Society Today

I have had a few days to reflect on may things recently, in part through my meditation, in part via sleeping, writing or reading (yes I multitask, except in meditation as that defeats the purpose), and I have come to realize just how fucked up society is.  It never used to be this fucked up; so where did it all go wrong?  That is hard to say, but let's examine it some.

Rome, heralded as one of the ultimate civilizations of all time, certainly had its share of troubles.  Sex was always rampant and never far away, with anything goes, the army was used to keep everything in check, and as far as they were concerned, they had it right to the point of beating down everyone in their path that disagreed with them.  And bonus was, if you didn't like the person in power, just kill him and make room for the next one.  Hell, it's even coming out Nero wasn't as bad as he was supposed to be, much like Richard the III.  I have often wondered how much of an impact Christianity had on the fall of the Roman Empire.  Perhaps it is time to write a paper on it.  But either way, Rome used its military quite effectively, to the point that if the Tenth Legion was coming, the enemy were pissing in their pants.  And let's not forget the Colosseum, excellent way to rid yourself of your enemies. 

So is it any wonder we see things like the killing of the school children in a school over in Pakistan.  We see here the same mentality:  you don't agree with what we believe, then we're going to force it on you, and then kill you.  Nice to see that big super powers cannot deal with what essentially are a group of nomads living on ideals from 2000 years ago.  But then again, has the Western World really evolved from those ideals at all?

I have often said that Western civilization reached its peak in the 1920s, and that we are in slow decline, but once again, when things didn't meet up with Western standards, off the US goes and into war, to correct it, thus forcing their ideals down someone's throat.  And I'm not talking recent wars, but more along the lines of the Vietnam War.  I once saw a Monty Python skit that described the spread of communism very well involving tooth rot.  But essentially the Vietnam war was pretty much a war to make sure that Asia in that area, remained closer to the values of the US, and to prevent the spread of communism.  And they lost once again, in part to a superior force in terms of tactics, but inferior to some degree in technology.  The saddest part of this war is that its veterans were never welcomed home properly, rather they were spit upon and despised by many.

But in a smaller sense, we see this in individuals too.  The Korean Air Lines brat as I will call her, threw a big hissy fit over the fact she was served nuts in a bag, rather than on a plate and made an entire plane turn around and go back to get rid of the Steward.  This is much like a Roman Emperor who wants everything, but then in the end is killed.  And in this case, everyone turned against her and now she is the equivalent of an assassinated Emperor. 

Even in my day to day, I see people who push their views down others' throats, whether it be over policies, points of view or just lack of listening.  And even resort, behind your back, to push their view.  I can respect someone's view, even when disagreeing with them, but when you become a dumbass, that's where I draw the line.

So when I look at society today, I realize we really haven't evolved at all since the days of the Roman Empire and perhaps earlier.  Many people believe in Atlantis in part because it was a society that didn't suffer from such things.  As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s, I certainly don't remember seeing stuff like this happening, but then I was more oblivious to it. I don't think having a war to exterminate others because they don't like your points of view is ultimately going to work, quite simply because it never worked for anyone else.  Until society decides to evolve beyond the principles of the past, we shouldn't expect any different from anyone, should we.  And for that to happen, someone, somewhere must take the first step.  But for now, as people are calling for vengeance, perhaps we need to return to the ways of the Romans:  forget vengeance, just wipe them all out like Rome did with Carthage.  I mean, what have you got to lose, this world is still the world of the Romans in many ways.

Not sure we've gotten beyond the third from the right yet......