The Best of Times, The Worst of Times?

[Soldier of the One]

These last couple of years since the onset of the Credit Crunch a.k.a. full-blown Recession have been... intense.

We live in a world with seemingly endless possibilities. I genuinely believe that we have the science, skills and resources to guarantee every human being on this planet a decent standard of living in a world of peace. And yet, we don't. On the contrary: sometimes I wonder if things have looked this grim in a long, long time.

So, in what ways do you consider these times the 'best of times' and 'the worst of times' in true Dickensian fashion. (Hope my literary reference is accurate! ;))

What are your greatest fears about your country, your society and our world?

And what are you most hopeful about?

[emmiedahl]

I agree that we have the resources now to provide an adequate standard of living for everyone. We produced more than enough food last year; we have the technology to make water potable; and we don't.

I agree with the best-of-times-worst-of-times assessment. We are unique in that, for the first time, it is possible for everyone to live well. It kind of gives me chills because I feel on a religious level that modern people may be held accountable for not distributing things fairly.

My hope for our world is that we will begin to take responsibility for each other. The entire conservative platform right now comes down to "Am I my brother's keeper?" That question has already been answered (for the religious among us, at least). Those of us in the West are directly responsible for the pain of people in other areas of the world, and we need to just stop it. My kids have a book called "Old Turtle" that makes me cry because it is so accurate, and by the time I get to the page with "Please, stop" I am bawling.

The world needs a lot of healing.

eta: I could not find the full book online, but there is a (very cheesy) Youtube reading of it here

[atheistjd]

I agree with both of you. I am most happy about the progress of science and reason that I have seen in my lifetime - I am very hopeful that science will cure cancer, enable us to live on other planets, accept those who are different from ourselves, and so on.

I think the "worst" comes into play for me in that these resources are increasingly disproportionately held. I am fearful that the advances in science, medicine, health care, technology and education will serve only those who already have great resources at their disposal and those at the bottom will continue to be dispossessed. I am fearful that the very positive advances will actually be what enable the "haves" to make life worse and not better for the "have nots."

I am also fearful that my children will be born into a world that lacks real, substantial human interaction. Call me old-fashioned, but I hate the idea of solely electronic communication, which seems to be more and more prevalent as children are born into a world with skype, text-messaging, interactive online games, telemedicine etc. I am fearful that we as a society and as individuals will be unable to separate the best of this technology (such as telemedicine) from the worst.

Wow - thanks for starting this thread... Lots to think about for sure. Love it!

[Soldier of the One]

Thanks for the link, will listen to it in a bit :)

You're right, I agree fully with you. But let's say you were 'President of the World/USA', how would you go about changing some of those things? And what things would you like changed most urgently?

[emmiedahl]

I guess I would begin with redistribution of wealth and resources. I know it makes people cringe, but there is no reason for Americans to burn fossil fuels like there is no tomorrow while other people cannot even boil their parasite-infested water. I think I would impose a good old-fashioned Austerity, similar to what Israelis had in the early days, on developed nations and divert resources to developing nations. While we cleaned up messes and put out fires (so to speak), no one would get more than they needed and every limited resource would be rationed strictly. Eventually, I think that struggling nations would become more developed and capable of providing for their citizens, and green power would be developed because the richer nations would want to watch television and run air conditioners and such. There would be more for all people in about a decade, and then I could lay off the Austerity gradually.

I would make war illegal. So many resources go into killing each other when there are babies to feed.

This all is assuming that I or another benevolent, relatively just person is the dictator, and that we have full power over everything as well as at least a decade to accomplish things.

[Soldier of the One]

Interesting proposal :)

What would be a related question of interest is how many people in the West would agree to it. If people in the Western world were presented with the question:

"If you live simply and modestly for ten years but can with that act provide a fair and equitable life for everyone on the planet, would you do it?"

I am genuinely curious who would say yes and who would say no.

[emmiedahl]

I would. I would jump at the chance. But I don't think many people would be with me. I would have to be assured that my sacrifices were creating a fairer distribution, but if I believed in the leadership's integrity I would support it all the way.

[Jessica]

I genuinely believe that we have the science, skills and resources to guarantee every human being on this planet a decent standard of living in a world of peace. And yet, we don't.

We don't because of greed and it's really effed up.

[Deleted12]

Assuming that we're just talking about life in the US and the western world, I feel like we're on the cusp of enormous creativity and social progress, and I feel like these things can take us places that transcend material wealth. However, I also feel that we're also in a very dark place politically, and it remains to be seen whether the stranglehold of real poverty, ignorance, war, and totalitarianism will transpire or whether the people can rise out of this mess.

I know that those are really vague statements, so I'll try to give a few examples.

The other day I came in possession of a goose. A whole, entire goose. After doing some research on the internet, I totally plucked the thing, clipped off the unwanted parts, gutted it, and cleaned it out. I now have both a goose that's ready to be cooked (but for a few pin feathers that need to be singed off) and a sack of giblets (I think I chucked the heart by accident though :( ). I have never plucked a bird before, and while I was plucking it I was musing to myself that plucking game birds is an ANCIENT activity, like it's an activity that people were probably doing hundreds of thousands IF NOT MILLIONS of years ago. However, I learned to do it by watching a couple videos on YouTube. Information about cleaning a goose can be found online, but so can information about how to sew, how to glaze cookies, how to make your hair look like Snooki, and hundreds of other things.

I've also been watching a lot of Occupy livestreams lately. I feel like there's an odd sense of anarchy in most of the Occupy protests, not so much in the negative smash-and-grab sense, but in the sense that formal government isn't really a needed or relevant concept. I feel like the best thing that can happen is for the Occupy protests and government to have a relationship that is separated by a semipermeable membrane, where ideas can flow between the two camps, but direct interaction should not take place. For example, I think the cops should just leave the protesters alone. Like maybe there should be at most two cops hanging out in case there's a problem like someone gets in a fight, but throwing cops at the situation is only going to result in frustration for both sides.

As far as the political situation goes, I feel like we've been digging a dark hole for a while now. 20 years ago there were riots/protests across the country over one incident of police brutality, and now I feel like a lot of people are bored with the fact that the cops can straight pepper spray a bunch of students who are just sitting there. I don't agree with the fundies on much of anything, but I agree that they should be angry about SOMETHING. I think we should all be angry. We have access to more information than our great-grandparents could dream of, and we live in a global society online. There are people on FJ from all over the world, and we're here sharing ideas and talking to each other. I have no idea if the people who will read what I'm writing right now are Americans, Saudi Arabians, Nigerians, Cambodians, Brazilians, or Swedes. Well, unless you tell me. :D But it makes it a lot harder to hate on people if you see that people in Japan, Egypt, Greece, and all over the world have to deal with the same issues that you have to deal with.

[annalena]

i agree on the best times part, not so much on the worst times part.

best times in the western world. access to education, level of education, food accessability, health care, general convience (cars, food, shopping, dishwashers and other appliances). i personally get very mad if people (in europe or the us) whine about the "good old times" and how bad the world is these days. they REALLY need to see what they have. especially when they whine about "how can you bring children into this world". well, i'd much rather bring children into this world than into the world 100, 200, 500 years ago. women's right? legit law system? education for girls? nah. we have pretty amazing means of communication these days (as a child, i did not even IMAGINE things like text messages and skype) and access to a lot of knowledge.

as for the police brutality, i do NOT agree with it and think something needs to be done about that. (where they blocking anything btw? or really just sitting there? because that makes a difference.) but also i do not think there ever was a time without police brutality. so we do not need to whine about the good old times, but we need to realize that although a lot of thinks work better these days, there is still work to be done. to me personally, especially in the sexual harrassment awareness field. but i think we're further than we've ever been. everything else would also be really, really sad.

that being said, it's obvious that in parts of the world there is still a lot of potential for improvement, to say it nicely. food access, access to education. women's right, law system, stuff like that. it's not good that there are a lot wars and conflicts going on, but then again, wars and conflicts have ALWAYS been going on. these days, it's way easier to educate oneself about the stuff that's going on and also there are more sources (blogs etc, videos ) so one is not entitled to the news magazines' opinions because it's the only info available. i highly doubt there has ever been a peaceful episode in the history of mankind. peaceful as in no major conflicts going on.

one thing we also need to realize ( i think). it kind of bugs me when i read things like "those kids in village xy in africa don't have school nearby , the closest school is 100 miles away" or something like that. ok, that does sound bad at first. but who are we to decide what they should live like? who are we to decide western lifestyle would be nicer, better for them? maybe they are just happy the way they live in village xy without a school. maybe they do not need that school because they don't need to read and write, but really only to hunt. what if they are happy living that way?

[annalena]

Interesting proposal :)

What would be a related question of interest is how many people in the West would agree to it. If people in the Western world were presented with the question:

"If you live simply and modestly for ten years but can with that act provide a fair and equitable life for everyone on the planet, would you do it?"

I am genuinely curious who would say yes and who would say no.

I totally would say yes, but unfortunately, it's just not that easy.

if we all lived that way for x years, would it change and heal the situation in, blatantly speaking, africa? (i know i can't generalize a continent, but..) would all people suddenly have enough food?

nope. it's a lot more complicated than that.

[annalena]

shouldn't this be in chatter though?

[Soldier of the One]

Athena and Annalena, thanks for both sharing your thoughts.

No, I don't think it has to be in Chatter; the topic addresses politics and religion. But if the Mods decide differently, that's fine too :)