We Stand A Chance, Liza

At my Nine Inch Nails post, a particularly dark rant observing the inherent bankruptcy of our current political system and its complete addiction to money, a thread of discussion developed where Liza postulated that all is probably lost. Evil has prevailed and will triumph. She challenged me to argue otherwise.

I will. Make no mistake. We are in a horrible mess. As I pondered human history in the context of Liza’s question, I found that I could not identify a period in history where we were not in a mess. I will disaggregate the human equation into major components and address each. I use hyperlinks rather profusely to support the remarks.

VIOLENCE
I suggest a quick scan of massacres and atrocities for a sense of the extent to which we’ve been killing each other on massive scales as far back as we can look. What is the global trend? Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works (excellent reads) recently wrote a short essay A History of Violence noting we are improving our sensibilities. Fuzzy Signals earlier January 2006 publication Tracking Global Violence (short and well worth reading completely) is consistent with Pinker’s remarks. It ties to the Human Security Report. On a global scale, violence is dropping and our tolerances are changing with, a critical distinction. Browse the report to your own satisfaction, but I will summarize the key take away point: A rise in global awareness has produced activism that is making a difference. Web 2.0 has dramatically escalated this phenomenon. Yes, we have Darfur. We have Iraq. Globally, however, violence is dropping.

HUNGER
The rise in global awareness is also having an impact on hunger around the world, but here the progress is slower and more difficult. While somewhat dated, a perusal of the following statistics shows declines in malnutrition world wide, but some areas fail to improve, or in some cases, have deteriorated. The reader can conduct further inquiries to verify my assertion that although slow, global awareness is reducing hunger. Granted, this provides little comfort to the six or seven million children that starve to death every year.

ECONOMIC DISPARITY AND POVERTY
Unfortunately, while the global activism that has borne fruit in stemming overall violence and produced less but some fruit in reducing hunger, it has failed regarding concentration of wealth and poverty. Don’t freak because they are socialists, but consider the WSWS take on the World Wealth Report, which confirms what we already know, the rich keep getting richer. The facts on poverty are painful and infuriating.

Here Liza’s gloom is most justified. The world continues to fail to distribute economic opportunity. Put most simply, the rich do not help the poor. They just don’t. Think the developed nations help the developing ones? Are you sure? The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants. The course that began with Ronald Reagan in the 80’s, slowed by Clinton, and then dramatically accelerated by Lord Cheney, has produced the widest gap between rich and poor both in the United States and in the world, and the United States, the richest country in the world, now has the widest gap. In Europe and North America, the slice of the cake taken by the richest 1 percent is the same size as that handed to the poorest 57 percent.

Run by the wealthy for the wealthy, the government has implemented structures where the rich systemically take from the poor in the form of regressive taxation and ridiculous stratification of compensation. I don’t think Lord Cheney understands that if the right 550 people decide the US Government has a right to every nickel he owns in this country, they can take it. Of course that won’t happen, but if the trend continues, something will. The wealthy have forgotten that they prosper through a system that allows them to prosper. Effective leadership is required to remind them that payback is appropriate on a progressive scale. The longer we wait, the more blood accumulates on the other side of the dam, and the more brutal the inevitable adjustment. I am not predicting 1917 Russia (oversimplifying, the government slaughtered the rich and took everything they had).

We are talking about physics and thermodynamics. If the numbers grow too severe, a lot of people with nothing to lose will snap. Someone will find a voice that taps into this rage and it will resonate with the masses. Before they can kill this person, the message will be wildfire on the Web. Astute politicians will ride the wave. The rest are extinct.

RACE / GENDER RELATIONS
Ah, some good news. The progress on race and gender consciousness has been nothing short of extraordinary. Of course we are not finished, but look how far we have come in fifty years and give credit where credit is due. By 2050 the issue is toast minus a few pockets in pencil head idiots we can pop in their place as necessary. The progress varies by nation and culture, but all move in the same direction. Many nations (U.K., India to name two) have had women in charge, and the US may do so soon. We have a woman Speaker of the House, many powerful, successful, respected African Americans in Congress, and gender or racial bias in our work place is one of the fastest ways to get fired. The race/gender conversation is a snowball that cannot be stopped and as conditions develop will run over the pockets of areas not yet enlightened.

SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY,
Another bright spot, despite the momentary glitch by Lord Cheney’s usurpation of the findings of academic research, involves the advancement of science and technology, in particularly information technology, which is like greased lightning cutting across all fields and disciplines. I’m in higher education, but to watch me work you would think I am a computer scientist. I’ll spare you, but folks in higher education could not do what I am doing just 15 years ago. Not even Cheney can suppress Web 2.0. He may break the law or make the law to listen to us, but he can’t shut us up. He could grab me, then go get Sirocco, and then have you disappear, but that takes a lot of effort.

Not even Nazis can kill fast enough to stop Web 2.0.

ENVIRONMENT AND BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS
A frightening area, we face threats on several fronts. I won’t discuss global warming except to note that international pressure is mounting and once Lord Cheney leaves office the planet will begin the process. I fear China. Let them build nuclear reactors, and we should be on a mission from God to harness clean energies like solar, wind, and water. I’ll also skip the rain forest and tree slaughter conversation.

Few seem to consider front lines of the biological war we fight with nasty little things that want to kill us. Our ridiculous overuse of anti-biotics on our farms is a breeding ground for something small and awful. That gets little attention. What gets even less attention is in the absurd addiction to the perfect drug and the almighty profit, our farms commit the obscene. For example, read Fast Food Nation and you will learn that we feed chicken manure to cattle. In 1994 alone in Arkansas alone, the cattle that make our hamburger consumed tons of chicken manure. Then we pump the cows full of medicine to keep them from getting sick while eating chicken shit. Enjoy your hamburger. Far more dangerous are the military explorations into biological agents so powerful they cut through us like a Samurai sword cuts air. The worst agents are not public or listed on Web sites. Would a fanatical terrorist unleash such a monster knowing it means the death of everyone? YES. Seen Twelve Monkeys?

Unfortunately, Liza, the level of brutality from which we came makes for a long journey, and we have much farther to go.

If you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill

I wish had more for you, but not to worry:

We are making progress.