An article by Sha'Tara, local writer and friend...

Why Can We not See?

[Thoughts from  ~burning woman~   by Sha’Tara]

“Only the very young see the life ahead and only the very old see the life behind.  The others are so busy with life they see nothing.” (Ray Bradbury)

A society plunges itself mindless into a ‘new’ world made possible only through ever-growing dependence upon technology and fails to see itself dying.  It hears rumors of terrible times ahead, yet can only think of more esoteric ways to amuse itself.  When if feels resource-threatened it lashes out at others who may or may not possess the wherewithal to keep the technology working to feed the insatiable societal maw.

A fake economy comes face to face with its own demise, yet the powers that be will not let it die.  Of course not, their own lifestyle, their reason to be, are all wrapped up in this lie.  So they ignore a future already mortgaged to the hilt and beyond, and draw more billions from a non-existent supply to uphold the faith.  Billionaires collect billions in welfare from would-be elected governments who take real money from the poor, puree that with Monopoly funds, and pay themselves and their billionaire friends and families.  The poor continue to play Russian roulette with charge cards, gambling casinos and lottery tickets.  Like their leaders they are addicted to their mediocrity and empty lives.  Speak to them of ‘meaning’ and they will stare back at you with the vacant eye of the living dead. 

On the surface things remain pretty much as they were despite the cankers and the rot in every conceivable group and institution.  A deadly cancer is hidden under plastic surgery, makeup and wigs.  Do we not have draconian security measures at airports and sports event to prevent assassinations and hostage taking?  Do we not have political correctness powerful enough to get a black president in the US White House?  Do we not have lists of safety rules about everything long enough to fill encyclopedias?  Do we not have experts in every conceivable field of endeavor giving us explanations for everything? 

But isn’t crime on the increase?  Aren’t epidemics and homelessness?  Isn’t there massive unease all over the globe?  I can see this, feel it, can’t you?  Perhaps not.  Perhaps you are not young enough nor old enough.   You cannot see ahead and you cannot remember.  You are blinded by your faith in your self-centered technology and the gurus that fuel it with their magic numbers.  Your good life has lasted more than one generation now so no longer can you comprehend the need for self-discipline, sacrifice and self-improvement.  You see your debts mounting but somehow they aren’t yours and if they are, it’s not your fault.  When you feel squeezed, you go looking for more fun in entertainment and new toys and when you find that, the problem goes away one more time.  Yes, true , it grows, but your pleasure pushes it away.  Yes it will come back but you’ll just have to work harder at finding another source of pleasure, a bigger, better toy, a more convincing source of magic denial. 

Let’s see.  What do we need to be happier, to push the bad-times blues away?  In this town?  We need a bigger Wal-Mart, for one.  And we don’t have a Home Depot yet either.  If we had them we’d certainly be happier.  Now why don’t we have them?  Well, it’s because of those Agricultural Land Reserve laws, that’s why.  So now we have something, which means we have someone, to blame for our discomfort.  See?  It isn’t my fault.  And another thing.  Why don’t they legalize Marijuana?  Now that would make a lot of people really happy.  Who cares about debt when you’re stoned all the time? 

Ah but that’s the reason they won’t legalize Marijuana.  It would compete with the existing drug: Credit.  This society is already permanently stoned on credit.  That’s why it can’t see itself, and the little it does see, it can’t even begin to understand. 

Long ago I chose to become alive amongst the zombies of progress and technology.  To do that I had to turn away from certain societal addictions.  Credit, of course, was obvious.  Gambling another.  But mainly it was the Media that I turned against: TV, radio and newspapers, so-called.  That was twenty five years ago.  You wouldn’t believe what I have seen of this world since I started using my own eyes, ears, smell, touch, taste and of course, mind, instead of having that digitally fed.  The freshness of reality is intoxicating.  Now there’s a new addiction gaining ground: the Internet.  I’m being warned about that one too.

I’m too young and too old to fit in this society so all I can do is observe its death throes.  It won’t die overnight.  Many won’t notice the tell-tale changes.  The main flights of birds few south long ago but no one was watching and there are enough laggards still around to convince the faithful that nothing has happened, nothing is happening and nothing will happen.  Techno-faith affirms the infrastructures of the System remain secure and safely functioning.  The 2010 Winter Olympics with open on schedule, with the usual fanfare, and that is all the proof anyone should need that God’s in his heaven and all’s well with the world.