THE WORLD WE
LIVE IN
When we look in the
mirror, we realize how time is inexorably running out, and our lives are being
consumed.
If we were to look
at our city from a 10th floor building, we would see thousands of
lives like ours, moving to and from, like ants or robots, mixing and shaping
what we call a society.
Throughout time,
generations of people like us have been born and have died.
It is unavoidable to
question a few times in our fleeting life if what mankind has done is worthy of
being called an evolution or an accomplishment.
Our race has evolved
from a primitive organization, through the discovery of what mother
nature has given us on this little planet, to a more organized form of
living and interacting together, which we can call a society.
Our lives have also
been transformed by the industrial revolution and technology.
The forms of
organizing our societies -- which we can call politics -- have changed from
absolute theocracies to the feudal system to the first forms of popular
democracy. We have passed through failed experiments, such as communism, naziism and other absolutist regimes, and have also suffered
wars which have cost millions of lives and caused widespread bloodshed until
just a few generations ago.
Our question – is
the current world really any better than it has been for centuries? -- is
legitimate.
First, there is no
doubt that most of the world population still lives in misery and suffers from
starvation, wars and absolutist regimes, deprived of most of technology and basic needs of life, in a way not so different from how
our ancestors were living (trying to survive) centuries ago.
Then has the very
small part of the world -- called “first world” or “developed countries” --
really achieved a just and fair society and a cozy standard of living?
Most fanatics of
technology would surely praise our “gadgets” which seem to make our lives so
much better. But I am afraid this is nothing more than an illusion.
Were our
grandparents’ lives so much worse just because they had no color TVs, no cell
phones, no computer games?
What will our
descendants in 200 years say about us?
That our lives were
terrible because our cars could not fly, our computers had no protobio-chips
and so could not think like humans, our planes could not fly around the planet
in 30 minutes?
I don
‘t think so; we cannot desire, or aspire for, what doesn’t exist (yet).
So thinking that we
have a meaningful and easy life thanks to the technology and industry
revolution is pointless.
The real grain of
the question is: Are our lives really better? Are we really happy?
Are we really free
and fairly organized by the representatives of our society (politicians)?
Well, from what I
can see with my eyes and hear with my ears, I would say the answer is “Not
quite.”
Most of the world is
in disarray, and people are languishing and suffering as they did in the worst
periods of the Middle Age.
The other part of
the world sees most of the population (the so called middle class) working like
beasts of burden all their lives to receive – if they are lucky -- a miserable
pension which will be not enough to help deal with the ailments of old age.
Almost everywhere,
including in the most stable democracies of the first world, people are totally
discouraged about politics, and don‘t believe the system is fair.
So, what it is the
point then, if democracy was supposed to have meant “power of the masses”?
We, ourselves, are
supposed to be in charge, through a select group of representatives we elect.
This is what
democracy is supposed to be. But this concept is so far from reality, even in
the perceptions of the people in the most consolidated political democracies, that we really need to question what is wrong
with our society.
Ordinary people are
systematically cheated by the banks in one way or another.
We are brainwashed
by disinformation from the mass media, which are controlled by a small group of
people connected to some of our “representatives.” We are asked to work and pay taxes and carry
the weight of all crises -- real or created, like the latest oil crisis, which
has virtually destroyed, or at least seriously damaged, the lives of the middle
class worldwide.
It is natural, under
these circumstances, for us to see the apathy of people towards our society,
the perception – not so distant from reality -- that a small group of
“mafiosos” is manipulating our technological economy to consolidate their
monopolitical power, while playing with our lives like we play Monopoly or
Secondlife.
So, I ask myself
again, is my life really better than my grandpa’s was,
just because I am writing this article with a laptop rather than a pen soaked
in black ink?
Just like our
ancestors in the feudal system were brainwashed and cheated by monarchs and
religion to accept being slaves in pursuit of an eternal life in paradise, we
are “technologically” brainwashed in a more subtle way. But despite our
laptops, 747s and 3G cell phones, a similar type of royal monarchies, which have driven
most of the wars and massacres, are still there, and their cadre of masons and
bankers are serving their power.
We are just like
dogs, but with a looser collar. So loose, that sometimes we don’t even realize
we are wearing one: our collar is loose enough to walk throughout the garden, to
copulate with a bitch or two, to defecate, to eat or bite the neighbour’s cat
and to be fed pedigree food. But we are still wearing the collar.
If our pleasant and
cozy life in the garden is not enough, and we feel the desire to see beyond our
little paradise, we will feel a pain in the neck and realize we are restrained
by this a collar. That’s it.
The proposed drastic
“solutions,” like the communism and naziism of the first part of the past
century, have proven to be a complete disaster and have resulted only in
massacres, blood, repression , hunger and suffering.
Embracing a system
like communism is like admitting our inability to organize ourselves in a fair
and democratic society. It is also against the nature of mankind of progressing
and constantly evolving: that’s why it didn’t work, and it will never be a
solution.
The focus should be
different: the problem is NOT the market, the capitalism, the globalization,
the technology. No.
The problem is how a
bunch of Mafiosos is using these tools to perpetuate their power.
Exchanging a cadré
of capitalist mafiosos for one of communist butchers
(Mao Tze Tung caused a massacre over 10 times bigger than the one of the
Holocaust) would be the worst possible solution.
What we need is a
TRANSPARENT society, where all the values and virtues of democracy and the free
market are really at the service of all of us; a society where all people, rich
or poor, black or white, are born with an opportunity to progress in life and
be happy; a society in which we can really
feel politicians are serving us and not vice-versa; a society where getting
rich will be welcomed and encouraged (and not envied) if this will not be done
at the expenses of the society; a society where the government will be the
supervisor of the good behaviour of everybody, from the ordinary people to the
politicians, to the big corporations and financial system; a society where
competition will also be fair, like in sport: May the best win, but at the end
of the race, we are all happy and shake hands.
The day we will be
able to push our evolution towards a point to achieve these goals, these
values, that day and only that day, we can ask ourselves again: “Is our world we live in really better?” And
we will be able to answer, “Yes, it is!”.
Maximiliano Herrera
No comments:
Post a Comment