The Shield Wall Booms
Yesterday Thorsday, when the news feed came across that the House had passed the Obamacare replacement act, I was palpably nauseated. Predictably the Tribune front page of this morning featured a picture of the President flanked by his fawning palace guard, applauding the event in the White House Rose Garden.
Emotionally this seems like a throwback in time, the Viking war chief, and his men 
pounding their weapons on the face of their shields, a manly communion of testosterone.
Who cares that an estimated 20 million are to be without any insurance, or any treatment for serious illness or disease in a few years. Never mind that with Medicaid funds to the States capped, elderly and disabled poor will be discharged from nursing homes in the future. “Let them eat cake.”
The Dark Ages proceed apace.
2 thoughts on “The Shield Wall Booms”
I probably quote Edward Wilson too often, but it’s difficult to read today’s missive without remembering a phrase from one of his early books – ” For humans to still exist 100 years from now we must first survive a bottleneck of ignorance”. Based on the current mentality, survival may just be wishful thinking. Over the past 100 millennia, our species has not evolved beyond what we see running our country today. Believing that evolution will suddenly kick into high gear over the next few decades is delusional. We are who we are.
Speaking personally, overcoming the bottleneck of ignorance is key for surviving into a fulfilling adulthood. The opportunities for massive screw ups have never been more plentiful. A genuine education (life long learning) prevents one from making mistakes that one otherwise would have made. And yes, I have to agree with Wilson that the principle almost certainly applies to humanity as a whole. Ignorance is lethal. And lately we seem to be surrounded by ignorance in spades. Your comment reminded me of how technology seems to subvert the dispassionate course of evolution, culling the less adapted or maladaptive aspects of individuals and cultures. Technology appears to empower the ignorant and coercive, the most aggressive of us, extending longevity and influence. I do think that technology is a Faustian bargain. Sure it does make life “better” for many, but it also allows domination and economic enslavement to be widely and efficiently executed.
Yes, we are who we are. But, we will carry on as long as we can.