We are saddled with the fallout of generations before us. Our addictions, proclivities, habits and associations have all been laid down like so many miles of asphalt and concrete. What we inherited has both a positive aspect and many negative ones as well. The building that had been done in the past often utilized dangerous materials like lead, asbestos, fiberglass and phenolic compounds. The appliances and ways that we utilized energy were inefficient and wasteful, so the cost of living is somewhat fixed by the inherited housing stock, energy systems and designs of ages past. As much as this infrastructure liberates us from having to "reinvent the wheel", we are tied to supporting less than optimal systems for meeting our basic needs. Even our definitions of what falls into categories of wants and needs has been corrupted by the generations who have made their way before us.
It is only within the past couple generations that the myth of needing a college education to "get ahead" in this world have come about. We are currently pushing the envelope of human value and worth, so how could academia ever hope to keep apace with the rapid changes that have been unleashed in the past fifty or hundred years? When I was getting my college education, I was told repeatedly, "What was right in the past will surely be wrong in the future, so do what is wrong because at least there will be a chance that it will become right in the future." The fiction that we all have to live with is that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Who has not heard this excuse for inaction? Who has not been admonished for sticking their neck out for something they truly believe in their heart of hearts? The myth of economic recover needing to be fueled by war is one of the most insidious lies that we have been told. It was trumped up by the oligarchs to keep their pet business interests flush. Bombs, bullets and weapons of all types do enrich the people who make them, but their purpose is to impoverish and wipe out the fortunes of those whom they are used against. Rebuilding a city destroyed on a whim cannot improve economic conditions no matter how desperately one might wish to think it will.
Today, the news was touting the fact that one of the founders of facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is worth so much money that if it were looked at as a salary that he would have earned since his birth, he would have made $125,000 every single hour! Why should it take me five years or more to earn that amount? We cannot fathom amounts of money so vast that they control how we think, what passes for "news", what we have advertized to us and which diplomats will have what to say. My twenty or so thousand readers have mostly remained silent, but for them I seek to point to a new direction in which actual needs supersede the expediency of the 1%.
What human beings actually need is hard work to provide, but the people doing the work of providing food, water, safe shelter and enough heat that we don't freeze in winter is often thankless and the money paid to farmers, home builders and those who keep the water running is often a pittance of what we pay information brokers, their staff, or the people who run the entertainment industry. Why is this? Well, to be absolutely truthful about it, because we let the market dictate what is important to us. To take back our right to clean water, unspoiled air and healthy food, we need to send the oligarchs packing. Let as few pennies as possible flow to them and see how they make their way without picking our pockets.
We may not be able to phase out the old way thinking as fast as we might hope to, but without making the attempt, failure is inevitable. If you forget to select items from the marketplace with this in mind from time to time, don't beat yourself up about it, just make a mental note of it and try again next time. I went to lunch yesterday at a really good Mexican restaurant. when it came time to order drinks, one at our table got a Coca-cola. The charge for that cup of non-nutritive, high fructose corn syrup was nearly half of what the fellows lunch cost. $2.25 for the soda pop, the good and nutrient dense food cost $5.50. I'm sure that we all make choices from time to time that enrich the 1% without our realizing it, but for change to occur, we must stand together and do what we can to liberate ourselves from the grasp for what has worked to our disadvantage in the past. Creating a new way is always difficult and it can be fraught with danger, but if we are to survive, we may need every person to stand and deliver in the face of terrible odds.
A bit like changing horses in the middle of the stream, we need to be aware of exactly where we are at every moment. We need to be acutely aware of what is going on around us and also realize that the crossroads at which we stand can be a place where we either meet and make a pact with the devil or a place where we make an important decision about where we want to ultimately end up.
It is only within the past couple generations that the myth of needing a college education to "get ahead" in this world have come about. We are currently pushing the envelope of human value and worth, so how could academia ever hope to keep apace with the rapid changes that have been unleashed in the past fifty or hundred years? When I was getting my college education, I was told repeatedly, "What was right in the past will surely be wrong in the future, so do what is wrong because at least there will be a chance that it will become right in the future." The fiction that we all have to live with is that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Who has not heard this excuse for inaction? Who has not been admonished for sticking their neck out for something they truly believe in their heart of hearts? The myth of economic recover needing to be fueled by war is one of the most insidious lies that we have been told. It was trumped up by the oligarchs to keep their pet business interests flush. Bombs, bullets and weapons of all types do enrich the people who make them, but their purpose is to impoverish and wipe out the fortunes of those whom they are used against. Rebuilding a city destroyed on a whim cannot improve economic conditions no matter how desperately one might wish to think it will.
Today, the news was touting the fact that one of the founders of facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is worth so much money that if it were looked at as a salary that he would have earned since his birth, he would have made $125,000 every single hour! Why should it take me five years or more to earn that amount? We cannot fathom amounts of money so vast that they control how we think, what passes for "news", what we have advertized to us and which diplomats will have what to say. My twenty or so thousand readers have mostly remained silent, but for them I seek to point to a new direction in which actual needs supersede the expediency of the 1%.
What human beings actually need is hard work to provide, but the people doing the work of providing food, water, safe shelter and enough heat that we don't freeze in winter is often thankless and the money paid to farmers, home builders and those who keep the water running is often a pittance of what we pay information brokers, their staff, or the people who run the entertainment industry. Why is this? Well, to be absolutely truthful about it, because we let the market dictate what is important to us. To take back our right to clean water, unspoiled air and healthy food, we need to send the oligarchs packing. Let as few pennies as possible flow to them and see how they make their way without picking our pockets.
We may not be able to phase out the old way thinking as fast as we might hope to, but without making the attempt, failure is inevitable. If you forget to select items from the marketplace with this in mind from time to time, don't beat yourself up about it, just make a mental note of it and try again next time. I went to lunch yesterday at a really good Mexican restaurant. when it came time to order drinks, one at our table got a Coca-cola. The charge for that cup of non-nutritive, high fructose corn syrup was nearly half of what the fellows lunch cost. $2.25 for the soda pop, the good and nutrient dense food cost $5.50. I'm sure that we all make choices from time to time that enrich the 1% without our realizing it, but for change to occur, we must stand together and do what we can to liberate ourselves from the grasp for what has worked to our disadvantage in the past. Creating a new way is always difficult and it can be fraught with danger, but if we are to survive, we may need every person to stand and deliver in the face of terrible odds.
A bit like changing horses in the middle of the stream, we need to be aware of exactly where we are at every moment. We need to be acutely aware of what is going on around us and also realize that the crossroads at which we stand can be a place where we either meet and make a pact with the devil or a place where we make an important decision about where we want to ultimately end up.
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