Reader beware: I'm getting up onto my soapbox. Now is the time to walk away.
A lot of travelers I meet started their journey to see the world. I'm no exception. When I meet a traveler, I find that, more often than not, I enjoy their company because we share a similar mindset. But there is a paradox about this average traveler: Their desire to travel the world seems inversely proportional to their interest in current events of the world. Consequently, so many great people (but not all) don't care or don't know about what is going on in the world. (Reminds me of a punchline to a joke Ethan told me: What do you call an apathetic idiot?). I'm not saying these travelers are unsympathetic if I start a conversation about politics or socio-economic forces, but the world of the traveler is a place of relaxation and fun -- and who wants to listen to or be a Donny Downer while sitting on a white sand beach with a bright blue ocean at your feet?
Without trying to sound snotty, I have been watching the current events of the world and the United States. I'd say I've been watching intently for the last five years or more. And although I've retained only a small fraction of the critical thought and analysis that have rattled through my brain, I'm convinced that humanity is pretty much fucked.
Here is the world through my lens: Each pending crisis is a opportunity for the powerful to take from the poor and redistribute more wealth to the powerful and wealthy; where the US judicial systems (and increasingly other countries) treat corporations equal to a human being while corporations have all the financial power and knowledge intrinsic to a collective group; where our government is in bed with our media and corporations, and vice verse (as they say in Asia: same same); where a corporate media distorts and lies to the people to advance an ideology or goals for those in power; where neo-liberal policies that benefit corporations are pursued with blind faithfulness and disregard for human beings; where governments pursue "free-trade" agreements that are intrinsically exclusive to free exchange and being contrary to true neo-liberal ideology; where salaries and wages (adjusted for inflation) have stagnated in the middle class while salaries of CEOs have increased astronomically; where elected leaders are unwilling to increase taxes on the wealthy and close corporate tax loop holes in order to redistribute that wealth to raise the water line for the lowest of the low in society; where people would rather be comfortable and ignorant than informed and disheartened; where people would rather be complacent, disillusioned and idle, than disgruntled and participative, in the midst of a continuous onslaught on the American dream. I could go on.
And this brings me to the reason I feel so much anxiety over this topic right now. Wisconsin. (An American said to me the other day, "There are protests in Wisconsin... for what?"). When I extract the essence of the political events in Wisconsin, I see the Republican governor arrogantly parading against the face of popular support for labor unions. There is something the USA could learn from the Arab world these days -- a people willing to fight for democracy. Granted, Wisconsinites have shown a fighting spirit in the protests throughout the state but not enough to scare any politicians. And that scares me -- when our political figures don't really need to care about what their constituents think. The USA is a political landscape largely free of long term consequences -- the voters have amnesia or adopt the revisionist histories from pundits instead of critical thinking or discriminating their sources, and the non-voters don't care because they are disillusioned from the last time they voted.
I, too, have finally passed a unthinkable tipping point where I feel like I should just give up. Corporations own America, to be renamed, The United States of America, Incorporated. But giving up just isn't in me, even if I wanted. (I've been so heated as I write this, I don't even know if I've accomplished anything but a rambling, incoherent blog no one cares about). But for many, apathy is the opiate of the disillusioned masses. Often I play a song called The Decline by NOFX to remind myself I'm not the only person who feels this way. One of my favorite lines goes: Only moron and genius / Would fight a losing battle / Against the super ego / When giving in is so damn comforting / And so we go, on with our lives / We know the truth, but prefer lies / Lies are simple, simple is bliss / Why go against tradition when we can / Admit defeat, live in decline / Be the victim of our own design.
I thought about scrapping this post. Anyway, here goes... pressing "Publish Post". Moron count: + 1.
A lot of travelers I meet started their journey to see the world. I'm no exception. When I meet a traveler, I find that, more often than not, I enjoy their company because we share a similar mindset. But there is a paradox about this average traveler: Their desire to travel the world seems inversely proportional to their interest in current events of the world. Consequently, so many great people (but not all) don't care or don't know about what is going on in the world. (Reminds me of a punchline to a joke Ethan told me: What do you call an apathetic idiot?). I'm not saying these travelers are unsympathetic if I start a conversation about politics or socio-economic forces, but the world of the traveler is a place of relaxation and fun -- and who wants to listen to or be a Donny Downer while sitting on a white sand beach with a bright blue ocean at your feet?
Without trying to sound snotty, I have been watching the current events of the world and the United States. I'd say I've been watching intently for the last five years or more. And although I've retained only a small fraction of the critical thought and analysis that have rattled through my brain, I'm convinced that humanity is pretty much fucked.
Here is the world through my lens: Each pending crisis is a opportunity for the powerful to take from the poor and redistribute more wealth to the powerful and wealthy; where the US judicial systems (and increasingly other countries) treat corporations equal to a human being while corporations have all the financial power and knowledge intrinsic to a collective group; where our government is in bed with our media and corporations, and vice verse (as they say in Asia: same same); where a corporate media distorts and lies to the people to advance an ideology or goals for those in power; where neo-liberal policies that benefit corporations are pursued with blind faithfulness and disregard for human beings; where governments pursue "free-trade" agreements that are intrinsically exclusive to free exchange and being contrary to true neo-liberal ideology; where salaries and wages (adjusted for inflation) have stagnated in the middle class while salaries of CEOs have increased astronomically; where elected leaders are unwilling to increase taxes on the wealthy and close corporate tax loop holes in order to redistribute that wealth to raise the water line for the lowest of the low in society; where people would rather be comfortable and ignorant than informed and disheartened; where people would rather be complacent, disillusioned and idle, than disgruntled and participative, in the midst of a continuous onslaught on the American dream. I could go on.
And this brings me to the reason I feel so much anxiety over this topic right now. Wisconsin. (An American said to me the other day, "There are protests in Wisconsin... for what?"). When I extract the essence of the political events in Wisconsin, I see the Republican governor arrogantly parading against the face of popular support for labor unions. There is something the USA could learn from the Arab world these days -- a people willing to fight for democracy. Granted, Wisconsinites have shown a fighting spirit in the protests throughout the state but not enough to scare any politicians. And that scares me -- when our political figures don't really need to care about what their constituents think. The USA is a political landscape largely free of long term consequences -- the voters have amnesia or adopt the revisionist histories from pundits instead of critical thinking or discriminating their sources, and the non-voters don't care because they are disillusioned from the last time they voted.
I, too, have finally passed a unthinkable tipping point where I feel like I should just give up. Corporations own America, to be renamed, The United States of America, Incorporated. But giving up just isn't in me, even if I wanted. (I've been so heated as I write this, I don't even know if I've accomplished anything but a rambling, incoherent blog no one cares about). But for many, apathy is the opiate of the disillusioned masses. Often I play a song called The Decline by NOFX to remind myself I'm not the only person who feels this way. One of my favorite lines goes: Only moron and genius / Would fight a losing battle / Against the super ego / When giving in is so damn comforting / And so we go, on with our lives / We know the truth, but prefer lies / Lies are simple, simple is bliss / Why go against tradition when we can / Admit defeat, live in decline / Be the victim of our own design.
I thought about scrapping this post. Anyway, here goes... pressing "Publish Post". Moron count: + 1.
There's a fundamental problem with your stance here my friend: I didn't ask you, "What do you call an apathetic idiot?"
ReplyDeleteI asked you, "What's worse, apathy or ignorance?"