‘So tell me Opher – why do you insist on optimism for the future in the face of such a hopeless greed-ridden, power-mad establishment?’
‘Because I believe that most people are intrinsically good. Eventually the good will win.’
‘But that goes in the face of reason. All the power lies with the greedy ones. You aren’t going to change them.’
‘Yes we will. We will because there are billions of us who crave for fairness, justice and tolerance. We have just become connected through the internet. We can shine a light on the disgusting things they are doing. We can broadcast it and make billions of people aware. We can unify and organise. That’s democracy. The power of the many to do good.’
‘What if they do good? What if they are cruel, mean and nasty?’
‘I believe that on that first primeval beach, when we crawled up that shore we either gave each other a helping fin or we crawled over each other. I believe we held out a fin. That’s our strength – teamwork.’
‘That’s just wishful thinking.’
‘Yes. But it’s based on my own experience. It’s only a minority of people who do all the nasty stuff. Most people would give you help if you needed it. Human nature has a pleasant altruistic side. I put my faith in humanity and education.’
‘So what is the biggest problem we have to solve?’
‘The problems are so interwoven that they are almost impossible to untangle. Whether it’s war, poverty, corporate greed, pollution, climate change or the devastation of the natural environment and slaughter of all the wild creatures. It all has the same roots. For me the biggest and most pressing problem is population control. We have to reduce our numbers to a sustainable level. But in practice we have to address them all at the same time.’
‘And you think that is possible?’
‘Oh yes! Cooperation, unity, and a collective will. We have the science, technology and means to solve all of those problems. We just need equality, stability, unity and the will to address it.’
‘You’ll never get it!’
‘Oh yes we will! Oh yes we will! Because we have to or human beings don’t have a future. Together we can win! Of that I am sure.’
One line in here gave me pause for thought: “I put my faith in humanity and education.” It’s the education I’m thinking of. Listening to you describe how things are over there with all the religion and school stuff, I wonder what kind of difference you see in the education system here in the states where religious principles aren’t allowed to be taught in school. I’m not even sure, for example, that science books have a chapter on Creationism. And yet I don’t see much difference in what the education system is producing. In fact, that whole dumbing down process seems to be in full swing here regardless of religion. Which brings me to the conclusion that no matter where kids are educated they’re being indoctrinated into SOMEONE’S “ology.” It just happens to be the flavor of the day. Are the schools even TRYING to teach critical thinking these days?
(Of course Utah is the exception to that religion rule as mormon kids are allowed out of junior high and high school for one hour a day for “seminary.” It’s very useful here for dividing the kids up at a fairly early age. It just p*sses me off as it made both our kids outcasts.)
When I taught in the States (California – a long time ago) I was heartened to find that religion was not allowed in schools. I thought that was very healthy. I believe that children should only be allowed to check out religion when they are old enough to think for themselves (around 52 years old). Bringing up children with that religious idea embedded into their psyche is indoctrination in my book. It is there for life. I believe it self-perpetuates superstition.
But I found that there was still a lot of ‘back-door’ religion/indoctrination. When I taught evolution I had, by state law, to give 50% of the time to ‘creation’. I actually had parents sitting in my lessons with egg timers. Incredible.
Now creation is not science and has no place in a science lesson. It is giving credibility to a religious idea that I do not subscribe to.
Likewise in other areas of the curriculum religion was given undue importance – poetry, literature and art for example. The law of no religion in schools was being circumvented. Now I do not know what is going on at the present time. From what I see in the South and indeed all over the States there is an obsession with religion. I find it weird. Everyone is steeped in the teachings of a cult from some Arab tribe in the Middle East.
The irony is, if Trump were to get in, that anyone like Jesus, of Arab descent with a strong fundamentalist message, would be instantly banned and under great suspicion. Weird isn’t it?
Education should be expansive and thought provoking. It should stimulate the young minds to be flexible, question and explore. We seem to be looking it as a means of shovelling facts in and regurgitating those facts in tests. That’s not educating. That’s a factory process. We never went forward by believing what we are told. We went forward by disproving it.
Do you think we feel so strongly about that because of the generation we were raised in? I mean the wanting kids’ minds to expand more and more. Did later generations just become complaisant BECAUSE of our generation?
I think that the generation of our parents was very conservative. They were a rigid, unbending, closed-down, obedient generation. They conformed and followed the rules. It was a drab existence. An unthinking way of life. There was no questioning of why they had to all look the same, think the same and do what they did – the office uniform, the career, the estate, mow the grass, wash the car, the status symbols, church, king and country. All unquestioned. The prejudices, the racism, the hypocrisy, the hierarchy – know your place.
Then our generation came along and questioned it. Why war? Why so drab? Why so unthinking? Were the government always right? Did the people who went to church really believe? Was there a greater spirituality? Was there more to life? Where was the fun? The kicks? The spontaneity? Were other races really inferior? And suddenly the convention seemed so shallow; society seemed set up for a small elite and everyone knew their place and were exploited; and there was more to life than obedience.
There are no rules. The establishment is set up to stop us questioning it. We are shackled in a career/marriage/lifestyle that saps our energy and stops us thinking.
But most of us dropped straight back in. We do the same things as our parents’ generation – the career, marriage, church, etc. We mow the grass and wash the car, wear the suit and cut our hair.
I think the generations that came after were confused. The establishment put out a consistent message about the feckless, moronic, hippy-dippy, silly generation. Hippy is associated with silliness and naivety – not protest and questioning. Silly kids who grew up. The civil rights, environmental, women’s’ rights, spirituality and other social issues are ridiculed as mere unrealistic silliness – love and peace, man.
The cool became uncool.
Did we do that to them or were the establishment very clever and controlling?
The pendulum swung so far the other way with us, makes me wonder if our kids felt at a loss in the wild environment of the heart we lived in and thus sought that more conservative place — though not consciously. Did the pendulum swing back, so to speak.
Maybe kids wanted that security and did not like making it up for themselves?
It has swung back to a weird shallow culture of celebrity and soaps. A lot of people do not want to engage themselves.
Yes. I think the whole texting generation has added to that not wanting to engage. Even my best friend would rather text than talk on the phone. I just don’t accommodate her very often! 😉
I think it will swing back! It has to.
This is a sad and maybe off the wall thought, but when I read your comment what went through my head was, “It’s easier to kill people when you don’t see them face-to-face.” Which I suppose is why bomber pilots aren’t affected by PTSD the same as other military soldiers… (rolls eyes… I have a sick mind.)
It’s easier to pretend that the forests aren’t being chopped down, nature isn’t being slaughtered, and the corporations and politicians are not doing it for growth, votes, power and wealth, if you don’t think about it. Just have fun. It will all go away. Pretend it isn’t happening.