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from David Anderson
What your Minister, Priest, Rabbi, Imam will not tell you
Until we can all come to an understanding that the underlying cause of this conflict between the Israeli/American nexus and the Islamic world is a fatal religious flaw going back to the common origins of each - and from that point approach them from their strengths, there can be no resolution. In an age of atomic weaponry, this takes on apokalyptic importance. Click below on The Infidels to understand what this means for your future and future generations. 
Read Holy War Read Q Will Human Species Survive?
March BLOG - William Faulkner's New Axial Age Six years ago I became aware of a concern building up in our world centered on the survival of our species on this planet. The scientific community had begun to release a steady flow of peer reviewed studies indicating the onset of many dangerous ecological "tipping" points. Among not only the scientists themselves, but also many others in the world community this was engendering a general feeling of pessimism. So I decided to write a series of essays in an attempt to explain how humans had brought this crisis upon themselves. My approach was to examine the political, economic, social and religious bias imbedded in our culture and institutions working against survival. The essays are now available on this web site; go to the above tab; "Comp. Essays." It was not long before I found that I too was becoming extremely pessimistic about the future. Our society appeared to be confused as to what action to take to avert disaster. It seemed there was no chance that humans would be able to survive through this millennium. The same feeling of depression that many others were having began to come over me. The more I researched and wrote the more dim the future became for humanity . About a year ago, I had what one might call a revelation. I began to view this information not as a predictor of the end of our species but as a sign of the beginning of a new Axial Age. This led me to interpret the future of our species in far broader terms as a part of an uneven yet upward evolutionary process. I had a sense that our species in all of its awkwardness may be moving into a higher form of complexity. Could we be progressing from our present post Mesopotamian age of planetary dysfunction and self-destruction to a state of cosmic—and planetary unity? Are there signs? If there are, what are they? In attempting to answer this, I began to look for evidence that our species is moving not backward toward extinction but forward as a part of an evolutionary upward continuum, or as David Bohm, the great theoretical physicist once described it; within an implicate order toward a process of cosmic enfoldment and unfoldment. Bohm spoke in terms of an unbroken cosmic wholeness, with everything animate and inanimate having, as he described it; “an inseparable quantum interconnectedness.” Given this change in my perspective, I was able to sense the possibility of a new Axial Age for humans countering these dire scientific conclusions and pessimism. Three questions, however, remained: The first; could one prove by fact that there is, as Bohm described it, an inseparable quantum interconnectedness, the second; are we humans a part of it, and the third; if so, will this interconnectedness see us through our planetary dilemma? The answer to the first I decided to leave to the quantum phisicists. Imstinctively, I have to admit I believed them to be right. Approaching this from an anthropological view, in my studies I found that Homo sapiens among all other bipedal forms emerged from the evolutionary birth canal superior in terms of survival over the bonobos, the apes, the Neanderthals, the Hobbits of Flores and the many others the anthropologists are now dicovering throught DNA and carbon dated testing. Homo sapiens has overcome every diversity imaginable. Today, it has at the highest level of intellectual capacity. The enormous material achievment of its society is the result of this. No other species can match it. Can one rest his/her case for "inseparable quantum interconnectedness" on this fact? Our superiority was very well expressed by one of America’s greatest writers, William Faulkner, in his book “The Sound and The Fury” where he writes: “I decline to accept the end of man. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among the creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.” Faulkner’s view rose out of an era of extreme pain and suffering in the America South. Viewing this in a broader historical context, we can see that humans have suffered this same pain and suffering since the beginning of our first Axial Age. From Babylon onward our history has been horrific, with example after example of man’s inhumanity to man. Yet, as Faulkner reminds us; man (and woman) have prevailed. So, I decided that Bohm's "inseparable quantum interconnectedness" may be the underlying force in play; the reason we are here today. Something far deeper than we can understand is going on. We seem to be moving in a synchroness direction toward an "interconnectedness" toward some greater purpose to our existence. The current scientific ecological interest and the rise in public concern show that there is an awareness building toward this purpose. My conclusion was that we would in all probability survive, but with one caveat; not as many people today think. Two forces will be in play; one; there will be enormous pain and suffering. Two; everything about our lives, our beliefs will be different. The new world will be unrecognizable in comparison to this one. My revised Bohmian/Faulknerian analysis therefore did not materially alter the ecological time line spelled out in my essays. The unfolding events of the 21st and 22nd centuries will take their tragic and painful path. The last paragraph of my essay: “Egyptian Reflections on Our Future” therefore did not change. I quote it here: “Although it will be too late to reverse many of the adverse ecological forces already set in motion, the human species will survive. Human ingenuity, through the invention of new forms of technology, will play a large part. But the road will be a dangerous and demanding one. Drastic measures will need to be taken to sustain a limited population on an inhospitable planet. As an example; in order for humans to exist away from the harsh climatic conditions too late to alter, self-contained enclosed structures such as Buckminster Fuller tetrahedron domes will be used. Even space stations just above the earth capturing the Sun’s energy are a possibility, although they remain in the realm of science fiction with inherent biological problems of their own. We must keep in mind the fact that biologically we are ‘earth creatures.' ” As a result of this change in my view of the future, I did, however, rewrite a portion of the conclusion to the essays. It follows: “There is a breakthrough forming that could transition our species from its present state of planetary dysfunction and self-destruction into a state of planetary harmony. With advancements in the physical sciences, and particularly in the areas of quantum physics and cosmology, many throughout the world are beginning to understand that our continuance will require us to recognize a cosmic consciousness and within it an implicate order. And they are coming to the realization that this way of looking at the animate and the inanimate is calling for the abandonment of much of our past thought; political, social, economic and religious. In America this recognition had its first emergence before the discoveries in the physical sciences with the transcendentalists; Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman who challenged the doctrinaire religious view at that time of the relationship between man and Nature. The movement was also forming in Europe where it later influenced the post Freudian field of depth psychology, with the work of Carl Jung being the most notable. ” I must again stress; my so called “revelation” suggests no quick fix. Many of the tipping points will already have been reached. There is a high probability that the Buckminster Fuller tetrahedron domes will become the reality. The reason is that counter measures will come slowly. Measured in numbers of humans suffering; reaching the second Axial Age will be far more painful than it was reaching the first. Because the continuing population expansion will be taking place in tandem with the ecological breakdown, many more humans will be affected. The irony here is that it will take just this kind of shock to force the needed critical mass to bring about more rapid societal change. I write about this In the “Longue duree” essay where I describe how difficult it will be to speed up the process of cultural and institutional change. Humans will be learning the hard way about the great delusive flaw that empowered the first Axial Age; the belief that Nature is something separate from them that they could exploit according their own personal desires. As for the present; any signs of movement now toward a new Axial Age must not lead to complacency. Our generation needs to become active and make sure the next one generation is totally versed as to the challenges ahead. Every step forward means lives saved from future pain and suffering. Each of us needs to make his and her political voice loudly heard. We must meet the deniers head on. At the same time, we must be training our children and grandchildren to prepare for the coming contagion. It is going to be a long and difficult road for our society. It will not be easy to abandon so much of the past political, social, economic and religious thought of this Axial Age that we have all these years believed to be so sacred.
PAST BLOGS
March BLOG - The Building of an
Underclass in
America - and the world
and the culpability of
Pope Benedict XVI
His American Bishops
Rick Santorum
Other American Religious
Zealots Women’s bodies from the beginning of hominid emergence out of the savannas of Africa were viewed by men primarily for their pleasure and as a means of regeneration -- and temptation. Then, from the Sumerian period onward this view was built into Abrahamic religious thought. Today many male Jews, Christians and Muslims throughout the world continue to view them in this way. Examples abound. One of recent note is the theological view expressed by Pope Benedict XVI, his American Bishops, and Rick Santorum. So let it be known; the debate about contraception and abortion goes back five thousand years and more. It continues today to center on whether women should have the right to view their bodies—as well as their societal hierarchal status, as they themselves choose, and not as men tell them they must choose. Human population territorial dynamics is no different than for other species. A relationship between population size and resources needs be maintained. If it is not, what follows is die-off. In recent history, human population growth has been exponential in many areas of the world. The implications are now clearly in evidence. Born into a world with limited or no opportunity, millions of young males inculcated into a male dominated consumerist industrial society find themselves closed in on all sides, living as if they were inside a sexually charged powder keg just waiting to explode. Observe the screaming faces of the young men on the streets of Cairo during the revolution. In the Middle East where 100 million young men, ages 15 to 29, have been reduced to an underclass, what else would you expect. In Egypt alone out of over 80 million people, (the country can only locally feed 26 million) some 48 million are poor. 2.5 million live in extreme poverty. Look into the eyes of those on the streets. See their anguish, their pain. The rioters you saw were and will continue to be the by-product of the exponential population growth over recent years; centered on an Islamic culture that says women were put here on earth to be dominated by men and to have many children. These young men are healthy sexually frustrated human beings with no jobs, no chance to have a home of their own, a family of their own; to have a future. They are society's excess. Even America is now getting a taste of this. Contraception is one answer, but can only succeed where it is accepted culturally, is actively promoted and is affordable. This is the reason that the catholic position has been so damaging throughout the world. The Roman Catholic Church has steadfastly resisted multinational efforts in all three of these areas. There is solid evidence that where women are encouraged to use contraception and demand it from their partners, fewer babies are born. This is in fact occurring in some of the more advanced economies such as the Scandinavian ones, as well as in China; countries where women do have affordability, education and choice. However, this slowdown has not been sufficient to halt the high rate of world-wide population growth. Given the present world population projectory, one hundred years from now this planet will face the prospect of substantially larger numbers of angry young men, and by that time women also. It will have to provide food, shelter and other resources to twenty billion people. It can not do so. Population levels in almost every country must reverse back to figures far below what they are today. Many scientists are placing the global sustainability figure at two to three billion. (the planet just recently passed seven) Women having too many babies remain the world’s greatest problem. All of this is calling for an open and vigorous dialogue throughout the world on each and every issue connected to contraception. It is not happening. In America, because of its extreme religious sensitivity, with the recent Roman Catholic contraception issue being a case in point, deep discussion has a high political cost, as do possible solutions. The abortion issue alone can swing 25/30% of the American voting public. For this reason the long term human cost is brushed aside. We are already seeing the beginning of this human cost in America with the emergence of an American underclass. It will continue to grow. US population by way of immigration and indigenous growth is expected to reach 500 million over the next 50 years. Measured in terms of future energy needs and food consumption, this presents an untenable situation. Yet, In spite of this stark American reality, any form of deep analytical discussion relating to over-population and social inequality (on the far right of the political spectrum) is carefully avoided. Nor is there even agreement on a common moral grammar. For the religionists at the extremes, there is the biblical belief that god has told humans that it is good to multiply. The simplistic economic assumption is; the more people, the more consumers, the happier everyone will be. The happier our god will be. So, not only is there an avoidance in addressing the long run problem, but also open attacks by these religionists on organizations that are attempting to address it in a humane way, such as Planned Parenthood. One way to approach this population growth problem is to confront all religious believers with the reality of the human death and suffering their views are causing. They must be told that their religious zealotry has become a force for evil in our world. They have in effect become the Satan to whom they so ofter refer. The just mentioned Hebraic biblical mandate to multiply should be exposed for what it is; bad theology. Challenging this current view will not be easy. It is a part of the belief system of Roman Catholicism as well as parts of Jewish and Christian orthodoxy, also Islam generally—and Mormonism. The societal justification for this mandate in the 21st century as it applies to future world resource availability needs to be challenged openly. All discussion must recognize that the population multiplier effect is at the root of all planetary resource related problems and will not be reversed until humans change the way they think about human life—both male and female, and overall population growth. Humanity desperately needs to come to a uniform ethical agreement on the value of each human life. Measured in terms of energy input/output, each human life impacts every other. We exist in a state of biological interdependency. As with any other species; the human species can only continue as a unified interdependent whole. At present, this level of understanding is totally absent from the conversation. Deep set feelings on when life occurs and when it ceases grounded on writings in ancient script, law and tradition need to be brought into the open and publicly debated. The societal consequences need to be understood by all. There is now throughout the world a wide range of religious belief. For example; with regard to the beginning of life; early Judaism taught that life begins after a certain period of time in the womb; yet, as discussed here, the Roman Catholic Church today extends the sanctity of life even to the prevention of it through contraception. (Humanae Vitae; papal encyclical issued in 1968 that prohibited artificial contraception because every act of intercourse should be open to procreation) In most of eastern thought we have the belief by many of birth as a continuum in the sense of a reincarnation of past life. As unrestrained population growth takes center stage in this debate, an answer to the question of the ethical rightness or wrongness of abortion cannot be avoided. This ethical rightness or wrongness centers on when human life begins. Modern science has determined that consciousness (personhood) in fact begins very soon after fertilization. External events while in the womb and then during the birth passage—as well as during the first moments of exposure to a non-liquid oxygenated world, are all of long lasting importance in the formation of the Human Being. Psychiatric studies have shown evidence of this. It can therefore be concluded that after a relatively short period of time beyond fertilization of the egg, an abortion of a fetus is the same as the killing of a person. There is only one solution to this abortion problem. It is not abstention. That leads to both failure and psychosomatic disorder. Also, it is contrary to the normal biological urges of human beings. On any scale it does not work. In fact as the Roman Catholic Church priest experience has proved, the results can be very damaging. Therefore, the prevention of pregnancy either by preventing fertilization or by disrupting it very shortly after fertilization takes on enormous importance. The answer is not to make abortion a crime; it is to curtail the need for abortion by means of contraception. In those countries where it has been made a crime, it has led to underground abortion and to the suffering and death of impregnated females and fetuses. Abortion critics must face the fact that their argument in its “take it or leave it form” will do more harm than good. There would be other unintended consequences. Given the very high number of abortions now being done throughout the world, if tomorrow all fetuses were allowed to come to term, within a very short period of time there would be a dramatic increase in population followed by massive starvation and social unrest. (an estimated 28% of women of childbearing age in the US have had abortions with the percentage far higher in other countries such as China) Contraception in all of its forms, including invasive medical procedures for men and women, is the only solution. Those leading the resistance to this; as seen today in the Roman Catholic refusal to offer birth control in American ”Catholic” institutions” must take full responsibility for the indiscriminate killing of millions of infants and mothers not surviving abortion procedures. They must also take full responsibility for those term babies who are born throughout the world to a future of starvation, pain and death. The Catholic Church has in past years through its influence negated programs giving contraception abroad. The church must take full responsibility for the horrors that are ensuing there, most noticeably in African countries. These horrors will continue. Those responsible include the Catholic Pope himself and his Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests. They also include those non-Catholic religionists in the United States who are stonewalling the issue. The prevention of unplanned pregnancy must take on the highest priority. It is the only ethical way to stop the death, disfigurement and psychological damage being done to many women having abortions. It is the only way to stop the infanticide coming from abortions. It is the only way to prevent the population from exceeding a sustainable planetary level.
BLOG - JANUARY 2012 - “longue durée”
“longue durée” an expression used by the French Annales School of historical writing to designate their approach to the study of history; one that gives priority to civilization’s long-term historical socio-economic and technological structures and describes how changes in them over long periods of time play out; expressed as “histoire événementielle.” (eventual history) This view of history is in contrast to the short term time-scale that is the domain of the chronicler and the journalist.
The popular surge that began with the Green Revolution has continued to gain momentum and is now spread around the globe, bolstered by scientific observation of the ecological problems facing human civilization. In fact, we are now in near information overload. Professionals from a wide range of scientific disciplines have joined in and are spelling out our ecological problems with precision. They point to the dire consequences if no action is taken. Very few basic questions remain unanswered. There are doubters; however, they are slowly fading from the conversation, leaving behind only shreds of doubtful misinformation. Yet, our institutional response on a national and global level has been largely ineffective. It can even be described as apathetic. More often than not; governmental measures being taken are piece-meal and half-hearted. Given the seriousness of the scientific forecasts, we are left with the question; why? Could it be that the reason, as the French Annales School of historical writing described it, is that our thought processes are locked into past socio-economic and technological structures, from which there is no escape? The question then becomes; if this is true, could our insouciance soon drag us into a tragic period of human history referred to by those same French historians as a period of “histoire événementielle”, translated into English; “eventual history”, a period that could lead to the eventuality of a series of irreversible ecological tipping points leading to human survival in some meager form of existence or even the possibility of extinction? In this essay I will attempt to answer these questions. I will point out the origins of those elements of our socio-economic and technological structures that are holding us back from implementation of actions that would enable us to meet the crisis head-on. I will be defining them by way of an analysis of the THOUGHT PROCESSES that over the millennia have molded our CULTURE and our INSTITUTIONS into what they are today.
Go to Tab Comp Essays and order this essay
BLOG NOVEMBER/DECEMBER - a letter to Paul Krugman
"You and your colleagues need to begin an articulation within your profession of new economic theory that will meet the pressing planetary challenges confronting our species. I do not see this happening." For many years now I have been reading your 0p-eds in the New York Times. In my mind you are one Nobel Prize economist who speaks the truth to the weaknesses and strengths of past and present economic theory. With all due respect though; let me suggest that the time has come for you and the many other economists following your thoughts to step out of your shoes and take a long hard look at a fatal flaw in the economic theory that the world has accepted for so long as having intrinsic value. You and your colleagues need to begin an articulation within your profession of new economic theory that will meet the pressing planetary challenges confronting our species. I do not see this happening. The architecture that grew out of the industrial revolution, on which capital markets today justify their operation, find their “raison d’etre, is shaking under its own weight. The cold hard fact is that this architecture has not only seen its day; it is now, like an insidious disease, working against our human survival. All around us there are indications of the failure of economic theory; from the recent debacle on Wall Street to unemployment on Main Street, from the toxic tar sands in Canada to the overfishing of tuna in the oceans, from the increasing CO2 in the biosphere to the acidification of the oceans. This failure extends well beyond these few observations. Planet earth is telling us something. It is pointing to its rejection of our capital market economic system. Key here is the unfettered operation of capital markets. These markets have grown to a size where they are energizing ecologically and socially destructive forces of a magnitude that has never before been seen in the history of the planet. Resource allocation is being misguided and misappropriated on a massive scale. Irreparable planetary destruction is being done. Fingers can be pointed in many directions for this; human greed, political dysfunction, just plain stupidity, however, the rules under which capital markets have been operating since they took form from the beginning of the industrial revolution onward must take primary blame. Economists have come forward with no new ideas to stem the tide. You and those like you need to be thinking and writing and speaking about new economic theory. It is not happening. Physical scientists throughout the world have been pointed out the ecological problems with great clarity; it is time for economists to offer economic solutions. So far, there is only silence. Boiled down into a few words; our resource exploitive capital market system needs to be transformed into a constrained yet incentive directed algorithmic driven market system emphasizing the equitable and humanistic provision of both the material and psychological needs of all humanity. The long lasting functionality of all the earth’s resources to meet these needs must take on the highest priority. Every element of today’s energy intensive market driven consumerism must be made to meet this planetary survival/functionality test. How can we mechanistically achieve this? Negative external costs and positive incentives must be built into every investment decision. And these costs and incentives must be applied to every human economic activity from the mine to the chemistry lab to the assembly line to the opera house to the athletic field to the hospital. Economic outcomes with negative social and/or ecological value must be recognized. Negative externalities need to be measured and priced in up front so as to discourage, temper, or at the extreme eliminate investment. Every investment decision must be internally priced to reflect its socially constructive or destructive outcome. Croplands, grasslands, forests, fisheries, inorganic resources; all of the earth’s natural resources, must be internally priced so as to prevent their exploitation and damage to the planet. In our present world, none this is happening on a broad enough scale to make a difference. We see punitive cigarette and liquor taxes and some others like them, but across the board, any form of build-in of “negative external” cost reflecting ecological considerations is almost nil. Disincentives/Incentives in vital areas like energy have been poorly handled. The most simple questions such as; is this or that delivering real worth to society and to the health of the planet are being avoided. As I am certain you are aware; some progress is being made in northern Europe, but I am sure you will agree with me that on a world scale it is insignificant. Humanity is crying out for an entirely new form of economic/monetary theory. Social/political theory must necessarily be a part. A response is coming from some enlightened intellectuals in the world community; however, there is at present no universal consensus, nor are there long term solutions at hand. Our species remains in gridlock. Your economics profession remains notably silent, content on using its advanced theories of algorithms for trading purposes, but not for the above. How much time do we have to come up with a revised capital market system? Some highly accredited scientists say our present trajectory will present very serious planetary problems within the next fifty years and they even point to the end of our species after three hundred. Will our great and great-great grandchildren find themselves at the bottom of Dante’s inferno with no escape? There is this possibility. The time has come for humanity to recognize that unless it can change the way it prices what it desires to consume, the biblical prophecy of the end of times may very well prove to be self-fulfilling. David Anderson The cold hard fact is that population growth is now exceeding planetary sustainability. The protests we see today in New York and other American cities are the first sign of this in our own country. Those in control of our political, economic, social—and religious institutions should be taking these protests very seriously. They are not. There is a violent streak the runs through the American psyche. Future generations, in a world of shrinking resources and wealth inequality, may not be so placid. Fox News host Eric Bolling found a new way to mock the movement on Friday's "The Five." Bolling wore a tin-foil hat and nerdy glasses, and held a sign reading "Occupy The Five." The gesture seemed to go down well with most of Bolling's colleagues, who…. * Denver - Scores were arrested Yes; very serious. Why else would Fox News take such an extreme position? Who are these police? Whom do they represent? Are they in reality any different from Assad's police force, protecting the wealthy and privileged elite? The truth is that there is a common thread running through what happened in Tunisia, Iran, Egypt and Syria, and now the United States. Large numbers of disenfranchised citizens (None with Murdock paychecks to be sure) who can see no future in front of them are expressing their frustration. They see themselves as having been born into a society that has no need for them. They find themselves cut out of the system. As far as they are concerned, the world’s past and present ideologies have been a failure. Their politicians/rulers failed to deliver. They ask; where is the opportunity for me? They see only the corporate and political elite as secure. So, they are now demanding a piece of the action—and they don’t have the patience for Obamas’ or anyone else’s words. They want it now. This frustration is made the worse by an increasing inequality of wealth throughout the entire world. The income gap between the richest and poorest has dramatically widened over the past fifty years. The US offers a prime example. As they watch TV, listen to the radio and read newspapers, these protestors are constantly reminded of their disenfranchised status. Added to this are their sheer numbers. Unrestrained population growth over the last two generations has filled towns and cities to the brim. (World population has more than doubled in the last fifty years) There are many other factors at play; technological advancements in industry leading to the need for fewer employees, a rising cost of living coming from scarcity of world resources, higher expectations as a result of the spread of media information, the individual need for more specialization education; and finally avarice and greed in the financial markets that has brought the world economy to the brink of depression. The list goes on, but the overriding cause remains; explosive population growth pressing against unequal income distribution pressing against limited opportunity. Taking the US as an example; its population is now twice what it was when this writer was in High School. And today’s 300 million is expected to rise to 500 million by 2050. The same holds true in almost all other countries. By 2050 world population is expected to reach nine billion, essentially adding two Chinas to the number of people alive today. A small number hominids in the wildness of the African savanna one hundred thousand years ago has now become seven billion rapacious humanoids demanding more and more of the earth’s limited resources. Population growth, seen by the figures below, illustrates the magnitude of the problem: World’s Population 20,000 BCE 2 to 4 million 2,000 BCE 130/200 million 1800 CE 1 billion 1930 CE 2 billion 1950 CE 2.5 billion 1999 CE 6 billion (Scientists have determined that 3/5 billion or even less is the planetary resource sustainability "break point.") 2020 CE 7 plus billion (By 2050 the human population is expected to reach nine billion, essentially adding two Chinas to the number of people alive today.) 2100 CE (At present growth rates 11 plus billion or possibly sharp shrinkage due to famine, disease, war.)
Clearly, there are a multitude of changes that have to be made, but a key to a long term solution is a slowdown in population growth followed by a reduction in world population. It is in fact occurring in a few countries, but not in numbers sufficient to counter the rapid expansion throughout the world. Veiled references are made to medical and family planning progress; however, these advancements have not been able to stop the growth. Even in America indigenous growth presents an untenable situation. To this is added massive Latin immigration and a high birth rate among those immigrants. How to stop and even reverse this population expansion is crying out for a “no holds barred” discussion at all levels. As population continues to expand, agricultural production will not be able to keep up with food demand. Changing weather patterns, flooding of low lying areas and sinking aquifers will add to shortages. The use of corn for ethanol will only exacerbate the problem. The escalating cost of diesel fuel used for agricultural transportation, processing, etc., will also add to it. (At present diesel fuel makes up as much as 25% of food cost, and this cost may double in the next twenty years) Increasing demand from the emerging industrialized nations—already in evidence—along with demand from the industrial nations, will soon raise food costs to the point where poorer countries will be priced out of the market. This will lead to massive starvation in those countries that are not self-sufficient and do not have the foreign exchange to import grains. Commodity prices are already beginning to reflect all of these factors. Although the strong possibility of this dismal scenario is accepted by many—see quote below—there are at present no universally agreed to long term solutions at hand. In an article written on February 22, 2011 by Bodhisantra Paul Chefurka “Is Peak Population Almost Here?” we read: “We may have just five years left before food price spikes and shortages become a world-wide epidemic. By then the decline in the oil market will be accelerating, and it will become progressively harder to offset the ongoing loss of oil. It would be a good idea if we knew within the next five years exactly how we need to reorganize our food systems, and have made some serious progress towards that goal.” As these forces begin to converge, there will be ongoing massive suffering and premature death, first in the millions and then into the billions. At some point in time, this suffering will extend throughout the world from the non-privileged to the privileged. It will extend to the children and grandchildren of those reading this. Those “privileged” who in their self- interest first gamed the system and isolated themselves from the contagion will not be able to escape from the scarcity of resources and the outbursts of violent civil—and global conflict. Nor will they be able to escape from their own responsibility for not having become part of the solution. Evolutionary biologists use the expression “ecological niche” to describe the self- sustaining environment that surrounds organisms and allows them to survive. Like-organisms survive within their own narrowly defined “ecological niches.” Important is the maintenance of a population density that allows them to maintain their food supply while not “fouling the nest”. Also, there needs to be a symbiosis between all organisms living together within the niche. The multiplication we see today in world population along with the abuse of the planet is a contradiction to this law of nature. Unless humans are willing to recognize, as other organisms inherently do, that they too live in an “ecological niche”, nature will—as it is now beginning to do, turn against them. Today, the nations of the world stand by in silence as the world population explodes. Attempts at family planning—except for modern China, bring only limited interest. A Roman Catholic Church forbids birth control. Many orthodox Christians, Jews and Muslims throughout the world believe it is their duty to have as many children as possible. Mothers give birth to five, ten, even twenty and more children. (In Islam family size well over the figure of twenty for rich polygamous families is not uncommon) Clearly, a new global ethic that defines responsibility for the future on humankind is called for. Population size cannot continue to remain unchecked. It cannot be allowed to exceed the ecological balance between human sustenance and planetary ecological stability. As noted above, a population size, presently estimated to be three to five billion, is all the earth can hold. To control population growth, prevention of unplanned births must take on the highest priority. Sterilization of men and women, both voluntary and forced, must become the norm. Abortion on demand cannot be accepted as a solution to population restraint, but when performed must be based on a scientific evaluation of the medical condition of the fetus (viability) and determination of the state of consciousness of the fetus. By means of scientific evaluation and consensus there needs to be a decision as to when human consciousness occurs. International standards must be set for orphanages and adoption. The cold hard fact is that population growth is now exceeding planetary sustainability. The protests we see today in New York and other American cities are the first sign of this in our own country. Those in control of our political, economic, social—and religious institutions should be taking these protests very seriously. They are not. There is a violent streak the runs through the American psyche. Future generations, in a world of shrinking resources and wealth inequality, may not be so placid.
David Anderson
Untrue Untruths “Partly, no doubt, this reflects the party’s broader slide into its own insular intellectual universe. Large segments of the G.O.P. reject climate science and even the theory of evolution, so why expect evidence to matter for the party’s economic views?” Built into evangelical Christianity’s faith based Protestantism is a Over the past decade the mindset of evangelical Christianity in America has emerged as a powerful political factor. It could determine the outcome of the 2012 election. The current Republican debates make this clear.resistance to empirical thought, a rigidity that began in the fourth century with the creedal proclamations of the Council of Nicaea. It was reaffirmed with the Protestant Reformation. An example today is the near absence among evangelical Christians of discussion as to the urgent need for human civilization to accommodate its social and religious structure to the countervailing forces of nature in such a way as to enable our species to be able to exist in harmony with those forces. Solutions to a wide range of pressing problems such as global warming from Co2 and exponential population growth are crying out for solutions. All that can be heard from evangelical Christianity is a steady stream of denial of any and all scientific fact. Science, it would seem, is the enemy. These evangelical Christians theorize that the ecological warnings about the future of our planet are in any event mollified by their veiled expectations of a belief that we are, after all is said and done, living in the end of times, and therefore everything is in God’s hands anyway. This strong evangelical bias has serious implications for public discourse in America. There is a spillover of their influence in the media. Expressions like “junk science” reach well beyond their base. A prime example is the general acceptance by many Americans of the evangelical Christian obfuscation relating to Co2 and global warming. Non-evangelicals, Christian and not, have become overexposed to the evangelical position. As a result, today a large percentage—roughly 50% of Americans—are suspicious as to the veracity of scientific findings relating to global warning. The 21st century media revolution has sped up this obfuscation process. Distortion of information is carefully crafted so as to plant seeds of doubt in the mind of the listener, viewer or reader. Millions of Americans can be exposed to a completely untrue untruth in a few minutes or hours. Each crafted untruth is cleverly designed to fester in the recipient’s mind, to sit there in its cranial silence as would a bacterial infection. Then, as the untruth searches out old biases hidden away in the gray matter of the brain—often rooted in religious or other “beliefs”, it quickly spreads, like a disease from an abscessed tooth. From this psychosomatic obfuscation and deception, deeply held opinions are formed. Belief then takes on the power of truth. Belief understood as truth can lead to tragic outcomes. As a result of his “belief” in the “manifest destiny” of the nation—and his own “Onward Christian Soldiers” religious predilection, an American President brought the country into two wars. These wars took a devastating toll in both lives and treasure. America now finds itself in a state of decline as a world power with its economy—and possibly social system, under the threat of collapse. The influence of evangelical Christianity through the right wing media is largely responsible for this American dilemma. By tipping the balance in two closely contested presidential elections, evangelical Christianity played a major role in their outcome. With the election of President Obama, the Republican Party found itself in desperate need to reinvent itself. After eight years of revanchist evangelical Republicanism, the American public had become disenchanted. How to turn the tide? The party, with the strong support of evangelical Christianity, first attempted to defuse memories of the Bush failures by using the media distortion just described; setting out to swift boat the new President with untruths, as the party had done four years before with John Kerry and before that with Michael Dukakis. The base claimed that President Obama was not an American, even calling him an Islamic Marxist socialist. This found credibility among many; nevertheless there was limited traction. The disastrous Bush legacy remained. Another strategy was to contrast the president’s “foreign” persona—with strong non-Christian implications—against a Republican reinvention of the nation’s past; and not just the Reagan past, but a past long before that. The Party would reinvent the mythical elements of the American colonial past—white that is—deistic Christ centered religion and all, going way back to the Boston Tea party. That turned out to be highly successful. Dispirited evangelical Christians and others were able to forget the failures of the Bush presidency. The mid-term election was a resounding Republican success. The Democrats were not so smart. Instead of coming down hard on the former Bush Republicans right from the starting block, their new leader chose to call for reconciliation, cooperation and compromise. This left his party truncated and confused, with the result that the Republican opposition became all the more emboldened. Adding to the confusion was a liberal ideological footing among Democrats that was coming into question not only in America but also in the European countries where the concept of social democracy had originated. Liberals throughout the world were learning that social democracy only works well when people are ethical in the sense of being unwilling to game the system. They were learning that this ethical sense was by no means universal. In fact; for many, taking advantage of the welfare and union system of benefits had become an occupation in itself. It was not surprising given the base human instinct to take as much as you can get, and more than you give. (Tragedy of the Commons) There was another problem for the Democrats and this one went beyond the break down in the social welfare state. The level of comprehension of the American body politic covering a wide range of pressing global issues was in question. And this extended far beyond the evangelical Christians. After the Bush Kerry election Michael Moore in his usual caustic way identified it when he told Britain’s Mirror Newspaper that Americans must be “The Dumbest People on the Planet.” Now, six years later and with another president in power; it seems Americans still are what Moore said they were. Clearly, there is a lack of intellectual curiosity among the general population. One example is its inability to understand the complexity of the errors that had placed the country in its precarious economic position, namely the failure of the Greenspan/Friedman/Hayek Chicago School of destructive capitalism; an economic theory that had ruled the Bush as well as prior periods. The failure of theories such as that one would find no place in Iowa or any of the other debates. Words from great economic thinkers like Paul Krugman were to remain relegated to the op-ed pages of the New York Times. So, today the American picture remains one of confusion. The media deception continues, particularly on the far right. The stature of America throughout the world continues to decline. Structural unemployment continues to remain an unresolved reality. And, the greatest challenge of all, that of accommodating not just American, but human civilization, to the environmental demands of the planet remains unaddressed. There are solutions to all of these problems, but it would appear they remain far too demanding intellectually for most Americans to understand. It is easier to call Obama an ineffectual leader or to call for the resignation of the Secretary of the Treasury and/or the Federal Reserve Chairman and leave it at that. So, where does this leave the country today? It now finds itself at the beginning of the process of choosing its next president. For many the thought that the nation’s future could once again be in the hands of another faith based “born again” evangelical Christian president is frightening. The thought that the planet may be headed for a series of environmentally implosive tipping points, largely as a result of that choice, is even more frightening. The time has come for evangelical Christian Americans to step out into the 21st century, take off their blinders, and understand that they were a very large part of the problem for eight years of the Bush administration, and that they still are the problem. They need to acknowledge their culpability for the predicament in which the nation now finds itself. Then, and this is most important; they need to understand—as the Confucian Chinese are now demonstrating they do, that the manifest destiny of a nation must begin with unity of thought. They need to understand that it is their own mind set, religious and other, that is destroying any possibility of that unity of thought in their own country. They need to enter into a second and final protestation, this time against fourth century creedal Roman Catholicism. They need to understand just how early Roman Catholic they really are. They need to break out of their codified archaic Roman belief in who Jesus was and who he was not. They need to understand that the final arbitrator will not be the judgmental Jesus/God of the Trinity, as was stated in the Nicene Creed and other Roman Catholic/Constantinian pronouncements. They need to understand that final judgment will come from nature itself. They need to understand this inalterable fact of evolution; any species that defies nature—as the human species is now doing, will in time die out, taking into oblivion with it whatever values it may have had. Evangelical Christians should take note; that includes their own. Evangelical Christians in America who deny the ecological collapse in front of them would be wise to return to the pre Nicene Jesus discovered in 1945 at the Nag Hammadi monastery in Egypt. Jesus had prescient words for them. Quoting from the Gospel of Thomas found there: (41) Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little that he has. Our Planet is challenging the validity of the belief system of Evangelical Christianity. It is challenging the narrow legalistic doctrinal requirements to be a Christian made in the fourth century at the Council of Nicaea. Evangelical Christians today are being given a second chance to get it right. They are being asked to change from believing in Jesus as their personal savior to thinking and being like him. The future of our species is waiting for their response. At this stage, it is not there. A warning to them: In the Gospel of Thomas (see above quote) Jesus told us what will become of those who do not see this planet as heaven all around you, who do not find their higher purpose in making it so. He said that they will be deprived of even the little that they now have. David Anderson
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