WHAT THE HELL ARE WE?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

but most of the time, it seriously sucks.

A few weeks ago I wrote about experiences that make living enjoyable(http://zacharykleinonline.com/personal-experience/my-cousins-comment/) but the past two weeks have left me a whole lot less enamored with the world I’m living in. Not simply because of the horrible Boston bombings and the incredible abrogation of civil liberties imposed upon our metropolitan area by the state, F.B.I. and myriad other agencies. This “shelter in place” (i.e. “lockdown”) had all the earmarks of martial law without being declared. And it makes no difference to me whether people were okay with it or not. Welcome to the rest of the world. Again.

I understand the need to capture bombers, the need to determine whether there are more explosives, whether there are more accomplices. All important, but important enough to run roughshod over people’s legitimate rights?  I don’t think so, but again, welcome to the rest of the world.

Worse, there were about eight murders during the manhunt totally unrelated to the bombs, but they only deserved a paragraph mention in the newspaper. No manhunt for those killers. No “shelter in place.” No 24/7 news coverage. No media trucks and hoards of reporters (finally, a good thing) surrounding the victims’ houses. Nothing.

Pick a day and just read the headlines of any newspaper, and what do you see? Pick a local news station and watch a compendium of who went psychotic and killed someone flash across the screen followed by a weather report and sports. Just your typical news.

But all the above is minor league shit compared to what we as a species do to each other every single hour of every single day. There are the drones blasting houses, bombs destroying villages, people fighting over whether or not countries ought to have the nuclear capability to destroy the planet.

We’re still negotiating whether it’s okay to have the weapons that can destroy the fucking planet!  Pick a continent, pick a country, pick a religion, pick a sect, pick an ideology, pick a people, and what do we find? Murder, mayhem, shattered lives, limbs, families. This is who we seem to be.

So this is why we sit on top of the food chain? To kill, maim, blow each other up and decide who can and cannot annihilate the world? Not content with simply slaughtering that which is supposedly on a lower rung, we aren’t satisfied unless we’re slaughtering each other. And we call this civilization? Sorry, we’ve left the realm of right or wrong, good or evil. Frankly, it all seems insane. Really, really insane.

And, for what? Sure, every war has its reasons, every religion a purpose to its blood-shedding, every ideology a leg to stand on, every invasion a rationalized reason, every country its enemies (well, maybe not Canada). So fucking what? Ultimately, is it really that important whose dick is bigger?

I haven’t even begun to list the atrocities our species has wreaked.

How a about a small sample of wars:

Index of Warfare

 

  Abyssinian War
Afghan Pakistan War
Algerian War
Alliance Afghanistan War
America Mexico War
America Spain War
Anglo Afghan War, 1st
Anglo Afghan War, 3rd
Anglo Boer War, 2nd
Anglo Dutch Wars, 1st
Anglo Dutch Wars, 2nd
Anglo Dutch Wars, 3rd
Anglo Iraq War
Anglo Spanish War
Argentina Uruguay War
Aztec War
Balkan Wars, 1st
Balkan Wars, 2nd
Balkan Wars, 3rd
Bishops War, 1st
Bishops War, 2nd
Boer War
Bolivian Guerrilla War
Bosnian War
Boxer Rebellion War
Brazil Argentina War
Bulgaria Serbia War
Burmese War, 2nd
Byzantine War
Carlist War
Castille Granada War
China India War
China Manchuria War
China Mongol War
China SE Asia War
China Taiwan War
China Tibet War
Christian Civic League
Congo War, 1st
Croatian War
Cyprus Genoa War
Dalriada Bernicia War
Egypt Crusaders
Egypt Iraq War
Eighty Years War
Ethiopia Somalia War
Falklands War
Flavian Emperors
French Indochina War
Grand Alliance
Gulf War, 1st
Gulf War, 2nd Gulf War, 2nd
Holland Sumatra War
Holy Crusades, The 1st
Holy Crusades, The 3rd
Holy Crusades, The 4th
Holy Crusades, The 7th
Huguenot Wars
Hundred Years War
Hungarian Insurrection
Hungary Byzantine War
Hungary Slovakia War
India Pakistan War
Jacobite Rebellion
Jenkin’s Ear
KANU
Korean War
Kosovo War
Leon Almohades War
Libya Chad War
Libya Chad War
Long War
Long War
Lothian Picts War
Magyar Invasions
Maratha War, The 2nd
Marcomanni War
Mercia Wales War
Mongol Hungary War
Mongol Hungary War
Mongol Khwarezm War
Mongol Korea War
Mongol Persia War
Mongol Punjab War
Mongol Samarkand War
Mongol Tibet War
Mongol Vietnam War
Moorish War
Muslim Rebellion
Mysore Wars, 1st
Mysore Wars, 2nd
Mysore Wars, 4th
Napoleonic Wars
Navarre Moors War
Nurachi Dynasty
Orange Dynasty
Paraguay Bolivia War
Peace Bureau
Picts Lothian War
Portugal Castille War
Portugal Moors War
Portugal Morocco War
Romania Moldavia War
Sand War
Scotia Bernicia War
Scotia Pict War
Scotland Ireland War
Scotland Scotia
Serbia Albania War
Serbian Uprising, 1st
Seven Years War
Sicilian Vespers
Sikh War, 1st
Sikh War, 2nd
Six Day War
South Africa Angola War
Spain Leon War
Spain Moors War
Spain Naples War
Spain Peru War
Spain Portugal War
Sri Lankan Civil War
Sudan War
Suez War
Suleyman’s West War
Syria Lebanon War
Taiping Rebellion
Ten Years War
Texan Civil War
Thity Years War,
Tripoli WarUganda Tanzania War
Uganda Tanzania War
Uganda Tanzania War
Valentinian
Valois Hapsburg War
Vietnam Kampuchea War
Vietnam War, 1st
Vietnam War, 2nd
Viking Invasions
  Visigoth Greece War
Visigoth Spain War
War Devolution
War Succession
War the Spanish Succession
World War, 1st
World War, 2nd
Yom Kippur War

And if wars don’t float your boat, well take a look at how we now live:

World Poverty Statistics

Total Percentage of World Population that lives on less than $2.50 a day 50%
Total number of people that live on less than $2.50 a day 3 Billion
Total Percentage of People that live on less than $10 a day 80%
Total percent of World Populations that live where are widening 80%
Total Percentage of World Income the richest 20% account for 75%
Total Number of children that die each day due to Poverty 22,000
Total Number of People in Developing Countries with Inadequate Access to Water 1.1 billion
Total Number of School Days lost to Water Related Illness 443 million school days
Child World Poverty Statistics
Number of children in the world 2.2 billion
Number of Children that live in Poverty 1 billion
Total Number of Children that live without adequate shelter 640 million (1 in 3)
Total Number of Children without access to safe water 400 million (1 in 5)
Total Number of Children with no access to Health Services 270 million (1 in 7)
Total Numberof Children who die annually from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation 1.4 million
Year Ratio of People at Poverty to Wealthy Level
1820 3 to 1
1913 11 to 1
1950 35 to 1
1973 44 to 1
1992 72 to 1

http://statisticbrain.com/world-poverty-statistics/

We as a species don’t give much of a shit about anyone or anything but ourselves. I have mine so fuck everyone else, the planet as well, what the hell. And if we can manage it, what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is also mine.

Yes, there were great acts of kindness and caring in Boston after the blasts.There were people who risked their own lives to save others, but we all love our cheap running shoes and cell phones—and don’t really think about their expensive cost to the people who made them. I’m not condemning individuals per se; this is a condemnation of our species’ conception of humanity.

There was a time when I thought the first fish that took a breath of air outside the water was a giant evolutionary step forward. Not so sure any more.

And now let’s return to American Idol.

24 thoughts on “WHAT THE HELL ARE WE?

  1. This is a great expose` of our civilization. If we observed the same in other species, we would use a less positive label. In fact, we don’t live up to the standard. I will share this Zach!

      • Zach –

        ..couldn’t help but notice you did not “target” the names of the two brothers – or the one who is left. Thank you. That is my mood for the morning. Oh – and compassion and cynicism are allowed to tango together. Mz. T-Dogg

        • Trudy–I think it was Emerson said–and i paraphrase–the ability to hold two opposite ideas in your mind at the same time and know both are true is intelligence. Either that or schizophrenia.

          • !!! Yaaaaaahzzzzzz.! “…writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” E.L. Doctorow ..speaking of schizophrenia.

            thanks for your feedback…so very complicated, ain’t it??!!!? The media continues to emphasize how “surprising” and “shocking” and “mysterious” behaviors and reactions are [I’m speaking veryvery globally]–
            …WHUUUUTTTT?

          • Trudy–“so very complicated, ain’t it??!!!? The media continues to emphasize how “surprising” and “shocking” and “mysterious” behaviors and reactions are [I’m speaking veryvery globally]–
            …WHUUUUTTTT?” It is and you’re right about the media. They are nuts.

  2. Some of that’s ancient history, Zach. People should be worried about today. And there is only one country continually involved in numerous wars at the same time around the world. There is only one country with over 700 foreign military bases worldwide. Russia has one. China 0. A recent poll shows that 91% of Americans approve of the police response in Boston. Never in history has a populace been so successfully brainwashed. Never in history has a country been so militarily powerful. As this plays out I think we will see more and more people self-censor in their talk with friends, co-workers, etc & also on the internet. This has already happened in regards to the terrible Boston incident. And much more extensively than what happened in Germany too because the control of the media and the expertise on propaganda is much more advanced here and now. As I’ve said before we are heading into a very dark period. With most people supporting what is going on & most of the rest cowed into keeping their mouths shut, there is absolutely no reason for the powers that be to keep full steam ahead. Unfortunately, I’m afraid they will bring down untold numbers with them. Sorry to be so pessimistic but if this isn’t 1930 Germany or 1859 U. S. I’ll eat my hat.

    • Jed–” With most people supporting what is going on & most of the rest cowed into keeping their mouths shut, there is absolutely no reason for the powers that be to keep full steam ahead. Unfortunately, I’m afraid they will bring down untold numbers with them. Sorry to be so pessimistic but if this isn’t 1930 Germany or 1859 U. S. I’ll eat my hat.” Well, I hope you’re wrong but hard to disagree especially after what I just wrote.

  3. You pretty much summed it up when you referred to people thinking only about themselves and in the here and now. You’re talking about climbing a pretty big blue,cuz

  4. The US cruises blithely on, as if it could never fail, just like the Roman Empire before it. You want fries with that hat, Jed?

    And the media were totally focused on Boston while pipelines leaked in Arkansas, a fertilizer plant blew up in Texas, two LNG barges blew up in Alabama, and an oil refinery caught fire in Michigan, causing far more damage, deaths, and injuries than the Boston fiasco.
    But that’s big business, big American business, not a disgruntled Muslim immigrant–and on that point, I have yet to see anybody note that the guy who started the Muslim Brotherhood, the granddaddy of all “terrorist organizations,” which recently took power in Egypt with the US’s blessing, came to the US as a student and was disgusted with our superficial, materialist values–as am I, and you, and a great many other Americans, all of us sensible (or is it cowed?) enough not to take up arms against the currently all-powerful Security State. Instead, we just cultivate patience, hunker down, and hope it falls apart soon, without too big a chunk landing on us and ours.

    • Martin–“And the media were totally focused on Boston while pipelines leaked in Arkansas, a fertilizer plant blew up in Texas, two LNG barges blew up in Alabama, and an oil refinery caught fire in Michigan, causing far more damage, deaths, and injuries than the Boston fiasco.
      But that’s big business, big American business,”

      Money talks. Big money controls. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Much appreciated.

  5. You have nailed it. There is so much outrage without any sense of equivalence. Three people dead and over a hundred seriously injured is terrible
    BUt
    It is not a number out of proportion w so many other events
    THEN
    There is some kind of comparison on other grounds:
    “It is so terrible because it was affixed to marathon”
    ” it is so terrible because of randomness of victims, or it could easily have been us”
    But
    Does that make it worse?
    People killed by drones as “collateral damage” are just as innocent
    And their lives are not worth less because they by no choice of their own live in dangerous places
    I relate strongly to your comparing what happened to so many in our recent wars
    I am also troubled by how seriously people take this crime and how out of proportion the response is when compared to other evils
    I think the “take away” for me is not to stop with the comparisons but to try to make some noise about other horrors
    Are the deaths in begladesh caused by capitalist seeking cheap labor something we can afford to overlook morally or just sigh “what a shame” while people are so indignant about the marathon terrorists? Terrorism is unbridled evil, but what about mass murder to make a buck!

    • Ron–“I think the “take away” for me is not to stop with the comparisons but to try to make some noise about other horrors
      Are the deaths in begladesh caused by capitalist seeking cheap labor something we can afford to overlook morally or just sigh “what a shame” while people are so indignant about the marathon terrorists? Terrorism is unbridled evil, but what about mass murder to make a buck!”

      Your comment says it all.

    • Georgia–the following is what I received: “Did I manage to sent a reply in the middle of writing it? Let me know” will also send it thru the email adress i have for you.

  6. Zach…Below is the entire post I wrote. somehow I hit the send button while composing and I believe the first part was sent. If you want to post it into the replies that would work fine cause I don’t know exactly what, if anything went through.

    The issues you raise are thornier than a cholla cactus (with which I am intimately familiar). My background and training is as a cognitive social psychologist and this is the stuff we live and breath since even before Milgram found the stupefying obedience to authority in his famous experiments or Zimbardo discovered that it took mere hours to turn college students selected for low sadism, masochism, authoritarianism, obedience, etc. into sadistic, masochistic, obedient authoritarians. Both of these happened at premier American Universities. This is just a baseline understanding. The rest of the world may not grok it, but we do. So we try to understand what features of situations increase or decrease this propensities that are so completely at odds with any hope of democracy and civil rights. One can write a these on this and I did. but a few of the variables are:

    Like it or not, humans, like most animals, are not under the control of the long-tern consequences of actions. What is most salient, available, immediate and displaces anxiety controls our behavior. So, under conditions of fear (and the empathy of others’ fear as displayed in media) shouting and themes of retribution make people feel somewhat stronger than the sheer horror of being the witness of events totally out of our control. Media, like it or not, and I mean the sheer existence on online immediate media, increases this need because there’s no where to run, nowhere to hide, from, as the French guys like to say, the amped up spectacle.

    Can this be retrained? In many people yes, but first we have to accept that it is so (along with a whole lot of other variables) and treat it as a vexation rather than as a total failure. We are, very simply, up against the limits of our psychology. There are ways to change this (and I have trained cops enough to know it can happen), but it has to be accepted before we can begin the long slog of it Hair tearing might be necessary, but commitment to compassion for the wiring of our behavior is actually the prerequisite for change. We all have these very potent behaviors wired in. Some of us are able to de-center and find other ways. Many who are able to do that have not been able in the past. Our ability to change is powerful, but our protective fear responses have kept us alive in a more archaic sense.

    • Georgia–Got the email and posted your comment. I think it you raised a lot of different and interesting points and wanted to give folks a chance to read them. And of course, thanks for taking the time to send them to me. Appreciate your effort!

  7. The Boston bombing suspect wasn’t even captured until the lockdown order on Watertown and other nearby cities was lifted. Now we are told he wrote a “confession” while in the boat. It’s very odd this was never mentioned until he was given a lawyer and quit talking freely with his captors. Personally I think any government capable of committing the hideous outrage that was the Boston Lockdown is also capable of forging a note. They have the best experts in the business for doing exactly that.

    Do you buy all that? What did the lockdown accomplish? It proved to Federal and State authorities that if you drum up a near-hysteria the people will give up their rights and freedoms without question or resistance. That was the first time this has happened on such a massive scale in the United States. My fear is that it will not be the last.

    The Marathon bombings may or may not have been a genuine false-flag attack orchestrated by the Obama administration, but it was turned very quickly into a field experiment on how to cow-tow millions of citizens. Too many are now coming forth and saying the armed paramilitary troops that came through their doors looked through drawers and into boxes and shelves where no human being could possibly be hidden. I believe it was simply a full-scale dress rehearsal for future operations of that kind.

    The Internet gives us the wonderful opportunity to share stories and even organize people into groups which demand answers and action. Of course, every word written here is being scrutinized by Federal wiretapping authorities as we write. Nevertheless I am surprised Boston and the affected area are not now demanding answers. What the hell just hit us? What did we just allow to happen to us, our families, and our homes? Who gave this order? Did they in fact have the legal right to give that order and if so, when was that power granted to them and by whom?

    By now you must realize that the lockdown order would have been met with armed resistance from the civilians in many areas of the country. Not everyone would quietly submit to their rights which are guaranteed under the Constitution being jerked away. If the first three blocks which were swept in Watertown had resulted in fifty or sixty dead and a hundred wounded on the jackboot side, that lockdown order would have been rescinded pretty damned quickly.

    The patriots who stood up to the entire British Empire and are buried in your graves must be weeping today. We should all weep. And then get angry.

    I’m reminded of one Congressman’s comment on the “apology” from the IRS after they admitted using their incredible might to target political groups. He said his major concern at this point wasn’t getting apologies, he wanted to know which IRS people were going to serve long prison terms for this. We should now ask the same about the hundreds of thousands of fascist acts committed by every level of government during the lockdown. When are they going to be charged? When are they going to be tried? When are they going to be imprisoned, and for how many years? If the government gets away with this, we can be assured of it happening again. Only next time, there will probably be blood shed by the tanker truck-fulls.

    Our government has gone renegade. This is why the 2nd Amendment was written into the Constitution. It’s not about deer or rabbit hunting. That provision was placed there, very early on in the Bill of Rights, by men who had lived under tyranny to allow future generations to fight back against tyranny if the time ever came. In many places in the United States of today the people have allowed their governments to have that ability to fight for freedom if need be taken away by special interest groups and sob-story wailings from dead relatives of gun violence. The best we could do, or SHOULD do, for these victims is to hunt down and aggressively prosecute anyone mad enough to use a firearm in a crime.

    Shredding the Constitution and its protections for us all is not the way to go about dealing with gun crime. It’s things like the Boston Lockdown, with its armored personnel carriers, helicopters, body-armored, helmeted, and military-armed men in the streets going from house to house that gives any sane man pause for thought about the original intention of the 2nd Amendment. We may have to fight them. If that is not clear to everyone by now I suggest they return to their TVs and watch more episodes of Honey Boo-Boo because I don’t want them on the front line with me if we literally have to wage combat to retain what freedom we have.

    I’m not talking about revolution. That’s when you overthrow a government. I’m talking about RESTORING the best government the world has ever yet developed. The greedy, the power-mad, and the insolent have chipped away at it like rats behind the walls for decades now.

    What are we willing to do about it?

    • Kent–They don’t need to forge a note. They gonna kill him with or without one. As to your question of “What are we willing to do about it?” well, mostly read and watch television. Or play on the internet.

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