The Scariest Stats:
Some claim you are what you eat. Cute, but not so. Maybe you 'are', instead of dead, because of what you eat, but at some point in age there is so little of the 'real' you left that the 'real' you is sometimes gone long before you are physically dead. Besides, the 'real' you is a changing piece of work. I am not the same person today I was 40 years ago, and to be picky, not even the same person I was yesterday. Any continuity is more an 'essence' of ourselves. Of course the same changing hands of time effectuates changes in families, friends, neighborhoods, countries, and all of humanity. God's evolutionary process, whatever else, is not static.
In the minds of many I am some sort of Professor Doomsday. Well, evolution is full of doomsdays. We speak of the age of plants, the age of dinosaurs, the age of humans, etc. I can't really visualize what is next---neither could the dinosaurs----any doomsday mentality reflects the notion of change with lots of individual tragedies, but a trajectory of progress ever upward. Even when we celebrate our own democratic history we like to pretend the founding fathers assembled a perfect Constitution and this perfectness should be the bench mark for all determinations of justice. We do the same thing with religion. A belief established in the past becomes etched in stone and is declared sacrosanct for evermore. What is civil rights if not the continuous battle to bring justice and fairness to more and more? Or to destroy and discard these once sacrosanct beliefs? And what is religion if it is not the Golden Rule? So doomsday essentially means, in the shifting sands of evolution, that change is inevitable, that one species having dominion over another is meaningless, that what may seem sacrosanct in one age becomes history in another. Doomsday is the fate of all INDIVIDUAL living things. The sanctity of life has meaning only in the sense that living cells continue to replicate and reproduce in ways which keeps 'life' itself, a concept beyond human comprehension, continuing on in an ever more complex and advanced fashion. We can no more understand where God's evolutionary process is heading than could the dinosaurs.
Life, as we know it today, is doomed. This is of personal sadness to all of us, but hardly any doomsday for the evolutionary process. The stats today, no matter how hard we try to put a positive spin on them, are not good news for life as we have grown accustomed. It is we ourselves, not God, who created man in God's image; we ourselves who gave us 'dominion' over other species; we ourselves who insists God speaks to us through inherited religions; we ourselves who bestowed upon America some sort of 'manifest destiny' and other sorts of egotistical divine notions. In the evolutionary process CHANCE is king, not divine intervention on behalf of individuals or nations. This is no directionless drift in that the survival-of-the-fittest life forms really do set the stage for future chances.
Evolution is a great and wonderful process for the long run, but never for the short run for ANYBODY, ANY NATION, or for domination of any species. Many species become extinct. What we have before us today are stats, stats which the human species has the intelligence to comprehend somewhat. The dinosaurs may not have had the intelligence to visualize their own demise while humans groups---national or religious in nature---use protective illusions which enable them to be positive and upbeat in the face of impending disaster. Many people my age often admit they are glad they won't be around when the 'shit' hits the fan. I never felt so good politically than when Obama won the Presidency, but the forces which drive the evolutionary process are beyond the control of any species, let alone any individual of any species. HOWEVER, humans are advanced enough mentally to alter the RATE or DIRECTION of evolution. We can buy some time. We, could if we were bright enough, and strong enough mentally, prevent our own demise. I don't mean to imply here that humans will become extinct, but the manner in which we 'rule' the earth today, is doomed. Mother Nature always bats last. That we are God's favorite species is kind of a presumptive notion, let alone any, even worse, presumption that God created man to have dominion over all other species and our environment. That would be like asking someone, "Who are your favorites, your smartest friends or relatives or your pets?" If all life forms are the product of God's evolutionary process, it seems a risky and egocentric mistake to declare your own species God's favorite. Some go even further and insinuate that God likes them and their ilk best. They are, in their minds, God's chosen tribe. I consider this egotistical nonsensical tripe.
Life as we know it now is doomed based on the following stats: (Where anyone, or any nation, puts their priorities tells you more about them then what they may insist they are about). It seems there are two general groups in every country---the "if you don't like it here you can leave" and those who constantly push for more justice through change. I agree with James Baldwin: "I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."
The question is, if you only knew this country by the following stats, what image would you arrive at, and what changes would you make?
80 text messages----avg number sent and received by the average American teen every day. Wow. This is more at the level of "Polly wants a cracker" than intelligent discourse.
Amount of money spent in 2008 to upgrade military forces: U.S.= $607 billion; the next 9 biggest upgrade spenders (China, France, U.K. Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia, India)= $476 billion.
With 5% of the world's population we have 25% of the world's jailed prisoners, and 25% of them are for nonviolent recreational drug offenses. I am quite sure we have the highest percentage of white collar criminals with probably no more than a handful in jail. In 2007 there were 872,720 marijuana arrests, 775,000 of them for possession, not selling. If we just had more police we could manage more arrests! One can only hazard a guess how many police promotions were achieved through mostly marijuana arrests. I know I feel a lot safer. Most of the crimes committed by others against me in life probably were marijuana induced criminal acts! 70% of illegal drug trafficking profits were from marijuana. If marijuana were legal and taxed, the savings from this War on Drugs and the tax monies would would be enough to provide adequate quality health care for every American. Naw, let's keep the game going and lock the SOB's up---but only lock up the poor who use marijuana.
1 out of every 31 adults in the U.S. is in prison, in jail, or on supervised release.
42%---percentage of college students who feel 'down, depressed, or hopeless'. This is the American Dream?
44%---percentage of teen boys surveyed who said they've seen at least one nude photo of a female classmate online or via cell phone. Wow. Maybe someday down the road the pictures in the Class Yearbook will have a different kind of 'reality' look.
In 2004----1.3 million new jobs, 26% of which went to non-citizens. I wonder if this has anything to do with' slave labor' wages? By 2008 our whole wage and benefit structure was under collapse.
The legal status of abortions in various countries does not predict the number of abortions but just the percentage of safe abortions. Not too different from the legal status of marijuana does not predict the number of users just the number of people in jail.
Development assistance globally as percent of GNI: United States is in 21st place at .2%. U.S. government assistance = $23.5 billion. U.S. Private giving=$34.8 billion. Amount of private aid giving: Universities and colleges= 3.7 billion; Foundations=4 billion; Corporations = 5.5billion; Religious organizations = 8.8 billion; private and voluntary organizations=12.8 billion.
Charitable giving by average percentage of family income contributed: Those making more than a million dollars = 3.2%; those making between $100,000 and $124,000= 2.3%; those making $10,000 to $19,000= 2.4% Thus, the ability to contribute to charity has little impact on the percentage a person gives. Put another way, if your income at $15,000 goes up 67 times, the percent you give to charity rises .8%. Onward Christian soldiers.
Our Iraq War: number of displaced Iraqis= 4.5 million (1 in every 6 citizens); percent of households with clean water = 40%; percent of children in Baghdad that cannot attend school= 70%; number of Iraqi war widows = 1-2 million; number of orphans=5 million; number of dead Iraqis= 1 million one way or another. I wonder how many Iraqis even appreciate OUR sacrifice in this war? Ungrateful bastards. The number of decades the remaining Iraqis will remember what we did to them=who knows? What happened to the sanctity of life? Which country is the undisputed King of the killing fields abroad? This is staggering to me. We lost 40,000 in Vietnam, I think in Iraq it is like 4000, and I don't know the figure in Afghanistan. We killed directly, or indirectly, 2.1 million Vietnamese and so far over a million Iraqis. Hitler's Germany killed 2 million Jews. I mean like where is the Vietnamese Holocaust Museum? For what legitimate reason were they killed? And why was I such an enthusiastic supporter of that war for so long? How can seemingly 'good' 'Intelligent' people commit or support such atrocities on others? And it seems every group except Hitler claimed THE REAL God supporting them. Just baffling.
Were I to continue this, the stats would become tedious and endless. Of course there are some good stats too, but their significance seems overshadowed by the consequences of the bad stats. Whether it is education, health care, the environment, global warming, depletion of natural resources, human overpopulation, accumulation of more and more global wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer people percentage wise, number of terrorism deaths (whether by road side bombs, suicide bombs, smart missiles, modern weapons, just plain hacking your neighbors to death,) or homelessness, or death from curable diseases---this big global picture is ghastly, if it is anything.
The original hypothesis here was that what a country does with their money tells you a lot about that country. What a person does with their money tells you a lot about that person---what he/she values, what priorities he/she has, how sharing he/she is, and how much respect others have toward him/her. I suppose one can argue it makes no difference what others across the globe think of us. I mean, for most countries, what have they to brag about compared to us? Much like in the days of slavery in this country the slave owners could similarly say, "Who cares what the slaves really think? What do they have to brag about anyway? And if they know what is GOOD FOR THEM they will stay in line and do as told". Of course our country paid a terrible price for that attitude and change eventually came. Perhaps when we say to other countries, "We don't care what you think. What do you have to brag about anyway? And if you know what is GOOD FOR YOU you will stay in line and do as we bid you do." OR ELSE! The trouble is, OR ELSE is becoming a less effective threat to others. The nature of conflict has changed so much today that our massive accumulation of weapons of mass destruction, including smart bombs, have become, for all practical purposes, more and more useless. What good did all this firepower do us in Vietnam? In Iraq? In Afghanistan? In Somalia? in Darfur? etc. We can claim that terrorism is unethical and cowardly, but on what basis? We killed 2.1 million Vietnamese---a high percentage of them civilians. They killed 35,000 American soldiers, no American civilians. In Iraq it is like 4000 American soldiers, and a million Iraqis killed, mostly civilians. It just seems, on the face of it, it is all terrorism by both sides. We are just better at it. We lose because we are the only side with the option of leaving at some point since we are the invaders. I find all of this crazy, senseless, achieving nothing----while the expenditures to do this kind of thing leaves domestic needs like health care, energy innovation, environmental protection, etc. all left underfunded. Thus we fall further and further behind other industrialized countries in just about all areas except the accumulation of military weapons of mass destruction and invasions of other countries.
Blind patriotism, like blind religious fervor, in both cases an inherited phenomenon----are self destructive forces. When people run around demanding we all show support for our troops, I feel very patriotic. After all, I opposed sending troops into Iraq and now that they are there I support them by favoring bringing them home. I feel this is the best way I can remove them from harm's way and bring an end to our participation in such slaughters. My support of the Vietnam War was an abomination. It was not patriotism at all. When people say how can the Germans have supported Hitler and the murder of 2 million Jews, I ask myself how could I have supported my country killing 2.1 million Vietnamese. What did our soldiers and the Vietnamese die for? It was senseless slaughter.
When I look at the Republican Party these days I am totally baffled and dismayed. Many of these individuals seem pleasant enough on the surface. They are the ones that drape flags over balconies to show their patriotism, want flag burning illegal, and love singing the national anthem at sport contests with marching bands, wounded veterans, and spirited oratorical defenses of every massacre in which we have ever participated---whether it be the Indian Wars, Vietnam, Iraq, dozens of South American countries, Cuba, Philippines, Hawaii, or the more legitimate Wars like World War I, World War II, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, etc. This is their patriotism---"My country, right or wrong".
These same type people fight or fought integration of races, laws to protect children (parents should be the deciders), minimum wages, social security, medicare, worker protection laws, environmental protection laws, equal money spent to educate all children, voting rights, women's rights, universal health care, equal marriage rights for gays, abortion rights, birth control rights, populations control measures, curtailing depletion of natural resources, greater gas mileage efficiency, etc. What they thrive on is making their own religious beliefs the law of the land, the right of everyone to purchase and carry around assault weapons, unregulated capitalism, the right of the wealthy to accumulate unlimited wealth even when it results in 1-3% of the citizens of the U.S. owning 90% of our nation's wealth. When they get on a podium they don't talk about real people with real problems or any real solutions for those with these problems-----no, we get babble about our manifest destiny, about 'family values', about 'freedom', about 'good and evil', about God fearing Christians, about long past glories of conquest and subjugation, and never ever talk about the Golden Rule. Somehow, the Golden Rule escapes all their religious and patriotic fervor.
A typical approach of mine when these people get going about their focal points, is to bring up specific cases of injustices so prevalent around us, and invariably they snap, "I don't want to talk about it!". And they mean it. FAITH--inherited FAITH---is the basis for their ethics, never the logic buried in the Golden Rule. Their FAITH is in THEIR God, almost always an inherited God, and dogma etched in stone by human designated emissaries from God. Thus, in their minds, God has spoken, and if God has spoken, the matter is closed. Thankfully for history, matters of injustice and fairness are never really closed, and many injustices they supported, even in their own lifetimes, have been corrected, over---so to speak---THEIR DEAD BODIES. That is not correct, they have only been dead from the neck up.
No matter, for us as individuals, the band plays on---God's evolutionary process continues---change driven, always eventually reaching higher and higher plateaus physically, mentally, and ethically. The Golden Rule may yet reign some day.
