Epicurus of Samos (242-270 BC) held that peace of mind comes through freedom from fear. I wonder how he would have looked upon our 21st century scaremongering media. Beware terrorism, gangsters, scams, refugees, cancer, jellyfish...
Beware the next thing to be afraid of – grasshopper invasion. But not species extinction.
Too scary a tabloid headline?
For us as a species, because of us, planet Earth may very soon become uninhabitable. Every day another species becomes extinct. One a day gone forever.
The newspapers and the telly won't tell us. So.... How now, at this late stage, do we save ourselves?
For a start we have to move beyond short-term democratic thinking, beyond governments with one eye always on the next election.
In order to save what's left upon the planet, in order to save ourselves, do we therefore have to move beyond democracy?
Electorates have been trained in consumerism, conditioned by adverts. And by its very definition consumerism is destructive, its advertising reliant on catchphrases, rendering the public unthinking, evermore moronic and prey to politicians with their own catchphrases, sound-bites. Electorates are now 'sold' politicians, almost regardless of those politicians ability to govern.
To save ourselves shall we vote just the once more? Vote to abandon our destructive democracies?
Or should we rely on technology?
Will technology save us? Depends. Has species Us mastered technology or has technology mastered us?
Machines have taken over our most repetitive tasks. Machines now wash our clothes, clean our houses. Cars can drive themselves. The jobs that people are now forced to do – for wages – are mostly made up jobs, serve no real purpose.
Those who are forced into these purposeless jobs know this, detracting from their self-worth. With small incomes they are left with little to do other than be prey to mass media, advertising things and being shown ways of life that on their wages they can't afford.
To save ourselves, to save what's left of the planet, we need to move away from economic systems predicated on work. People need some sort of trade-able income certainly, but they don't need invented jobs. What they need is occupations, to be gainfully occupied.
With fires and flood affecting us all we need to move away from ownership, need new ways of assessing self-worth. How we as individuals might contribute to the common good?
At the moment, and despite the fires and floods, the middle class here in the class-ridden UK (how out of date is that?) still dream of buying a bit of land and stopping the rest of us using it. Which just goes to show how saving ourselves is going to be difficult. We're stuck – mindsets, attitudes, behavioural patterns – just when we most desperately need to change.
© Sam Smith 9th March 2023
Epicurus of Samos (242-270 BC) held that peace of mind comes through freedom from fear. I wonder how he would have looked upon our 21st century scaremongering media. Beware terrorism, gangsters, scams, refugees, cancer, jellyfish...
Beware the next thing to be afraid of – grasshopper invasion. But not species extinction.
Too scary a tabloid headline?
For us as a species, because of us, planet Earth may very soon become uninhabitable. Every day another species becomes extinct. One a day gone forever.
The newspapers and the telly won't tell us. So.... How now, at this late stage, do we save ourselves?
For a start we have to move beyond short-term democratic thinking, beyond governments with one eye always on the next election.
In order to save what's left upon the planet, in order to save ourselves, do we therefore have to move beyond democracy?
Electorates have been trained in consumerism, conditioned by adverts. And by its very definition consumerism is destructive, its advertising reliant on catchphrases, rendering the public unthinking, evermore moronic and prey to politicians with their own catchphrases, sound-bites. Electorates are now 'sold' politicians, almost regardless of those politicians ability to govern.
To save ourselves shall we vote just the once more? Vote to abandon our destructive democracies?
Or should we rely on technology?
Will technology save us? Depends. Has species Us mastered technology or has technology mastered us?
Machines have taken over our most repetitive tasks. Machines now wash our clothes, clean our houses. Cars can drive themselves. The jobs that people are now forced to do – for wages – are mostly made up jobs, serve no real purpose.
Those who are forced into these purposeless jobs know this, detracting from their self-worth. With small incomes they are left with little to do other than be prey to mass media, advertising things and being shown ways of life that on their wages they can't afford.
To save ourselves, to save what's left of the planet, we need to move away from economic systems predicated on work. People need some sort of trade-able income certainly, but they don't need invented jobs. What they need is occupations, to be gainfully occupied.
With fires and flood affecting us all we need to move away from ownership, need new ways of assessing self-worth. How we as individuals might contribute to the common good?
At the moment, and despite the fires and floods, the middle class here in the class-ridden UK (how out of date is that?) still dream of buying a bit of land and stopping the rest of us using it. Which just goes to show how saving ourselves is going to be difficult. We're stuck – mindsets, attitudes, behavioural patterns – just when we most desperately need to change.
© Sam Smith 9th March 2023