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For Katrina itself... it has brought out the best and worst in people. The scammers, out to make a buck - in our "society" that's to be expected. Pity nobody whined about the 9/11 commemorative "coins" and bits of WTC steel being sold at outrageous prices back in the day, but I digress... it's just capitalism. :eyes: We have the known charities out (how's the United Way doing? Still way united in ripping people off, just like they had after 9/11?). There are people viciously shooting others. There are people stealing tvs and other manufactured rubbish - presumably for money so they can use it to buy what they need to survive, should they escape to use it. I cannot have a negative opinion on the looters (of any color, despite what the pigheaded fascist media wants to say otherwise, fuck them (and not in the good way)). Not when our "society" is so slow to respond. When you create a situation that is the antithesis of working together, you invariably end up with people who will kill and steal for selfish gain. (and I don't mean base survival; I mean profiteering at the great expense of others, which is beyond depraved.) How can you trust? How can you even maintain a marriage when money is the root basis for more divorces than I can even begin to count? But I digress...
Fortunately, we have REAL people trying to help each other too, which is by far the best reminder that some of us still have souls. So it's not all lost, but a wake-up call. The question is, can things be turned around? **
And now for the philosophical ground, which is infinitely more expansive, ominous, and requires you to eat a piece of chocolate cheesecake afterwards because it'll make you smile as cheesecake is wont to do - and despite it all we still need to smile:
For human life to be affected on this grand scale shows that God, Allah, Karma, or even Ms. Allenthrope III (whoever she is) ain't quite happy right now...
Human beings were Created, yes. But we are also responsible for our own destiny as a collective species. Now people loosely use the phrase "Life is what you make of it", yet in so many ways the people saying it are truly clueless about its utter meaning for they too often merely existing inside the box (rather than seeing inside the box, rather than peering outside of it.) And people haven't realized what is about to make them because they were merely existing within the confines set up for them rather than looking and daring to think for themselves, even if they aren't right 100% of the time...
But I digress. We were given the intelligence to use the land and use the Earth to our benefit. But we were never expected to abuse it such as we have done, to considerable degree. And I too, before looking outside of that box we call "our society", thought of things rather differently.
I suppose it was "peak oil", reality or myth, that had opened my eyes the remainder of the way; though since 1994 I've been getting further left-leaning and pitying those who blindly follow ANY politician - particularly the 'right'. For some of them were all too happy to buy an SUV without bothering to look at the MPG ratings label as mandated by law.
But I digress again. What is happening now is explicitly BECAUSE of humankind's abuse to the planet we, as a species, were given. Not only did we never evolve (replace "countries" with "corporations" and voila - instant shroud. Corporations are just as ruthless as the likes of Napoleon, Hitler, and Moussolini except they are corporate and therefore it's just about profiteering. Nothing big, right? Wrong... Commercial imperealism will ALWAYS be the same thing as military conquest yet too many people think capitalism is cool and anyone else is a fool. (yet they buy those SUVs and not look at the MPG chart, just who is the fool again?))
Oops. I did it again. Humankind's abuse, via interpersonal hate/selfishness/greed or environmental abuse - combined with no population controls has led to a VERY unbalanced system. One that will collapse and leave MANY MORE homeless, starving, and dying. While my belief in "peak oil" has flip-flopped, the current gas/oil prices based on a perception of shortened supply lend credibility to the notion that peak oil is indeed a harsh reality that will make Katarina seem like a screaming 2 year old by comparison. Indeed, we should give peak oil a proper name. Let's go for "Charles" or "Jeffrey" (ala Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer...) Makes that 2 year old seem insignificant by comparison. (note how I'm still struggling to keep the treasonous offshoring out of my argument...)
Never mind the atypical strength OF Katrina. Even Camille, the #2 hurricane, wasn't nearly as horrendous. And we've had a lot of other tsunami incidents as well in the recent past. Is it merely global warming? Or another man-made process we don't know about? (or what we can fathom but have no scientific proof to justify it - such as drilling for oil too deeply or drilling in the wrong area...?)
Ultimately, I do believe Katrina is serving a higher purpose. Whether caused by our own mis-actions or by a Deity that has had enough of Its own increasingly errant/unlearning Creation*, I can not say or fathom. And by what is to happen, Katarina is fairly small. (yes, I may appear insensitive - but that is the farthest from the truth. And even other big-time lefties I know of won't even ask in-depth by my apparent disinterest in Katarina. But I am an observer who has seen events and signs leading to things far, far worse that's going to leave far, far more people in far worse trouble. At least a hurricane is instantaneous by comparison.)
* learning is more than just adding 1 and 1 to make 2. I mean learning about each other. We continue to distance ourselves from nature. We continue to distance ourselves from each other via movies, tv, portable stereos... anything to keep us in our own cozy realm than to be with other people. Life is NOT about that damn plastic box. It's going out to watch the theatre, listen to a band performing live, going to events and doing things. Not sitting like a moldy lump in a chair getting fat and diabetic. It is not about things and bowing to things. Katrina taught me that too. Especially with the news coverage that seemed to be salivating when talking about all the property (which had gone on for what seemed like two DAYS continuous, no less). Property? How about the people? Or WHAT COULD have made Katrina so strong? Or is making people THINK too much for the newscasters to handle; they prefer parrots instead?
Even if it isn't global warming or anything else, life is never static. Always dynamic, always moving. And "possessions" only make us more adherent to the fallacy of staticness. Like epoxy. That is one reason why I am slowly starting to sell off (and have already given away) most of my things. I still have my credit cards (which will be what modern "society" shall be remembered for) to pay off but I've already tallied that should the second-to-worst happen, I'll be able to pay it off and not declare bankruptcy, which contrary to popular belief truly is the worst thing TO do. And if the economy crumbles, then the whole world is flushed down the toilet along with us. At that point it'll make no difference what ANYBODY owes.
Sorry to digress so often. It's inevitable and invariable that I'm bound to branch into other topics. But people respond to Katrina as if nothing else bad can happen and given how things are (energy supply, offshoring, other nations teaming up to do military drills - nations known to not always be friendly with the US such as Russia and China, amongst others) and Katrina is merely a wake-up alarm from an old alarm clock whose buzzer mechanism is underpowered yet knows that its got a bigger buzzer to use should the recipient not wake up.
No, so much is set in place and so much is on the brink of total disaster that Katrina is gumdrops by comparison. It just hasn't happened yet and it doesn't take much analysis to show that it's unavoidable without causing at least one element to collapse in on itself. Indeed, people have already KILLED to get gas priced at $2.50 per gallon. And never mind that same gas is $3.20 now... (and like in a post I'd written up for GD yesterday, those in power will NOT make any sacrifices on their part because they are too used to their way of life to change to allow the rest of us to live. But don't worry, the Bible mentions other civilizations that met an untimely end because of the greed and selfishness and hostility on the part of those who controlled those... once again, humanity by and large has NOT evolved and, once again, the Book of the Universe is about to turn the page. Our page is up. Too many words and scribblings and it's time to turn over and start anew. The trouble is, it's impossible to carry over the words from the previous page. And all of us are the words. It's just a matter of time.)
Katrina has been a final wakeup call for me. And I must remember that the next time I see a DVD I wish to purchase. I need to stick with my friends and go out to LIVE life. Not sit in front of the radiation-emitting box to watch people act like fools. (so much for my thoughts of becoming a famous comedy TV writer, I will not contribute to the ills of society...)
** Can things be turned around? Only if those in charge will restructure society. There are two problems, however: 1. They are too set in their standard of living. They profit by us or by anybody who has got money or is willing to enslave themselves, at the expense of us. 2. People who haven't realized the Truth of Life are still addicted to their tvs and portable music and business schedules and "nuclear families" (though "nucular" seems more apropos a designation) and so on. 3. (bonus) Tie 1 and 2 together and that means nixing computers, tv, EVERYTHING technological except what's needed for crops AND mass public transit. And that sure as hell won't happen. A pity as this would reduce pollution CONSIDERABLY along with our "need" for electricity. #3 would significantly reduce our need for energy, but most people are not able to change. In short, an agricultural society based on being social rather than being in our living rooms watching a glowing piece of glass with our prerecorded portable musicboxes is the answer. And we both know, for most, that is not possible. Or for all of us, the way things are destined to be. We collectively made our own prison. And I fear we're about to be caved in by its rotting infrastructure.
And now I'm going to buy the new season of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" on DVD. (that's heavy sarcasm... I'm weaning myself off my plastic fantastic lover... not deepening the addiction.)
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