hell

Sufferer's culture again

I'm going to start this post with a list of 25 outcomes which arise out of human social and cultural values. No explanations, because I'm assuming that some of them you are familiar with from your own individual perception and experience. Probably more than I am.

  1. Destruction of rainforests.
  2. Global warming.
  3. Pollution of our seas and oceans from waste plastic and other similar waste which is likely to cause mass extinction of marine life by the 2030's.
  4. Contamination and pollution of the ground waters (fresh water) of the land masses.
  5. Contamination of the air and atmosphere through short wave 'square wave' impulses carrying cellular data for 4G and 5G broadband technology disrupting the life cycles of birds and flying insects killing off flying insects necessary to pollenate plants and trees and crops essential to food production.
  6. Increased air pollution through attachment to burning fossil fuels leading to an increase in respiratory illnesses and disabilities.
  7. The inability to find a safe way to dispose of nuclear waste.
  8. Increased rates of premature mortality affecting some 80% of the human population.
  9. Extinction of close to 73% of the world's vertebrate species since 1975.
  10. An increasing polarization between the poor and the financially wealthy, i.e. the haves and the have nots with a smaller and smaller percentage being the haves, and the haves demanding more and more of the resources.
  11. Rising global homelessness and destitution.
  12. Perpetual ideological warfare, regime change, military occupation and war crimes funded openly by governments and supported by political parties.
  13. An increase in hunger and famine in the world, an increase in cases of malnutrition, obesity, food poverty, and people dying of starvation.
  14. An increasing number of asylum seekers and refugees in the world who are fleeing economic, ecological and political disasters.
  15. Increasing rates of social divisions and inner city violence.
  16. Increasing instances of racial and ethnic hostility, racism, xenophobia together with an increasing level of acceptance of such divisions from authorities.
  17. Increased hostility and tension in terms of sex and gender with a deepening and wider gulf between male and female and increasing instances of domestic abuse and domestic violence.
  18. Increased dependency and addiction to recreational drugs such as crack, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines and also prescription medication.
  19. A COVID pandemic that was denied throughout by a significant proportion of the population.
  20. A COVID pandemic that created opportunities for a significant proportion of the population, among them politicians and political parties, to implement various control measures and to seek advantage both political and economic over people.
  21. Multi-national corporations that are now the most powerful social institutions in existence and have no ethical or moral responsbility to anybody other than their shareholders.
  22. Mainstream political parties which have now monopolized political power and share total control in a global political system which is becoming increasingly totalitarian, such parties have no ethical or moral responsibilities to anyone outside their party hierarchy.
  23. Increasing instances of social stigma, persecution, aienation, and social exclusion of people not considered to be 'mainstream' such as people with disabilities, people with mental health issues, those outside the cisgendered heteronormative gender binary.
  24. Increasing acceptance of the legitmacy of exploiting human trauma, misery and suffering for the purposes of corporate and business profit and economic growth. In most cases if such exploitation leads to a loss of human life, then that's just too bad. Tough shit.
  25. Increasing levels of indentured servitude and slavery throughout the world.

Any one of these issues would be challenging enough on their own. But we have a lot of different environmental, social and economic issues which somehow need to be addressed, and not much in the way of progress towards any kind of resolution in any of these issues. Please note - in case anyone is wondering - I'm not seeking to be political here or make any political point. I'll come back to this later.

There isn't a lack of accessible resources. I'm writing this from where I live in Nine Elms, London. This is a part of the country which is literally flooded with resources. We have space. We have a decent infrastructure. There's plenty of money flowing around. We have more technology than many of us know how to use. I'm aware that there are many poorer areas, more deprived, some of them in London, but most outside London. Not sure of anyone else, and this is just my personal observation, but once you cross the M25 motorway in any direction it's almost like you're entering a different country and going back 20 years in time.

So where does the issue lie?

The wrong attitude from wrong people in authority

This. This is the central core issue. A profound lack of vision, a clear lack of insight, a lack of humanity, a lack of empathy, an unwillingness to listen, a refusal to compromise, a stubborn refusal to give chances or take risks, naked self-serving, self-interested attitudes with an almost sociopathic and callous disregard for the consequences and how those consequences impact on the lives of others.

It would be very easy to point the finger and apportion the blame at the feet of politicians and get all political about this, but to do so would be wasting my words and also this would be also a denial of the fact that such attitudes and mindsets exist all too often out there in the community. Our community is made up mainly of people who are going through life wrapped up in their ideological bubbles believing that it's always someone else's fault, someone else's problem, someone else's issue to resolve, and someone else is to blame.

So many of us are unwilling to listen, unwilling to even try to connect to others, afraid of death, just as equally afraid of life, we're not that cooperative, not really interested in community, not really that interested or bothered about the well being or welfare of others, and generally unwilling to ask questions beyond the stock standard "What's in it for me?"

I first expressed these views at the 'Future visioning' conference organized by Wandsworth Arts and Leisure in August 2020. I spoke of the widespread need for empathy between people in community and society and the urgent need for political reform. These two things need to happen if we are at all serious about the growing number of social, environmental and economic issues we are all facing right now. Otherwise we're just mouthing platitudes and coming up with Mickey Mouse solutions. I also stated that I am not a political leader, it's not for me to suggest political reforms. This is a matter for politicians to take on board and start making decisions and behaving in ways which are more appropriate to our current socioeconomic and environmental situation. The general principle here is to look within and seek change from with the individual and within the environment of the mind. This applies not just to politicians. This applies to everyone.

I'm writing this two years later and my views have not changed. Go figure.