What’s it all about?
Every day we are bombarded with news. It is a bit overwhelming. I can’t help wonder about the angles the media takes vs the reality of what is happening. Reading the paper every morning. which I still do cover to cover even though I already caught a huge piece of it the day before on my twitter feed, is utterly upsetting, depressing and leaves me sapped of optimism.
The anger, the bigots, the hatred, the fear of change, the immigrants in our country who have lived here for 20 years being deported, the immigrants around the globe who are just trying to find a safe place for their families, domestic terrorism, foreign terrorism, the deep divide between the haves and have-nots, the change of everything through technology, the seemingly desire of an older generation to hold on to something they believed was better, our connection to a global world. Certainly all the advertising being pushed in our face tells us what we should be believing in or not believing in with zero backbone of educating the public.
I could continue on this thread but all of it has to do with what is happening around the world and certainly what is happening within our country. Government hasn’t moved forward at the pace of the rest of the world and we are seeing the power-mongers hold on to something that is just creating more anger. When will it end?
I don’t want to be political on this thread. The anger across the globe is clear. Then on the other hand I see amazing people and companies that are part of a super bright future. I am just thinking about these issues because they are important to look at what is happening globally and at home and wonder has it always been like this or is it we just know more and see more daily on our twitter feed?
Comments (Archived):
The world is changing faster than most people can process that change. Just when you think you understand the implication of one event, something else happens. And at this point in history, there doesn’t seem to be any events, any big, sweeping changes, that appear to be particularly *good*.But that doesn’t mean there won’t be. It is just harder to see at this particular moment in history.
it is hard to see past this time in history.
.Every Presidential election I have ever observed has been exactly the same. Huge predictions long before the primaries. The real election effort starts the day after Labor Day. Nobody remembers anything leading up to the nomination.Even history — projected into the future — is about pattern recognition.Brexit and the Asian Flu and Y2K will be next to each other in the bookshelves in the near term.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Respectfully disagree that the ungracious, obnoxious, bigoted, abusive nature of Trump will somehow get washed away.That is his nature and that is not changing.
I totally agree
.Come on, Arnold. He’s going to be a great President. Finally, a brash New Yawker. Stay with him, Arnold.JFWYJLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
;))I am very tolerant honestly except when it comes hate and separation as a tactic.I don’t care about brash or ignorant or stupid, I care about prejudice and that is a line that can’t be crossed with me. And once you do you can’t come back.
Tolerance is rare these days. Especially when you have a pack of people that think one way. But, I’d like to twist one thing. I can be tolerant, but I don’t have to validate a belief. Or, I can be tolerant, and not want that belief to come into my culture. One example I can think of is Sharia Law. It has no place in the US.
.I would like to disagree slightly without being disagreeable.I find today to be a time in which global trends — e.g. the resurgence of America first, Brexit, the Australian rejection of failure to assimilate — are infinitely more obvious and understandable.In the flow of that is an all time high in obfuscation, bad information, and truly bad analysis.But there is a wealth of information if one is willing to sift through the wheat and the chaff.I harken back to the Viet Nam War era — when passions were infinitely more inflamed — and wish we had the kind of info flows then we have today. BTW, I was talking to a young person about the Kent State incident and he was certain it had never happened.One has to remember that contemporary news is the first draft of history and only the victors get to write the revisions.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
You and I have disagreed before, JLM, but I never find you disagreeable. In fact, I read your comment as I was driving in the car with some family members, and we got into a whole discussion about Kent State. We quickly discovered the answer to “whatever happened to that woman in the famous picture”—who was only 14 at the time! Kent State had a profound influence on me at the time, and yet now, “4 dead in O-hi-o” is barely a blip on the radar. But yes to the wealth of information. I know it can be overwhelming for some people, but I find it very comforting, the ability to so quickly find multiple viewpoints, facts and opinions, and musings of big red cars and more.
I was on “the other side” growing up- the religious, closed border-mentality, anti-abortion type, and it I came to see a different perspective over the course of 15 years with people being patient with me, challenging me on my beliefs, putting up with me despite me thinking I knew all the answers, and awesome professors engaging me in debate in class, even allowing me to serve on two social justice boards and continuing to challenge me while still including me. Maybe a total five or six people in all that time were huffy or disrespectful to me. I eventually saw how nice liberals were and hopped the fence. I also think of my dad who was an ultra-conservative Christian growing up who had three children who went to univeristy and challenged him at the supper table over 20-some years, and today he’s hopped the fence (at least politically) as well. We’re still working on him. People can change- they just need engagement and patience. Hopefully that’s a little encouraging. 🙂
My in-laws who are retired from the Army jumped the fence after Bush #2. Sent our troops into something they shouldn’t have and took a balanced budget and killed it. They were both done.
Yeah that must’ve been painful having come from the army. Nobody wants to be used for a useless cause.
not easy to in a community of republican.
it’s also tough to buck the Democrats when you were always a Democrat. In many respects, I am way out of step with my fellow Republicans. But, at the same time I am even further out of step with Democrats. (I was not a fan of the war either)
I like to comfort myself (aware that it could be an illusion) by extending an attitude towards our society patterned on Ray Kurzweil’s attitude about technology and the health of the planet. I think good progress is coming so fast and furious (as part of, and in addition to, technological progress), that it will outpace and end run the regressive, oppressive forces.I’m not sure if there’s an historical precedent for our current situation, where technology is more a tool of the individual than it is the power structure, where being a structure is a disadvantage because it slows output. But we are living in a time where smart scrappy individuals are able to leap frog over and over again those who hold economic power. And it happens that many of those individuals are young idealistic types who haven’t been jaded to the idea of making the world a better place.You and I have agreed before, these steps backward are the last spasms. After Vietnam and Watergate, power figured out it had to control the media. But now they’ve lost control over the messaging and the technology. They’re the ones being spied on now! Everything’s a cycle, but I think we’re on the upswing.
upswing….let’s hope so
I keep thinking…keep hoping…that what will bring us together is our collective need to fix the environment before it cascades us into oblivion. That we will somehow realize that if we can all do it together it will create a new type of economy, where we want less but get more, where the model of scarcity becomes a different kind of model, but it’s not about having more stuff, it’s about having less. And technology will take the place of…all sorts of things, plastics and aluminum siding and filet mignon. Not literally of course but….what if intelligence really is the new gold. I mean look at us, here on Joanne’s blog, how much we crave insight, and meaning and connection, and we’re just such a small piece of this universe. We create shared, collective knowledge, and that itself has infinite value to me. I think we can get there by continuing to give that knowledge away instead of hoarding it….I don’t have optimism because I want to. I have optimism because I can see it. To use a business cliche—we just have to get it to scale.
When I talk to Democrats, their biggest fear is corporate America. When I talk to Republicans, their biggest fear is the ungoverned massive federal bureaucracy. I am afraid of them both, but at least I get a choice whether I use one versus the other.
With all the resources of knowledge, people and capabilities we have in the US, it is painful that we don’t step up and do more to lead the way to a better world. Although it seems we would all agree about what “better” looks like, I know that is not the case. I like to think that doing my job affords me a generous opportunity to better the world, but I wish I did more, personally. I guess I like my pleasures and distractions too, music, biking, food, reading, exploring new places. After that, the hours and energy are spent.Amy Sterling provided this interesting counter to that sinking feeling that the world is going wrong: http://amy.world/betterworld/