distractions barreling down like avalanches on our society.  Their numbers are dwindling because theirs’ is a faith that is demanding.  Silence carries an introspective power than can only be appreciated by those brave enough to confront themselves and the daily struggles we all face in our lives.  Silence has a meditative, contemplative impact and it is reflected in some of our religions.  Silence allows you to reach deep inside, to seek answers, guidance, reaching out beyond the self to the world and the cosmos around us.  An acceptance that life is not always about us, but about others.

Screamers drown out any rational thoughts because it is not answers they seek, but confrontation.  A wonderful example of quiet, determined defiance is how Mahatma Gandhi led India to independence.  It was not through an armed uprising, but through passive resistance.  Staring the occupier in the face, unarmed, silent and telling them with their body language, their silence and passivity: You are not wanted here.  Go back.  This is our land and not yours.

I wish I could throw out a dare to the legion of White House reporters and challenge them to face Trump and company with absolute silence.  No notepads, no questions, no cameras rolling.  Just silence and stare them down.  Enough of your lies and grandstanding.  Enough of your bullying and threats.  Silence can be the most powerful weapon to defeat the screamers.

Please feel free to comment or share.

Purchase my novel Energy & Origin on KDP Amazon.ca

Or, on the lighter side; Mathew, Broderick, Fred, Roger.  A humor filled tale we can all relate to.

A great stocking stuffer!