The Sky is Falling!

I'm overwhelmed by the bad news in the world.  It just keeps coming and none of the problems have realistic fixes.  Just look at them all:  Japan, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Wisconsin, the declining middle class, the intransigent unemployment levels, foreclosures and falling home values, a political system which has ceased to function and is only in it for re-election.  Although I wonder why anyone would want to be re-elected into this mess.  Last night it was a program called Journey to Planet Earth on PBS.  It outlined the likely effect of climate change on world civilization.  It laid out the need for immediate and major change, but that just isn't going to happen, either here because of the swath of climate deniers in politics or elsewhere, in the developing world, because they don't believe they should have to change because they didn't create the problem.  The final segment just seemed so inadequate to the task - "we all have to get involved and push the change".  The program ignores the fact that all these influential folks have had so little impact on the issue so how likely is it that individuals, largely unable to move the agenda on so many issues will have any effect.  My only protection from this is that I'll be dead before the worst is likely to hit.  It will be someone else's problem to try and reverse or clean up the mess.  Or its really bad, it's Mad Max time, but I won't be here.

This attitude seems selfish to me, but it's all I have most of the time.  There are just too many issues, too many problems, and too few leaders and solutions.  We are as a group pretty selfish so what likelihood is there that people will step up to the plate and sacrifice to save the planet when they won't even agree to pay a few % in taxes to resolve some of these budget issues in this country alone.  I read that the 4 HUNDRED  richest people in the country have more than the bottom 150 MILLION.  If just those 400 would decide to fix things instead of just figuring out how to keep their BILLIONS, wouldn't change happen.  Those 400 could really make a difference.  Yes, they are moving towards philanthropy, led by Buffet and Gates, but changing the political systems is what is really needed.    And that would threaten their uniqueness so philanthropy from a few will have to do.

The more immediate problems of war and conflict are also intractable.  There are just too many megalomaniacs with guns, most of which were sold to them by the democracies many weapons manufacturers to expect any respite.  I was torn by Libya.  The people just seemed to want out from under the regime that has ruled their lives with an iron fist.  It seemed everyone wanted out, except Gaddafi and a small circle of his regime.  But now we see that he has a substantial following.  Maybe he couldn't win an election, but with guns, he has enough to hold on.  People keep talking about a negotiated solution, but he seems to have made it clear that he isn't going anywhere. Given his tenuous grasp on reality that he doesn't like, I believe him.  He will take down the entire country with him rather than be toppled.  So now we are faced with intervening even more, arming the opposition or just sitting back and letting the country fall apart.  This would be bad enough if it were just Libya.  But there are a dozens similarly situated countries on the edge of either imploding or exploding.  We can't help them all, and in fact, it appears that we really can't help any.  Arming the rebels won't really make it better anytime soon, it will just enmesh the west in yet another Muslim country, which will drive others outside that country into the arms of the extremists who just believe we want to be there.  Instead of being caught between a rock and hard place, often of our own making.  We tried to keep a lid on this chaos by supporting dictators whom we thought could control their population, but we only made it worse and damaged our own principles in the making.  Now, when we try to support these apparent democratic movements, they welcome our help but they aren't too keen on it and if they succeed, I don't see a lot of gratitude emanating, not that I blame them.

We aren't responsible for all the bad in the world, but we have enough blame that we feel dirty.  The alternative to aiding these countries is to do nothing and stand by and watch the massacres take place.  That doesn't sit well with most of us when it is happening, because I think most of us care about inhumanity to people.  But we can't intervene everywhere so we pick some battles and then we impose all these conditions on ourselves.  Then these battles don't turn out the way we expect or more likely hope, and we find ourselves in another war in the middle east.  IT SUCKS!  Here we sit hoping that Gaddafi leaves.  Somehow, its so much easier to ignore the plight of people stuck in these terrible situations when the news doesn't bother to cover it nightly.  When the news brings the calls and pictures from people who sound a lot like us, being brutalized by terrible regimes who seem to love power so much they will do anything to keep it.  But Libya has been under the thumb of this madman for 40 years and we didn't do anything before - we even provided him money and arms with which to do it, once he paid some blood money for Lockerbie.  Why do we care now.  But then again, a lot of people don't care now and dread our further involvement.

Yes, the sky is falling, and there is nothing most of us can do about it.  I only wish I could ignore it like so many do.  Would the world be worse off for my lack of concern?  Is it better off because of it?  The answer is no.  The only one who suffers because of my attention is me.  I wish I could turn it off.