Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Musings: Emerging Insanities

The moon — full and eclipsing today — had long since moseyed into the mounds of black that pressed heavily on the mountains when Koko and I went walking this morning. Puddles had formed in the road and rain still dripped from the eaves as a refreshingly cool wind tugged at my tee-shirt and ruffled through Koko’s fur.

A strip of pink ran along the horizon, reminding me of last evening at the beach, where a trio of big iwa floated effortlessly into the rosy streaks of sunset as a golden moon climbed into the boughs of an ironwood tree.

Those are the images and experiences that keep me grounded, and sane, when confronted with the incessant, emerging insanities of modern life. A few recent ones come to mind, such the the study that found such previously benign activities as digging or being buried in the sand are linked to gastrointestinal ailments. It’s a bacteria thing, but whether it’s caused by sewage treatment discharges, urban runoff or other animals (yeah, blame the four-legged kind) remains unclear, or at least, unproven.

Then there’s the issue of whether Andrew J. Hall should get a $100 million bonus. In case you’re not familiar with the man and his deeds, his speculations in the energy markets helped drive up gas prices last summer, while earning Citigroup $2 billion over the past five years. Thing is, we taxpayers bailed out Citigroup to the tune of $45 billion, prompting The New York Times to express this bit of modern day angst:

Whatever the answer, the case of Mr. Hall highlights the hazards of mixing the public interest with capitalism at its most unbridled, and it raises basic questions of fairness.

It fails, unfortunately, to address the key issue: is capitalism at its most unbridled ever compatible with the public interest?

Don’t forget the rush to build the $68 million “bunker buster” — the largest conventional bomb to date and part of America’s ongoing contribution to peace on the planet. Oh, but don’t worry. We’re the good guys, remember? Besides, it’s mostly for show:

It's very possible that the Pentagon wants to send a signal to various countries, particularly Iran and North Korea, that the United States is developing a viable military option against their nuclear programs," [Kenneth Katzman, an expert on Iran at the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of CongressKatzman] said.

But he cautioned against concluding there was any specific mission in mind at this time.


Meanwhile, Obama receives some 30 death threats daily — an increase of 400 percent over his predecessors — for having the audacity to be the nation’s first African American president. Yup, ain’t nothin’ scarier than a smart, caring, charismatic and powerful black man.

And even as 1.02 billion people hover on the brink of starvation, Americans are literally eating themselves to sickness and death because of their addiction to the crap that now commonly passes as food. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the direct medical costs of obesity total about $147 billion a year — nine percent of all US medical spending — and it’s getting worse.

Much closer to home, the county is permitting oceanfront vacation rentals, and the state and county are pressing forward to build a bike path on Wailua Beach, even as other places, such as California, are rethinking development in low-lying coastal areas in anticipation of rising sea levels and other effects of climate change.

To minimize the potential damage from climate change, the report recommends that cities and counties offer incentives to encourage property owners in high-risk areas to relocate and limit future development in places that might be affected by flooding, coastal erosion and sea level rise.

You can sign a petition against the Wailua Beach route for the bike path here. Why build on the beach when it could go behind Coco Palms?

If you’d like to learn more about the issue, including cultural concerns, you can check out this video.

Me, I just remember the peacefulness of the wedgetail shearwaters I saw on Tuesday afternoon. They were snug in their burrows, which blended seamlessly into the coastal hillside, patently sitting on the eggs that will hatch into the chicks that will continue the cycle that began well before we humans walked the earth, and hopeful will continue, despite our global crazy-making.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joan said; "is capitalism at its most unbridled ever compatible with the public interest?"

Short answer, NO!

Anonymous said...

Unbridled "anything" is not compatible with the public interest.

Even "do-gooders" go off the track sooner or later without an overriding adjusting entity.

But, humans being what they are, even the overseers need oversight.

Nothing - good or bad - lasts forever.

The inborn inclinations of man - which are more bad (by intention or just mistake) then good - cause the wheels to fall off any societal wagon given enough time.

Anonymous said...

"The inborn inclinations of man - which are more bad (by intention or just mistake) then good - cause the wheels to fall off any societal wagon given enough time."

More bad? So you subscribe to the Christian belief of "original sin" as opposed to the Buddhist mis-takes of hate, desire, and delusion?

who pray tell oversees the overseeers and who in turn oversees them?

Anonymous said...

No matter what religious belief one subscribes to, all human history tells the same story. The rise and fall of both good and bad systems and the overall declining trend from the beginning until now.

Whether you call it "original sin" or "Buddhist mistakes", hate, desire, delusion, greed, ect. are the common threads of humanity...sometimes in the foreground of the tapestry, sometimes in the background...but always there...always exerting the entropic influence that causes the wheels to come off sooner or later.

Nothing will change.

Anonymous said...

Hey, what did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?

"Make me one with everything!"

Anonymous said...

"always exerting the entropic influence that causes the wheels to come off sooner or later."

Only true if you disregard the countervailing influence of synergy.

Anonymous said...

That doesn't work with humans. If it did, we'd have seen it by now.

Any hope of humans solving their own problems world-wide forever is an illusion.

Anonymous said...

My world view is that there is no hope for humankind to achieve any degree of sustained world-wide improvement. There will be peaks and valleys, but the trend will be constantly downwards until....game over.

So, try to rearrange the deck chairs on this Titanic if you wish...maybe you'll achieve a small degree of "success" for a short time.

But, overall, it's meaningless.

Anonymous said...

"Only true if you disregard the countervailing influence of synergy."

That doesn't work with anything else either. All systems, mechanical or social, run down, even with maintenance.

And, due to entropy itself, the "maintainers" are also subject to "erosion" and ultimate failure.

Entropy wins every time.

There is no long-term hope.

Anonymous said...

"That doesn't work with humans. If it did, we'd have seen it by now."

What a sourpuss. We have seen it (at least those willing to look). Both entropy and synergy are basic laws that apply to all systems including humans. Try education yourself and your eyesight and opinions may improve.

Dawson said...

It's doom! It's gloom! It's always gonna be the same!

It's hysterical. We've been on the planet for an eyeblink, and already our brains have the balls to believe we can forecast our future.

Sweet Jesus, the unbridled ego!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of "Sweet Jesus"...in the inspired scriptures it does say that "mankind who is walking cannot direct his own steps", and "mankind is bad from his birth up".

Basically, we cannot, cannot achieve global lasting success by ourselves.

Soon, God will once again step in, envoke a world-wide theocracy and set everything straight.

Think of it as an all-powerful benevolent dictatorship. We can't change it, only take steps to be part of it or not. The "or not" option isn't advisable.

Believe it or not, it doesn't matter. It's coming.

Anonymous said...

wing nut hippies; painfully uninformed locals; crazy jesus freaks. the ranks of the delusional are now complete


dwps

Dawson said...

"wing nut hippies; painfully uninformed locals; crazy jesus freaks. the ranks of the delusional are now complete"

You forgot to add those who claim the authority of knowing reality from delusion, and who believe themselves able to correctly identify the proportions of each in everyone they encounter.

Quite an amazing skill! Is it a genetic inheritance or can one take lessons?

Anonymous said...

a bit of nurture and nature i suspect, to answer your question


dwps


ps - i trust there will be a ~ "seal killer caught" blurb in a coming KE blog article. man...78? old angry fella

Anonymous said...

"shot 3 seals, then himself. police mystified. blog entries show pattern of underlying rage. Crosby, Nash and Young relieved."

Anonymous said...

"Entropy wins every time."

Not really. There is no winner and there is no every. There is just time and space. Synergy means the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Entropy is always observed in local systems. Look at most local systems and they seem to be breaking down. Lacking omnipresence and being only part of the whole we experience mostly entropy. Synergy can be glimpsed but never grasped. No part can see the whole, but that is not proof the whole is not there. Seems to me there is more information now than ever before, more communications than ever before. Entropy is not even systems breaking down but rather spreading out and becoming incoherent, but only from a limited perspective, which evidently is the one you hold. Quite being such a nihilist cry-baby.

Anonymous said...

Hey, what did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?

"Make me one with everything!"

So the vendor obliges with sourkraut, mustard, onions, relish, chili, katsup and mayo slathered upon the wiener and bun.

The monk hand over a twenty dollar bill and the vendor shouts,"Next!"
The monk complains," Where's my change?"
To which the vendor replies, "Change comes from within, next!"

Anonymous said...

"Seems to me there is more information now than ever before, more communications than ever before."

And, starting in the 20th century and continuing today, more: wars; starvation; pestilence; greed; crime; ecological damage; etc.

Great use of that info and communication, eh?

Looks like breakdown to me. I see no end in sight.

What is your "white knight" solution?

Wait..on the horizon there...not a "white knight", but four horsemen...

The synergy/entropy thing may have some application to huge physical systems (the universe, maybe), but here on good ole' planet earth, humanity's "scorecard" wouldn't be anything to proudly tape the the fridge door.

Anonymous said...

Hey, look at this...the conversation has risen to something more meaningful that whining about independence and how it's all just so unfair.

It's tied to the bigger pic, though. The world is not just or fair. It just "is".

Anonymous said...

"The synergy/entropy thing may have some application to huge physical systems (the universe, maybe), but here on good ole' planet earth, humanity's "scorecard" wouldn't be anything to proudly tape the the fridge door."

Your argument reminds me of the dullard council member that when exponential growth was explained remarked "I don't think that applies locally." Duh!

Anonymous said...

OK, so when does synergy for humanity start? What force, revelation, leader, etc, will reverse humanity's downward trend?

First alien contact?
Scientology?
Hawaii independence?
Breakout of limited country-to-country nuke war?
Terrorists detonating nuke suitcase bombs?
The new season of American Idol?

Make a convincing, compelling argument for your position. Really sell it. Show us all how it overcomes all that we see now.

Anonymous said...

"Make a convincing, compelling argument for your position. Really sell it. Show us all how it overcomes all that we see now."

Sorry not a salesperson. If logic fails to convince, I doubt pulling rabbits out of hats will convince anyone that the universal laws of entropy, synergy, exponential growth, etc. apply universally without exception.

Anonymous said...

OK...given universal laws apply universally, where does that leave humanity?

Anonymous said...

Circling the drain, that's where.

Don't matter if Hawaii is part of the USA turd or a separate turd, all are headed the same way.

Only remaining questions: how far is the fall and how long will it take.

Anonymous said...

"OK...given universal laws apply universally, where does that leave humanity?"

In a tautology on the horns of a dilemma trying to bring manifold to unity?

Anonymous said...

"Only remaining questions: how far is the fall and how long will it take."

Or how high is the trip?

Anonymous said...

There must be a lot of people trippin' pretty high to seriously think sovereignty is in any way possible.

Pass that bottle/doobie over here!