Friday, March 27, 2009

CIVILIZATION

We like to refer to ourselves as a civilized species , as opposed to " savage " or " barbaric " ........ but of course that is nonsense , we are savage and barbaric by nature . We shouldn't appologize for this , what we should do is acknowledge it . How can we ever hope to improve if we keep denying what we truly are ?
This world is becoming increasingly crowded , and a consequence of this is violence , it makes perfect sense for humans to have some sort of culling system , to thin the herd ...... but instead of that , we are trying desperately to do the opposite .
We are trying to find a cure for cancer ..... why ?
Cancer is nature's way of keeping numbers dawn , yes ... it is an awful disease and it is harrowing to watch someone die from it ( anyone , not just a loved one ) but the reality is that 30,000 children die in Africa every day from disease and hunger , the disease being malaria .... which we can cure , which we HAVE cured in the developed world and hunger which we can stop tomorrow if we choose .
Why are we now going to spend billions on Stem Cell research to try and cure Altzheimers , Parkinson's and Spinal cord injuries ? ........ well the answer is simple .... and its the same answer to all these ethical questions ........ Money , the almighty dollar . It has nothing to do with us being civilized , caring , concerned ..... there's money at the end of this rainbow .
There's no money to be made from saving 30,000 african babies a day ......... so ... we dont , but if we could prolong the life of the rich and famous , if we could clone designer babies for people who can afford it , then it will be worth it .
Its nice that Madonna has adopted children from developing countries , but its a little creepy that she picks " physically beautiful " kid's . now I'm not having a go at Madonna but she does buy kids like people buy cars ( Have you got this one in different colour ? ) ....... we all know where this is headed ... dont we ?
Fast-forward 20 years and the rich will no longer be " giving birth " , they will design the baby they want and pay with cold hard cash .
The rest of us will have babies the " old fashioned way " .... just so they can be disposable in case of war or global catastrophe , something the children of the rich and famous never have to worry about ...... bless !
Our kids will be brought up by parents who watch " Strictly Come Dancing , Little Britain and Eastenders " ..... of course there are parents out there who have a higher level of inteligence than that , but they are becoming the minority .
We are a strange species with strange priorities ... we would rather spend countless millions keeping Charles Manson alive for 60 years behind bars , with the best of medical care than to spend the same amount on saving childrens lives .
We allow the media to bombard us with bad news 24 hours a day rather than make a stand and demand that thay behave in some sort of ethical way . Forensic psychiatrists and psychologists tell us that the worst thing we can do in regard to serial killers and mass murderers is to " cater " to them ..... to lawd them on the news , to make them into a kind of anti-hero , to go on about the body count , this story should be made as boring as possible to all but the community involved ... if the media go on and on about the incident , the odds increase that another such event will occur within 3 to 5 days , this is the professional advice , this advice is of course never taken .
It used to be that Lawyers were the scum of the earth ......... but not anymore .. the new scum is The PR men , the people who can spin any story any way they want , and then you have the Media men , the people who will desparately try to drain every second of air time from the nonsense spun . When was the last time you saw footage of a peace rally ? ........ Exactly ! ...... Unless there is a protest at a pease rally , it doesn't get air time .
The " News " loves mass shootings at schools , they can fill our screens for days with footage of the victims , the witness's , friends of the killer , class mates of the killer , shots of the school , CCTV footage of the killing , mobile phone footage of the killer when he was 12 playing " in happier times " ...... photographs of the killer himself , graphic reconstructions of the events , pictures of the weapons used .......... I could go on and on ....... its called " media frenzy " and it turns sad pathetic losers into heroes for the disenfranchised section of our community , and all this is done in such a way that we are led to believe that the media is looking for an answer .... Why did this happen ? ... What turned this young man into a crazed killer ? ...... How can we spin this story out for the next week ?

I wrote this piece after the mass killing in Germany ........ 3 days later there was a mass killing in The USA .

Surely in a civilized society , we would try to minimize the damage , not exaggerate it , but where's the money in that ?