Mexican cartels are now using drones and improvised land mines in their fight with the Mexican Government and each other. New York City has deployed uniformed National Guard troops to keep order in its’ subways. Press reports about these and similar developments do not relate the events to each other. Our consideration of each is siloed as unrelated events in physical locations distant from one another. None are related to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza nor the civil war currently destroying Sudan, nor the gang takeover of Haiti, nor the village level war ongoing thoughout North Africa, nor the continuing war in Syria between a half dozen ethnic factions, nor the pushing and shoving in the South China Sea. I contend that all of these breakdowns of societal norms are related to one another and we should take note. Whether we like it or not, violence is on the rise throughout the world as an acceptable way to settle grievances and advance interests. Gun violence in Oakland is, at root, exactly the same as gun violence in Burkina Faso and both are inconsistent with the continued viability of the human experiment.
Violence has long been in the human tool box, but “technological advances” have provided angry people with new tools that kill people more effectively. I admit that I see advanced technology as being, on balance, a very bad thing for humans, but I also understand that the majority of my fellow humans see it differently. It makes little difference, because technology is here to stay, as is the potential for its use in “settling” disputes and controlling societies. Here in the United States, we argue about gun ownership, but refuse to address what I consider to be the root cause of all of this violence all around the entire world - inadequate human relationships. Humans have been stupidly killing each other since well before guns were invented. Violence is not the child of a gun. It is something that happens inside our head and technology provides ways to expand its impact on more and more fellow human beings.
What to do about the problem? Technology is not going away, nor is it going to be limited to peaceful uses. The gun, the mine, the nuclear weapon are, however, the wrong targets for our attention. What we must effect, in our search for a better world, let alone continued existence, is the human mind. Because the task is so huge, I oversimplify to make my point - we must do two things. First, be so strong that no one can contest our policies, and second, we have to sincerely, repeat sincerely, seek to improve the lives of everyone on earth. There is a very real possibility that humans en masse can not do that, but it remains the challenge that faces us and I am arguing that we should try. It is inexcusable that even here in this country we have far too many people existing on the street. Physical and intellectual flight to the suburbs is not a viable longterm answer folks.
At street level, we don’t need the National Guard searching purses. We desperately need a criminal court system combined with an effective police force that punishes subway criminals rather than civilian heroes. At the national level, we need a clearly dominant military and a group of old fashioned statesmen, allied with an honest, intelligent business community. At the community level, we need a populace that understands the challenge facing us. I believe that we are failing all though this hierarchy of challenge, but the most fundamental is the failure of Americans to even begin to understand the problem facing us, even though our continued existence is at stake. I remain convinced that we can do the necessary if we but wake up to the reality of the challenge facing us.
The age of the fetus, the proper use of pronouns, the price of gasoline, the number of chips in the bag, and our precious feelings are just plain not the problem folks. The growing relevance of nuclear holocaust is more proximate than you and I are willing to acknowledge and it is long past time to come together and address root problems rather than superficial niceties and uglities. Moscow is the easy problem. Beijing, a bit more difficult. Radical Islam, much harder. Population/resource balance, the hardest of all. We must quit defining our challenge so as to match our inadequate response. The number of potato chips in the bag is not as important as the fact that the bag has too long been empty in far too many places on this planet. A society that willingly accepts smash and grab in their cities understandably accepts smash and grab on the international scene. A society that accepts gun violence in its’ ghettos understandably accepts it in “shit hole countries.”
Quit cowering in the corner like a worthless little pile of fecal matter and stand the hell up. Your and my life depends on it.
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