Every age has a prevailing zeitgeist. I believe it is created by the conglomerate mindset of the people and we all swim in its flood.
The sixties was a time of deep distrust of the establishment and its war machine. The counter culture set about leaving the breadheads to one side and producing a more spiritual community based on sharing, harmony and love. It was a time of great optimism, fun and happiness. It was great for a while until everyone woke up to find they were merely being ripped off and exploited in a different way and that the war machine and environmental destroying machine were still churning away.
This present zeitgeist has been born out of despair at austerity, runaway capitalism, inequality, hopelessness, joblessness, terrorism, mass migration, low wages, frustration, fear and helplessness. People have lost all faith in the establishment but are turning to extreme politics to vent their frustrations. They see that we are definitely not all in it together and the politicians are not making a jot of difference; they are pawns in the game. The right-wing and fascists, with their black and white rhetoric, easy answers, fear induction, racism and xenophobia, offer up easy solutions. What everyone wants is to believe in easy solutions.
I think the zeitgeist is one of fear, despair and a need to change. It’s the mass psychology of the age. The right-wing are exploiting it. It is what they feed off. In many wayus there are analogies to be drawn with the 1930s.
Hence we have the rise of right-wing politics, the Tea Party, UKIP, Trump and Brexit. On the continent the ultra-right parties are gaining ground big time.
I believe this needs opposing in every way possible. There are no easy answers. Belligerence and war do not solve problems. Isolationism is in nobody’s interest. Racism and xenophobia create problems.
The future is global cooperation, global laws, global rights, global enforcement of laws. The imperative is the protection of the planet.
We need to jettison the mad capitalist system with its mantra of growth and profit, which is destroying the planet and creating mass inequality and war. Greed is not the answer. Selfishness is not a solution. Compassion, empathy and love are much better.
There are better ways for us to live on this planet. For the sake of nature and our great grandchildren we need to create a different zeitgeist.
The future is indeed global cooperation, but don’t be too quick to disparage capitalism. By all means curb its excesses but the alternative, a state run controlled economy has been proven not to work. We need a system that has a realistic view of human nature, not one that requires us all to be different.
I just want a fair system that is not based on greed and selfishness and does not create such inequality, environmental damage and war.
Yes but what are you proposing? Or is it like the Brexit vote where all we know is what 52% don’t want?
There has to be a system with global regulation which is based on a fairer distribution of wealth, creates far less inequality, is not solely based on profit and greed, takes into account social and environmental issues, addresses overpopulation and is not at the mercy of the huge multinationals.
The present system of runaway capitalism is selfish, greedy, short-sighted and buys off politicians. It is not addressing the world’s social needs and is destroying the planet.
I would like to see a move towards a global perspective. So – more power to the UN and a revamp of its role and how it operates.
Because you lost the democratic
Sorry, don’t know what happened to the above what I was trying to say was. Because you lost the democratic vote on IN/OUT Europe, you now claim all those that voted Brexit are “right wing”, for heavens sake when you are going to face facts you lost. We are out of Europe, a lot of bloody good it ever did us except take money, and have this Country landed with people we cannot cope with. When you complain about the schools/the nhs/the benefits services don’t you see we have enough scum of our own cheating the system how we supposed to cope with all these others coming in. We should be helping our own that genuinely need help not people we should not be responsible for. I guess now I will be regarded as a Racist or extreme Far Right!!
I am not right wing, I am not extreme far left as McDonel wants us, its boring, boring, boring the same old thing.
Whom are you attacking?
It is quite obvious.
Labour, Liberals, SNP and the moderate Tories opposed Brexit. The extreme right of the Tory Party and UKIP wanted it.
We have to sort migration but voting in a right-wing government is in my opinion not good. They certainly do not have a record of supporting the NHS, Schools or the disabled.
The way we go out of Europe will have immense implications fror all of us. That is the issue.
Labour opposed Brexit, and their Leader agreed too didn’t he, he agreed because that is what he was told to do and you know it, he was not for Remaining he messed it up and you at the time were furious that he did not show stronger support for Reman.
Labour opposed Brexit and Corbyn went round the country arguing against it. He did it ineptly which leads me to question his leadership skills. He should have done a much better job. But he was for remaining.
We are coming out of Europe. That is true. A complete disaster in my view for a multitude of reasons. The big question is now how we get out, what will the cost be and what sort of relationship we have with Europe. That is not easy. There are huge things to negotiate with some horrendous possible outcomes.
I did not say that everyone who voted Brexit was right-wing. I said that they voted for an extreme right-wing option for a variety of reasons.
I understand your concerns on mass immigration. I share a lot of them. I also agree about people who are misusing the benefits system. Welfare was there to tide people over hard times – not as a lifestyle option. The cheats need dealing with. The benefits for incomers was blocked by Cameron. It should never have been there in the first place.
The irony is that the people who need the most help are the very ones who will end up suffering most as a result of Brexit.
You ask what has Europe ever done for us. The answer is a great deal. I will do a post on it. It’s too important for a reply here. Then we can discuss it in more depth.
I think a lot of the time you jump on what I say and read things into it that are not there. You extrapolate and misinterpret. Perhaps that is because I do this blog at such speed that I do not make myself clear. But some of the time it is you responding angrily to something I have said.
No, Opher I do not jump on things you say and read something else into them, unlike you I read and read what you have to say and think before I type, then after typing my response I read it again several times to check all I have said and any grammatical errors. Perhaps that’s years of wonderful training. I do not misinterpret what you say I respond to you in a fair way, you don’t like it because “most run with you”, if I may mention Andrew “P”, he makes his views known to you, you don’t agree fair enough. What you want to hear is agreement with all you say. You have your opinion I have mine.
Clinton, typical example – you like her think she is the best choice, then you don’t like her and she is not quite as bad as Trump but well rather her than Trump. What way is that, “like, not like, like”. You wonder why I challenge you. I do not respond angrily, I respond the way I do because I am shocked at what you say at times, in particular this Hatred and it is Hatred for Trump you have not only attacked his policies in such a hatred filled way you have attacked the man personally, fine your opinion (this coming from your beliefs we should all love one another), but then when challenged you deny it!! Fine if you want me to keep my mouth shut I will there we are democracy, reminds me of voting OUT of Europe/Little Englander/Trump watcher – racist? If I don’t agree with you Opher I am telling the truth, if you want me to lie and make you feel good, sorry can’t do it, perhaps I am far too honest for most in all I say, but that is me I can’t be any other way.
But you do Anna. I do not say things like all Trump supporters are racist. That is you extrapolating out.
I set out on this blog to have debate and argument as one of the aims. I don’t mind arguing . I don’t have to have everyone agree. I put my point of view. What I want to get at is the reasons behind it.
But it is always shades of grey. Clinton is not nice but in comparison to Trump I think she’s by far the better choice. I regard him as an unpleasant, racist, m8isogynistic, arrogant bigot. You interpret that as hatred. It isn’t. But you insist that it is. I don’t hate him – I despise what he stands for.
When Hitler, Franco and Mussolini became democratically elected should the people have just shut up and not said anything? Or should they have been opposed?
Part of democracy is exposing the misinformation, discussing what is really going on and shedding light on the issues. Arguing for what you believe is important.
I’m with you on this Opher 🙂
Cheers Raili.
I think you’re spot on, too, Opher. But I honestly don’t think there will ever be an answer… Even as homogenized as people thought they wanted to become when this country had it’s arms wide open (give me your tired, your poor…), it never really happened. We had Little Italy, Chinatown, and every other culture still sticking together and staying isolated to a extent. I don’t think world peace or even world-getting-along is in human nature. But we keep hoping for a miracle, don’t we…
Well you say that Cheryl but it is amazing how integrated people have become. Who would have thought twenty years ago that a black man would ever even be in the running for President? Or a woman? I think it is a process that takes time and we have to look at things in a longer time scale. Immigrants tend to stick together for security but the more adventurous then start moving out. Now we know more about social dynamics we can speed that process – language is crucial, as is acceptance of minority groups by the mainstream population. In Britain today there is a fear of Muslims. It is tied in with the terrorism and the way they stand out in a crowd. People don’t like the culture. It is different to that of our own. They rail against the extremists (as I do) who come out with all this rubbish about taking over and Britain becoming a Muslim State. They react to burqas and mosques popping up all over the place. I don’t like it at all – but then you know my feelings about religion. But in actual fact Muslims only make up 4.5% of the population according to the 2011 census. It’ll be a long, long time until we are swamped. Perceptions are everything.
I always say that education is the key. We need to change mindsets in both Muslims and the rest of us. That is why all this stupidity about setting up Faith Schools is such a nonsense. It will merely reinforce and isolate communities. We need integration.
Struggling with the same fears here. Our church had two different occasions when we invited the Islamic Society of Utah to come speak. I try real hard not to be prejudiced, but I think I was by far more uncomfortable after hearing all about their beliefs than I ever was before. Just BECAUSE the beliefs are so different.
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I do think the US has made a mistake in not motivating folks coming here to learn to speak English. It’s an issue in our area because a lot of businesses now won’t hire you unless you can speak Spanish.
I think that after the enlightenment the Christian Church became more tolerant. Society was secularised. There are some unpleasant things in the bible that are vicious and intolerant but they are largely glossed over. But Muslims have never had an enlightenment. Their religion is largely intolerant and prescriptive. It pervades everything. There is no leeway.
For me this is what happens when you have medieval texts from medieval patriarchal cultures. They pertain to a time and attitude that we have moved on from.
Language is vital for integration. I think you are right. You decide on one and all have to buy into it. That should be mandatory.
We are pretty excited because the “conference” (area) the congregation we worship with belongs to (I put it that way because we’re not members, nor will we ever be) just elected a gay woman as bishop. She and her wife have been married for many years. She is a totally awesome leader.
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That’s really significant what you said about Muslims not ever having had an enlightenment. Very interesting…
I think that if Islam was separated from the State there would be a shift in power that would be beneficial to all. Religion should be a personal belief – not a State sponsored indoctrination programme. The enlightenment separated religion from government and paved the way for more tolerance. Islam is far too dogmatic for me.
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
More desperately than ever.
The capitalist system is not something that was planned and put into action by human ingenuity, it is a reflection of human nature . Humans build hospitals and make bombs , humans help the poor and ignore the destitute. Humans are better than animals because they are moral but they sometimes behave worse than animals to get their way. Humans look at the world and judge it along with those in it , they judge others and argue about outcomes and behaviour.
Steven Pinker in his ‘ The Better Angels of Our Nature’ claims the last fifty years have been the most peaceful in human history. The reason is not that we have changed but that war no longer pays ; it’s just too destructive to be a sensible procedure . I do not believe we control human history and I see little evidence that we shape all events . Often we are surprised and have to change tactics to new challenges because the world shapes us a much as we shape it. As population has increased our scientific expertise has uncovered some very nasty possibilities and
exposed dangers we never expected , like climate change , antibiotic resistance , water famine along with others.
Kertsen – I think the Capitalist system was planned by human beings. It didn’t just happen. Of course it has evolved and grown enormously. But back a long time ago a group of wealthy people got tpogether and organised a way of trading that benefitted them. That was the start.
We have a good and bad side. Education can swing the balance. I have faith.
I believe we control by setting up a zeitgeist that affects the thoughts and feelings of everybody.
We create most of our problems, like the ones you enumerate, by our own thoughtless greedy actions. It is time we behaved better.
Your not going far enough back ; we started as tribes of Hunter gatherers and progressed to farming crops. The tribes would have a hierarchy of importance , probably a leading family a democratic tribe would have perished very quickly, just as the weak members did . We were probably cannibals certainly eating other tribes. There were several species of homo besides homo sapiens and they interred as genetic investigation has shown. Many of us contain Neanderthal DNA and it is thought that several humanoids occupied the earth at around 100,000 years ago. Now you could say all this was planned but it seems very unlikely , a more sensible explanation is that it came about by interaction of animals with their environment.
In his Origin of Species Darwin makes this clear with his term natural selection. He goes on in The Descent of Man to attempt to explain our origin. Interestingly a lot of what he says about the development of women would be enough to put him behind bars in today’s western democracy.
When we began to clear forest and develope crops we started to tailor our own environment and human involvement in climate change began.
So you think capitalism started way back then?
Yes I believe it is part of our nature. We are only free to act within the confines of who we are , so the perfect world cannot be attained . As we have conquered our environment and created better lives for many there will always be a discrepancy between rich and poor and a mixture of good and evil. I am not despondent about this but accept it as part of life. Artists and poets go even further and use this fundamental truth to create their characters. It’s like the old argument without darkness we cannot have light, perhaps William Blake was the greatest thinker to put this into simple terms with unforgettable imagery.
‘ Tiger tiger burning bright in the forests of the night.
What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?’
But Kersten – surely one of our principle aims must be to drive back the darkness and increase the light. We might not achieve perfection but we can improve.
Science and the enlightenment has done that but now we can see clearly what it cannot achieve is a change of heart. Brazil has just released a vast protected area of the Amazon jungle for development. So while science has given many decent food and central heating and motor cars there is a sting in the tail . To put it another way the wealth pyramid moves forward in technology but it operates by means of flawed human nature. Scientists are already saying we are on a knife edge but we seem to be impotent and helpless although we are facing breakdown.
That is true. But these are economic and political decisions. It is our politicians who need to be more farsighted and rational. The world runs on expediency and profit. It has to change to take into account global long-term considerations. We cannot keep growing in numbers and expanding our economy. That is madness.
The comment was made earlier that state ownership of economic production has not worked wherever it was tried. I’d like to point out that those states were politically totalitarian, and not democratic. There has never been a democratic, free socialist state, so we cannot look at the past and say it will never work. It would be argued, I’m sure, that you’d never be able to set up a socialist state with little or no private enterprise without exerting the iron fist of the state. Perhaps not, but again, it has never been tried.
Thanks John. I do not believe that it is beyond the wit of man to devise a democratic socialist state that would work. There must be safeguards against tyranny and corruption and ways to motivate.
I agree – we just need to build in the safeguards that will work effectively. State ownership is the only way to boot the corporate welfare bums off their thrones.
Yes that is right. Then we have to solve ways to motivate and create efficiency.