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Sep. 22nd, 2009 07:30 pmOnce in a while I'm feeling slightly guilty and rather more than slightly shallow because all I ever write about here is me, myself & I, the books I read and TV shows I watch, and never about the serious political stuff.
It's not that I don't care; it's mostly that I've become too fatalistic.
For the last fifteen years or so every election here has shown, over and over again, that there are a good 25-30% that will vote for a party, any party, because (or despite, which IMO is bad enough, but reading the online comment sections even in leftist/liberal papers I'm less and less inclined to give people that benefit of doubt) of blatantly racist and especially islam-phobic rhetoric. When I was a teenager it was Haider, now it's Strache; the face doesn't seem to matter. And the other parties have no better solutions now than they had then, and perhaps even less principles. It's not that I don't care anymore, but after watching this for a couple of decades and almost as much time voting for parties that never end up in government I don't really have the energy for more than a helpless shrug. I know my cynicism in this regard is harmful, but in the end I suspect what stands between democracy and a version of fascism here (and probably not only here) is a certain amount of prosperity.
And on a global scale? We're part of a system that is built on injustice, exploitation and poverty, because, and someone/anyone please correct me here, this planet and its resources won't support the current material standard of living for each and every one of its 6.8 billion people. Now I do believe that people, as individuals, can change their opinions and learn, but as societies I think we're too immobile. How many times over the course of history has a group of people willingly given up power and wealth in the name of justice and equality unless they were forced to? Collectively, we don't learn unless it hurts a lot, and often not even then. Changes are made by those who have nothing to lose, not by those protecting their own interests.
I'd love to be surprised, but I suspect nothing will change until the heads start rolling, at least metaphorically.
Unless of course we manage to completely ruin the planet before that.
Which doesn't mean that I don't believe that every little thing that contributes to making each others lives a bit better instead of worse isn't still very much worth doing, whatever will happen in the long run, but on the whole... I'm simply too much of a pessimist here.
It's not that I don't care; it's mostly that I've become too fatalistic.
For the last fifteen years or so every election here has shown, over and over again, that there are a good 25-30% that will vote for a party, any party, because (or despite, which IMO is bad enough, but reading the online comment sections even in leftist/liberal papers I'm less and less inclined to give people that benefit of doubt) of blatantly racist and especially islam-phobic rhetoric. When I was a teenager it was Haider, now it's Strache; the face doesn't seem to matter. And the other parties have no better solutions now than they had then, and perhaps even less principles. It's not that I don't care anymore, but after watching this for a couple of decades and almost as much time voting for parties that never end up in government I don't really have the energy for more than a helpless shrug. I know my cynicism in this regard is harmful, but in the end I suspect what stands between democracy and a version of fascism here (and probably not only here) is a certain amount of prosperity.
And on a global scale? We're part of a system that is built on injustice, exploitation and poverty, because, and someone/anyone please correct me here, this planet and its resources won't support the current material standard of living for each and every one of its 6.8 billion people. Now I do believe that people, as individuals, can change their opinions and learn, but as societies I think we're too immobile. How many times over the course of history has a group of people willingly given up power and wealth in the name of justice and equality unless they were forced to? Collectively, we don't learn unless it hurts a lot, and often not even then. Changes are made by those who have nothing to lose, not by those protecting their own interests.
I'd love to be surprised, but I suspect nothing will change until the heads start rolling, at least metaphorically.
Unless of course we manage to completely ruin the planet before that.
Which doesn't mean that I don't believe that every little thing that contributes to making each others lives a bit better instead of worse isn't still very much worth doing, whatever will happen in the long run, but on the whole... I'm simply too much of a pessimist here.
