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What IS wrong with the world?

M

Martyn Miles

pfm Member
Having time to ponder over the bigger issues, I came across an article about America and Russia and nuclear weapons.

It's appalling the amount of money each country is planning to spend on modernising and upgrading their stockpiles.

Money that could be used for purposes that benefited mankind. In the end, after all the upgrades and modernisation, the two countries will be more or less equal again.

Surely the average Russian and American just wants to live a peaceful life with his family.
I well remember, back in the '80s, a Russian research worker and I were working together.
Over a glass of wine he said, ' As we talk, your country and mine have missiles aimed at each other. Yet here we sit, as friends, talking about our families and our hopes for the future.'
That conversation has stayed with me over the years.
I wonder what my Russian colleague is doing now...
 
It's 'the nature of things'? Humans really are a virus on the earth-just look at history.
Constant conflict.
Slash and burn consumption.
 
Maybe try to focus on what is good in the world?

Constantly being aware (or woke if you like) of the worlds issues, and your own inability to change those issues to something you prefer, must be very tiring.

Being aware of the worlds problems and acknowledging it, and not allowing that to eat at you from the inside is a reasonable goal, I think.

If we all pondered our own mortality every day, I doubt that anything would get done.

This may sound naive, but if I am unable to control or influence something I do not like, I try not to focus on it.
 
I am reminded of the National Lampoon Radio sketch. From memory, it goes:

<Sound of water splashing>

Bloke 1: 'To look at, we're completely different. I'm a young businessman with a smart haircut and suit. You're a hippy, with long hair, scruffy clothes and a beard. Yet, standing here, side by side, maybe we're not so different after all. Just one thing puzzles me though. How come your splash is so much louder than mine?'

Bloke 2: 'It's simple, man. I'm pissing on your briefcase'.
 
In response to 'What is wrong with the world?' I would say much is driven by our competitive nature and our ingenuity which has helped to foster inequality which in turn drives fear which feeds into a lack of trust. It must have been bad enough when all you had to fear was the tribe down the track who had worked out a better way to knapp flints; we have moved a long way since then.
 
Martyn Miles said:
Having time to ponder over the bigger issues, I came across an article about America and Russia and nuclear weapons.

It's appalling the amount of money each country is planning to spend on modernising and upgrading their stockpiles.

Money that could be used for purposes that benefited mankind. In the end, after all the upgrades and modernisation, the two countries will be more or less equal again.

Surely the average Russian and American just wants to live a peaceful life with his family.
I well remember, back in the '80s, a Russian research worker and I were working together.
Over a glass of wine he said, ' As we talk, your country and mine have missiles aimed at each other. Yet here we sit, as friends, talking about our families and our hopes for the future.'
That conversation has stayed with me over the years.
I wonder what my Russian colleague is doing now...
Click to expand...
Indeed, most folk, from most parts of the world are just normal people like you and I. It's the powers that be that wage war, I'll never understand it.
 
Well 'Big Tabs', I am not 'eaten up' by my concerns.
Matters such as I've brought up need wider coverage.

If people can be moved to action by recent events in America, then they can by the frightening scenario of nuclear weapons.

I'm constantly surprised by the lack of interest in the media.
Ordinary people I speak with know nothing of treaties like INF & START.
Apathy is rife when it comes to the subject, it appears.

I respect your views and your way of dealing with them, but I can't agree with you.
 
Martyn Miles said:
I am not 'eaten up' by my concerns. Matters such as I've brought up need wider coverage.

If people can be moved to action by recent events in America, then they can by the frightening scenario of nuclear weapons.

I'm constantly surprised by the lack of interest in the media.
Ordinary people I speak with know nothing of treaties like INF & START.
Apathy is rife when it comes to the subject, it appears.

I respect your views and your way of dealing with them, but I can't agree with you.
Click to expand...


There is nothing to disagree with.

No sane person wants nuclear weapons.

Maybe if you saw me wearing a cnd t-shirt, or protesting, I would appear less apathetic?

Or maybe if I simply agreed with you, and shook my fist via an internet hifi forum at those who control, would that be okay?

Mr. Miles. What action? and against who? are you planning by the way?
 
Martyn Miles said:
Having time to ponder over the bigger issues, I came across an article about America and Russia and nuclear weapons.

It's appalling the amount of money each country is planning to spend on modernising and upgrading their stockpiles.

Money that could be used for purposes that benefited mankind. In the end, after all the upgrades and modernisation, the two countries will be more or less equal again.

Surely the average Russian and American just wants to live a peaceful life with his family.
I well remember, back in the '80s, a Russian research worker and I were working together.
Over a glass of wine he said, ' As we talk, your country and mine have missiles aimed at each other. Yet here we sit, as friends, talking about our families and our hopes for the future.'
That conversation has stayed with me over the years.
I wonder what my Russian colleague is doing now...
Click to expand...
For the UK to replace Trident estimated cost of 205 billion .Our nuclear submarine base at Faslane is the only nuclear base in the world that sits next to a large population if an accident was to happen 3/4 of the Scottish population would be wiped out with a click of the finger. I'm very much against nuclear weapons we should stop being a nuclear power now.
 
It always seemed to me that the problem was quite simple - the invention of the modern nation-state, which allegedly gives to a country an identity beyond being merely an administrative division on a map. We get a silly song to sing, allegedly reflecting our joint aspirations in our particular administrative division, a silly coloured bit of rag to salute, and, if called on to do so, to die for. It all makes precisely zero sense, but because of the individual personality acquired by these administrative divisions, they can exert claims against other such administrative divisions, regardless of the fact that the respective individuals neither know nor care about them. And if we can't get what we know to be rightfully ours by talking about it, we'll get it by fighting about it. As Clausewitz put it, War ... is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will. He actually did NOT say that war is politics continued by other means, the accurate translation is "War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means").

Some good quotes along these lines from Gwynne Dyer's War series - see the beginning and at 10:37:

 
tones said:
It always seemed to me that the problem was quite simple - the invention of the modern nation-state, which allegedly gives to a country an identity beyond being merely an administrative division on a map. We get a silly song to sing, allegedly reflecting our joint aspirations in our particular administrative division, a silly coloured bit of rag to salute, and, if called on to do so, to die for. It all makes precisely zero sense, but because of the individual personality acquired by these administrative divisions, they can exert claims against other such administrative divisions, regardless of the fact that the respective individuals neither know nor care about them. And if we can't get what we know to be rightfully ours by talking about it, we'll get it by fighting about it. As Clausewitz put it, War ... is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will. He actually did NOT say that war is politics continued by other means, the accurate translation is "War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means").

Some good quotes along these lines from Gwynne Dyer's War series - see the beginning and at 10:37:

Click to expand...

The nation state doesn’t usually give an identity, it’s usually a recognition of an existing group identity at least initially, and all the flags and songs etc signify that. Makes perfect sense. You go from a village, to a collection of nearby settlements, to a tribal nation and onwards, it’s a collective unit of human living.

On the subject of war, the final arbiter of power is violence (or the threat of it - which still leads to violence). We can’t just agree not to use it. War is simply an escalation of power games on the largest scale. We can try to maintain a good balance to reduce the likelihood of them breaking out but ultimately war is pretty much inevitable.

Just got me thinking about a short story I read where the Nazis won the war. After Europe they went into India and faced Ghandi and his pacifist tactics. It didn’t work on them, as they just saw him and his followers as a weaker group and in their ideology of the stronger group dominating the weaker group, they just wiped them out. Pacifism is so badly thought out.
 
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we’re forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side
 
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Nagraboy said:
The nation state doesn’t usually give an identity, it’s usually a recognition of an existing group identity at least initially, and all the flags and songs etc signify that. Makes perfect sense. You go from a village, to a collection of nearby settlements, to a tribal nation and onwards, it’s a collective unit of human living.
Click to expand...

Well, no actually, the current idea of a nation state is very recent, a product of the Thirty Years' War. It is an invented group identity, not a real one.
 
tones said:
Well, no actually, the current idea of a nation state is very recent, a product of the Thirty Years' War. It is an invented group identity, not a real one.
Click to expand...

Well, I think that’s more of a mainland European idea, as they had to come up with something to settle things down. It has had a strong influence outside Europe but it’s still only part of most people’s idea of a nation state, the older ideas are still felt by people. In fact, I wonder if those ideas are gaining more ground again in Europe lately.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I’ve always thought war to be the failure of politics.
Click to expand...
I think war reflects the true inner state of humanity, ie. everyone is in a state of greater or lesser inner, unresolved conflict.

The late, great J. Krishnamurti was once asked what could be done to improve society. He replied that society doesn’t really exist, but that the individuals who make up “society” do, so the best thing any individual can do is find & live the true inner peace within. Nobody else can do it for you.

We humans continue to be a force of violent destruction on our environment, other species & each other. We are running out of time for our own survival & I still wonder if this is important (that we survive as a species). My intuition suggests it is, because of our potential to develop our consciousness, rather than our technology.

Sorry not to be more uplifting on a Monday morning...
 
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