“There are lots of moving pieces in the world right now.”
The Grandparent of understatements, Professor.
As is often the case, there is a line in your Letters that drives directly to the heart of things that concern this reader.
Politicians - elected, self-appointed, autocratic – you name the stripe, bring to mind a group of powerful people scrambling to garner support for their vision of the future – some sincerely trying to do good as they see it, others trying to avoid prison or irrelevance, others filling their coffers with treasure, and those simply enamored with the maintaining control (whatever they might mean today).
Many people look to these “leaders” for solutions, others reject them as illegitimate or untrustworthy, and still others, simply tolerate them as they move through their daily lives putting one foot in front of the other in an attempt to get through the day without losing ground.
All this while our planet tumbles toward climatic catastrophe; hunger, disease and violence run rampant, and billionaires compete for seats on rockets to spin them away from it all.
I would have to agree there are many moving pieces in the world right now, but for all the movement, there is little that looks like hope for solutions comprehensive enough to give us a chance to survive much less thrive. And by “us” I mean all of us – the global us, because nations matter to the same extent that fingers and toes matter to the survival of the body: They are instrumental only when part of a unified whole.
The nagging question is: Where, what, or is there, a brain – collective or otherwise – to marshal the resources of the planet to deal with the existential issues before us?
Social change tends to work from the ground up, rather than a brain working top down. The scene on the ground may be a populace vulnerable to control by a nefarious brain at the top. In our democratic republic, the brain is us, crafting our messages and reaching out for community to make our voices heard.
We particularly need to make our voices heard to counter the build up of state legislatures poised to enact a legal coup by not certifying the presidential election in 2024 if the traditional winner is a Democrat.
And I agree that local change is often from the ground – up.
But my comment was directed more toward the global perspective where we need action sooner than later. For that to happen, there needs to be push – serious, focused push.
I don’t have the answer, but I expect whatever the answer may be, it is neither simple nor traditional.
Good day to you R Dooley! I am an advocate of bottom up action and also I see our nation getting stalled with carrying out good ideas because of of the energy put in from “both sides” to freeze inertia of change.
I am beginning to BELIEVE the answer lies in the differences of the generation(s) coming up. The young adults….and I frame that age range loosely in 18-45….there’s something very different about them and I credit what we who have raised them have contributed. Their blinders are off, they confront dissonance with a firm shrug, and they have this confidence at a young age that took me years to hone. They are not afraid of change and I have seen their eyebrow raised recently at the stale routines of racism continuing. THEY have toppled the caste ladder amongst themselves and intuitively know the power of 1+1 = 3. A circle allows for differing opinions and values. However, it does not allow one to shove a boot on one below you trying to better themselves. They just appear, to me, to collectively understand betterment of one is betterment for all.
Perhaps simplistic on my part, but then our greatest minds in history and our writer of the Letters understands the power of simplicity of truth in detangling the mess of lies obscuring and obstructing change.
I agree Christine with your hope resting on the younger generations. My fear is if these new state laws remain on the books snd enforced is that the younger and more inclusive generations will be hand tied....with a knee on the neck to suppress change and democracy. I hope grassroots efforts and voices prevail. 🙏🏻
My fervent hope matches yours, Sharon. The gens that I speak of are gaining MUCH greater influence at the polls. Their demographic is very concerning to autocratic principled politicians.
That is very encouraging to hear. Too many of our citizens are complacent regarding what is happening to our democracy. Not really complacent...disengaged and therefore uninformed.
And it certainly does not involve billionaires trying to get their rocks off aboard a brief trip to space. THAT story was simply abysmal in my mind. Did I miss something?
You missed nothing. It’s their “escape hatch” theory. Based on their, for example, aggravating tendency to weaponize theories such as Critical Race Theory to win elections.
I am reminded of the scene in Independence Day (the original) where, following the alien attack, and the mustering of forces to defeat it across national and oppositional boundaries (thinking in particular of the shot with the Russians talking over their device saying "the American's have figured out a plan" along with the one of Israeli and Palestinian forces assembled at a border agreeing to cooperate) and the actor playing the president says, in the middle of his pep talk "Mankind. That has a whole new meaning today, doesn't it?"
I really hope that we don't have to have a hostile alien invasion intent on destroying the planet (that we are destroying, but I digress) in order to get us to work together. COVID-19 could have been that agent, but it wasn't serious enough to get us to work together...
Yes, Ally. I think we are close to such a moment. One could say we are there but for the Alien attack element ... Ours is more like a suicide intervention.
Interesting side note: I had just read an article on the dangers of trying to reach out to Extraterrestrials before Earth had all come together on a protocol for speaking with them, about ten minutes before I wrote this comment today.
On June 19, 1865, when word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the enslaved people in Texas, did Lincoln’s crew say “We have GOT to work on our communication?” Probably not. Lincoln had been assassinated two months earlier.
The important part of this was the quote: "Mankind. That has a whole new meaning today, doesn't it?" If I need to explain further, it was my fervent hope that something other than an alien invasion could get us to come together.
The part about "We have got to work on our communication" was an aside about irritating my family, and has nothing to do with Juneteenth, Lincoln's assassination, or anything else. My wife and I use it to acknowledge that sometimes, we do need to work on our communication.
“There are lots of moving pieces in the world right now.”
The Grandparent of understatements, Professor.
As is often the case, there is a line in your Letters that drives directly to the heart of things that concern this reader.
Politicians - elected, self-appointed, autocratic – you name the stripe, bring to mind a group of powerful people scrambling to garner support for their vision of the future – some sincerely trying to do good as they see it, others trying to avoid prison or irrelevance, others filling their coffers with treasure, and those simply enamored with the maintaining control (whatever they might mean today).
Many people look to these “leaders” for solutions, others reject them as illegitimate or untrustworthy, and still others, simply tolerate them as they move through their daily lives putting one foot in front of the other in an attempt to get through the day without losing ground.
All this while our planet tumbles toward climatic catastrophe; hunger, disease and violence run rampant, and billionaires compete for seats on rockets to spin them away from it all.
I would have to agree there are many moving pieces in the world right now, but for all the movement, there is little that looks like hope for solutions comprehensive enough to give us a chance to survive much less thrive. And by “us” I mean all of us – the global us, because nations matter to the same extent that fingers and toes matter to the survival of the body: They are instrumental only when part of a unified whole.
The nagging question is: Where, what, or is there, a brain – collective or otherwise – to marshal the resources of the planet to deal with the existential issues before us?
Social change tends to work from the ground up, rather than a brain working top down. The scene on the ground may be a populace vulnerable to control by a nefarious brain at the top. In our democratic republic, the brain is us, crafting our messages and reaching out for community to make our voices heard.
We particularly need to make our voices heard to counter the build up of state legislatures poised to enact a legal coup by not certifying the presidential election in 2024 if the traditional winner is a Democrat.
As I said, the “brain” can be collective.
And I agree that local change is often from the ground – up.
But my comment was directed more toward the global perspective where we need action sooner than later. For that to happen, there needs to be push – serious, focused push.
I don’t have the answer, but I expect whatever the answer may be, it is neither simple nor traditional.
Good day to you R Dooley! I am an advocate of bottom up action and also I see our nation getting stalled with carrying out good ideas because of of the energy put in from “both sides” to freeze inertia of change.
I am beginning to BELIEVE the answer lies in the differences of the generation(s) coming up. The young adults….and I frame that age range loosely in 18-45….there’s something very different about them and I credit what we who have raised them have contributed. Their blinders are off, they confront dissonance with a firm shrug, and they have this confidence at a young age that took me years to hone. They are not afraid of change and I have seen their eyebrow raised recently at the stale routines of racism continuing. THEY have toppled the caste ladder amongst themselves and intuitively know the power of 1+1 = 3. A circle allows for differing opinions and values. However, it does not allow one to shove a boot on one below you trying to better themselves. They just appear, to me, to collectively understand betterment of one is betterment for all.
Perhaps simplistic on my part, but then our greatest minds in history and our writer of the Letters understands the power of simplicity of truth in detangling the mess of lies obscuring and obstructing change.
I agree Christine with your hope resting on the younger generations. My fear is if these new state laws remain on the books snd enforced is that the younger and more inclusive generations will be hand tied....with a knee on the neck to suppress change and democracy. I hope grassroots efforts and voices prevail. 🙏🏻
My fervent hope matches yours, Sharon. The gens that I speak of are gaining MUCH greater influence at the polls. Their demographic is very concerning to autocratic principled politicians.
That is very encouraging to hear. Too many of our citizens are complacent regarding what is happening to our democracy. Not really complacent...disengaged and therefore uninformed.
Keep at it!
From your lips Christine.
And it certainly does not involve billionaires trying to get their rocks off aboard a brief trip to space. THAT story was simply abysmal in my mind. Did I miss something?
Playing their fiddles while Rome burns. Or maybe they think they can get out of here before the planet implodes. Real profiles in courage.
I wish they would all get on board something and leave because they are the very people who have destroyed the planet. So, ah buh bye! 👏
You missed nothing. It’s their “escape hatch” theory. Based on their, for example, aggravating tendency to weaponize theories such as Critical Race Theory to win elections.
I am reminded of the scene in Independence Day (the original) where, following the alien attack, and the mustering of forces to defeat it across national and oppositional boundaries (thinking in particular of the shot with the Russians talking over their device saying "the American's have figured out a plan" along with the one of Israeli and Palestinian forces assembled at a border agreeing to cooperate) and the actor playing the president says, in the middle of his pep talk "Mankind. That has a whole new meaning today, doesn't it?"
I really hope that we don't have to have a hostile alien invasion intent on destroying the planet (that we are destroying, but I digress) in order to get us to work together. COVID-19 could have been that agent, but it wasn't serious enough to get us to work together...
The film 'Arrival' does a very fine job of addressing this cooperation between countries in the face of extraterrestrial arrival.
Yes, Ally. I think we are close to such a moment. One could say we are there but for the Alien attack element ... Ours is more like a suicide intervention.
Interesting side note: I had just read an article on the dangers of trying to reach out to Extraterrestrials before Earth had all come together on a protocol for speaking with them, about ten minutes before I wrote this comment today.
Fascinating!
We already have an alien attack...QAnon!
Ooooo, yes, Ally. Independence Day. Watch it every July!
Same here. And irritate the heck out of our family by quoting all the lines ahead of time... My favorite? "We have GOT to work on our communication"
On June 19, 1865, when word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the enslaved people in Texas, did Lincoln’s crew say “We have GOT to work on our communication?” Probably not. Lincoln had been assassinated two months earlier.
The important part of this was the quote: "Mankind. That has a whole new meaning today, doesn't it?" If I need to explain further, it was my fervent hope that something other than an alien invasion could get us to come together.
The part about "We have got to work on our communication" was an aside about irritating my family, and has nothing to do with Juneteenth, Lincoln's assassination, or anything else. My wife and I use it to acknowledge that sometimes, we do need to work on our communication.
Yep, with you on something other than an alien invasion. Sorry, I did not mean to misdirect the focus of your comment.
and our courageous child of our Universe, Greta persists in doing all she can....
If that is true, maybe the migrating hoards have the answer. Whodda thunkit?