the end of the world - revisited
Back in high school it was still possible to think about all the ways the world might end. With my whole life ahead, there was no reason not to hope that we could save the world in my lifetime. The future was so far away.
Now life is shorter. If I'm already halfway through, it's much harder to imagine that anything is going to profoundly change for the better.
It's been a long time since I've really thought about all the ways the world is falling apart, all at once. It's more manageable to think about them one at a time, and usually not head on -- just noting them out of the corner of my mind's eye... But now -- at the risk of sounding naive -- let's review:
1. Nuclear bombs. It's not the Russians in the scare scenario anymore -- it's terrorists, or India and Pakistan, or even China who'll loose the missiles.
2. Running out of energy. With gas prices so high, the prospect of simply running out of natural energy resources is seeming more plausible than usual. Apparently there's been a meme going around the net, someone walking through exactly how society would begin to break down without means for transportation and heat...
3. Extinction of species. I've heard that among zoologists there's a phrase, "documenting the decline". The thing that freaks me more than losing the gorillas, though, is the killer seaweed that's taking over on the sea beds. (Wish I could recall what it's called...)
4. Killer germs. This one's new during my lifetime. AIDS freaked everyone out. Then there was mad cow disease... Folks are talking seriously now about a pandemic of bird flu... Who knows what kind of super-plague will hit, traveling globally due to airplanes...
I suppose those are the real "end of life as we know it" scenarios. But, of course, there are a few other "very, very bad" trends that probably ought to be added:
5. Climate change. We've got the hole in the ozone. The ice caps are melting in freakish ways. I don't think I've heard anyone directly attribute Hurricane Katrina to global warming, but one has to suspect...
6. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). I include this in the big list of scare because it's on everyone's radar, but it's probably the least tangible thing on this list. There's the story about the butterflies that couldn't cope with genetically modified corn, and Monsanto's copyrighting rice in India, and tomatoes being spliced with fish genes. Creepy -- but not a deadly threat. Yet.
7. Pollution. Less discussed than it was in the 70s... But now companies are buying and selling the right to pollute, which is freaky. There are stories about human fertility going down world-wide because of sex hormone mimics that have made it into the environment. There's caffeine in the fish in the Willamette because we pee our Starbucks lattes there. All of us have vinyl and 70 other odd chemicals in our bloodstreams...
In a way, the previous seven issues have all been about the environment -- ways to make the world around us unlivable. Let's throw in a few social issues now. Not the "end of the world", but rather "dystopia" scenarios.
8. Corporate domination. The corporations exist to earn profit, and do so at the expense of honest accounting, environmental safety, honesty about pensions, fair labor practices, et cetera et cetera. It's not the fault of anyone involved: corporations are a logic that inexorably plays out. It is in their nature to try to buy the government, and to essentially become small nations unto themselves.
9. Authoritarian government. Government is organized crime. It exists to hold a monopoly on violence. Domestically, it exerts control via the police. Internationally, via the military. It is in the nature of government to want to increase control -- to have surveillance over its own citizens, and to use economics to subjugate other nations, or war and torture if that option isn't available.
10. Ethnic conflict. Ah, but it's not as if it's simply the government vs. the people. The people are against the people, too. We've just seen two weeks of rioting in France, largely due to a history of racial privilege. The Right wants to crack down, the Left wants to create social programs to deal with joblessness, etc. The squeaky wheel is getting some oil -- but the violence will be remembered for generations. The ethnic tensions could lead to a Yugoslavia situation -- ethnic cleansing. Or maybe there'll just be race riots every ten or so years, like in the U.S. Once bad blood exists between groups, is there really any way to wash away the stain? Is the Israel-Palestine conflict a model for the rest of the world? --Limited land, but infinite cycles of grief and revenge?
Ten is a good number to end at. Those are the big global issues to worry over. I could add (11) hunger and poverty -- but that's so much a function of 8, 9, and 10 playing out. I could add (12) police brutality and (13) domestic violence, but there's a way in which these are also just examples of authoritarian government and (a type of ) ethnic conflict. Perhaps I ought to add (14) drug abuse -- that's a burden on society that is relatively new to the past hundred years, that's grown out of control. (15) Militarism might be worth mentioning -- since the "military industrial complex" is its own logic, playing out. Same story with (16) the prison industrial complex.
Why bother writing all of this? Hard to say. Just the urge to look at it face on once in a while, I guess. Sing along with me y'all: "These are a few of my least favorite things..."
OK -- back to life now. Cheer up... We've got Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman and art blogs. The vegetarian options are better than ever before. Globally, slavery is less accepted than it was 200 years ago. In the U.S., subjugation of women and African-Americans is no longer generally accepted. And Bush's popularity has been hitting all-time lows...
Now life is shorter. If I'm already halfway through, it's much harder to imagine that anything is going to profoundly change for the better.
It's been a long time since I've really thought about all the ways the world is falling apart, all at once. It's more manageable to think about them one at a time, and usually not head on -- just noting them out of the corner of my mind's eye... But now -- at the risk of sounding naive -- let's review:
1. Nuclear bombs. It's not the Russians in the scare scenario anymore -- it's terrorists, or India and Pakistan, or even China who'll loose the missiles.
2. Running out of energy. With gas prices so high, the prospect of simply running out of natural energy resources is seeming more plausible than usual. Apparently there's been a meme going around the net, someone walking through exactly how society would begin to break down without means for transportation and heat...
3. Extinction of species. I've heard that among zoologists there's a phrase, "documenting the decline". The thing that freaks me more than losing the gorillas, though, is the killer seaweed that's taking over on the sea beds. (Wish I could recall what it's called...)
4. Killer germs. This one's new during my lifetime. AIDS freaked everyone out. Then there was mad cow disease... Folks are talking seriously now about a pandemic of bird flu... Who knows what kind of super-plague will hit, traveling globally due to airplanes...
I suppose those are the real "end of life as we know it" scenarios. But, of course, there are a few other "very, very bad" trends that probably ought to be added:
5. Climate change. We've got the hole in the ozone. The ice caps are melting in freakish ways. I don't think I've heard anyone directly attribute Hurricane Katrina to global warming, but one has to suspect...
6. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). I include this in the big list of scare because it's on everyone's radar, but it's probably the least tangible thing on this list. There's the story about the butterflies that couldn't cope with genetically modified corn, and Monsanto's copyrighting rice in India, and tomatoes being spliced with fish genes. Creepy -- but not a deadly threat. Yet.
7. Pollution. Less discussed than it was in the 70s... But now companies are buying and selling the right to pollute, which is freaky. There are stories about human fertility going down world-wide because of sex hormone mimics that have made it into the environment. There's caffeine in the fish in the Willamette because we pee our Starbucks lattes there. All of us have vinyl and 70 other odd chemicals in our bloodstreams...
In a way, the previous seven issues have all been about the environment -- ways to make the world around us unlivable. Let's throw in a few social issues now. Not the "end of the world", but rather "dystopia" scenarios.
8. Corporate domination. The corporations exist to earn profit, and do so at the expense of honest accounting, environmental safety, honesty about pensions, fair labor practices, et cetera et cetera. It's not the fault of anyone involved: corporations are a logic that inexorably plays out. It is in their nature to try to buy the government, and to essentially become small nations unto themselves.
9. Authoritarian government. Government is organized crime. It exists to hold a monopoly on violence. Domestically, it exerts control via the police. Internationally, via the military. It is in the nature of government to want to increase control -- to have surveillance over its own citizens, and to use economics to subjugate other nations, or war and torture if that option isn't available.
10. Ethnic conflict. Ah, but it's not as if it's simply the government vs. the people. The people are against the people, too. We've just seen two weeks of rioting in France, largely due to a history of racial privilege. The Right wants to crack down, the Left wants to create social programs to deal with joblessness, etc. The squeaky wheel is getting some oil -- but the violence will be remembered for generations. The ethnic tensions could lead to a Yugoslavia situation -- ethnic cleansing. Or maybe there'll just be race riots every ten or so years, like in the U.S. Once bad blood exists between groups, is there really any way to wash away the stain? Is the Israel-Palestine conflict a model for the rest of the world? --Limited land, but infinite cycles of grief and revenge?
Ten is a good number to end at. Those are the big global issues to worry over. I could add (11) hunger and poverty -- but that's so much a function of 8, 9, and 10 playing out. I could add (12) police brutality and (13) domestic violence, but there's a way in which these are also just examples of authoritarian government and (a type of ) ethnic conflict. Perhaps I ought to add (14) drug abuse -- that's a burden on society that is relatively new to the past hundred years, that's grown out of control. (15) Militarism might be worth mentioning -- since the "military industrial complex" is its own logic, playing out. Same story with (16) the prison industrial complex.
Why bother writing all of this? Hard to say. Just the urge to look at it face on once in a while, I guess. Sing along with me y'all: "These are a few of my least favorite things..."
OK -- back to life now. Cheer up... We've got Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman and art blogs. The vegetarian options are better than ever before. Globally, slavery is less accepted than it was 200 years ago. In the U.S., subjugation of women and African-Americans is no longer generally accepted. And Bush's popularity has been hitting all-time lows...
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