Reflections on Vaclav Havel's "Summer Meditations"
The most surprising thing about his discussions so far is the connection he makes between a moral society and a functioning government. One great quote he makes is "What good, for instance would a law be if no one respected it, no one defended it, and no one tried responsibly to follow it." Havel talkes at length about the importance of a "civil society" which he thinks is the fundamental and unique base to an egalitarian society. I agree.
Many people in this country, and many more people outside the USA in the community of the world are worried that the government of my country is slipping into the early stages of totalitarianism. I think that the early signs are not good. You can see countless examples, hidden from most US based press, but widely reported outside the US. For example, the rejection of the World Court, rejection of the Geneva Conventions rules, prohibition of UN sponsored election overseers, and the beginning stages of withdrawal from the only conceptual congress of nations, the United Nations. Most people recognize this as the beginning of despotic rule, the rejection of outside interference and influence, which is exactly what you saw in places like Iraq, Cuba and North Korea. And, how easy to convince a paranoid populace ruled also by fear that the outside world is against you and that none of the arguments against those in power have merit.
I think there are connections between the negative change in American society and our slide to despotism. Not that I think that America actually ever was the beacon of hope and democracy that many Americans would like to believe. The USA has even recently elected well know bigots, functionaries of the KKK, and religious zealots of all stripes. The "good ol' days" which many people remember with nostalgia was only the good ol' days if you were upper class and white. Wholesale discrimination of minorities was not just a fact of life but the world of law. Laws restricting interracial marriage and discrimination were on the books in many states until the 1970s. But, definitely there is a pronounced increase in what I think can be ascribed as "moral decay." You definitely notice more excess and gluttony; people obese at almost a 70% rate in the US. Debt levels and bankruptcy rates are at record levels. Most children spend more time in front of the television than they do with their friends, much less their families. And, the movies they watch are only distinguished from each other by the further increase in violence from one to one, while video games actively train children to think violently. There is refusal fro mall parties to act responsibly and to criticize these situations. Many parents eat the same bad food they know to be harmful to their children, plays the same video games as their children, and have the model of excess that their children follow. And our politicians will never criticize the businesses that profit from these things, the Kmart, the McDonalds, the Electronic Arts.
As we experience this decline in morality, so parallels a decline in our politics. Havel mentions that politicians are a mirror of their society. We can definitely agree that public discussion in the current election has centered on the war records of 30 years ago and almost nothing about the problems facing us currently, like Iraq, or problems facing us in the future like social security. Of course, many people would suggest that they are not driving the debate, but it says something that people vote for those that participate in this kind of debate.
A democracy can only function if the populace is educated and involved and while no one would seriously argue that the political debate is positive and constructive in our political process we consistently elect people who engage in that kind of campaigning. Bush would deny that he was involved in the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ads, but a lawyer from his staff resigned due to a connection, and of of the two people bankrolling these as is one of the largest fundraisers for GW Bush. So we must admit that if we assume that our own moral decisions are often misguided that our politicians are extremely reflective of our own deficiencies.
This "moral decay" is not limited to a small subset of conservatives or "gay activists" or a small subset of another fictionalized radical group. I would conjecture that primarily due to globalization and a loss of national identity brought about by excessive media consumption we as a culture have lost our moral compass. It is now impossible to purchase almost any good that is made in America, much less in our local community. WTO, NAFTA and other trade agreements have liberalized tariffs such that local economies can no longer compete with cheap goods from China and India. Yet it is not fair to blame the efects of human nature on politicians. We can say that they assisted in our downfall - after all, they are we in every way - but we must realize we drove the final nail in the coffin. NAFTA would have had no effect had we strongly respected the work of our fellow neighbors as farmers, and had we respected the human rights of the people who produced that t-shirt under the threat of an AK-47. It is now almost impossible to live at our current standard of living in a moral way. Too many of the products we purchase have a long sordid history by the time they reach our shopping bags. Twenty years ago things were different but perhaps much the same; the distinguishing fact is that we now know what environmental damage is caused by our chemical and petroleum companies and it is getting harder to ignore.
So to improve our political system we must improve our moral system. When we buy something, we should ask ourselves, did anyone have to die to produce this? If ten people died because the factory attempted to suppress the attempt to unionize which ends in violence, any sane person would not purchase that product. It is as simple as that.
The most surprising thing about his discussions so far is the connection he makes between a moral society and a functioning government. One great quote he makes is "What good, for instance would a law be if no one respected it, no one defended it, and no one tried responsibly to follow it." Havel talkes at length about the importance of a "civil society" which he thinks is the fundamental and unique base to an egalitarian society. I agree.
Many people in this country, and many more people outside the USA in the community of the world are worried that the government of my country is slipping into the early stages of totalitarianism. I think that the early signs are not good. You can see countless examples, hidden from most US based press, but widely reported outside the US. For example, the rejection of the World Court, rejection of the Geneva Conventions rules, prohibition of UN sponsored election overseers, and the beginning stages of withdrawal from the only conceptual congress of nations, the United Nations. Most people recognize this as the beginning of despotic rule, the rejection of outside interference and influence, which is exactly what you saw in places like Iraq, Cuba and North Korea. And, how easy to convince a paranoid populace ruled also by fear that the outside world is against you and that none of the arguments against those in power have merit.
I think there are connections between the negative change in American society and our slide to despotism. Not that I think that America actually ever was the beacon of hope and democracy that many Americans would like to believe. The USA has even recently elected well know bigots, functionaries of the KKK, and religious zealots of all stripes. The "good ol' days" which many people remember with nostalgia was only the good ol' days if you were upper class and white. Wholesale discrimination of minorities was not just a fact of life but the world of law. Laws restricting interracial marriage and discrimination were on the books in many states until the 1970s. But, definitely there is a pronounced increase in what I think can be ascribed as "moral decay." You definitely notice more excess and gluttony; people obese at almost a 70% rate in the US. Debt levels and bankruptcy rates are at record levels. Most children spend more time in front of the television than they do with their friends, much less their families. And, the movies they watch are only distinguished from each other by the further increase in violence from one to one, while video games actively train children to think violently. There is refusal fro mall parties to act responsibly and to criticize these situations. Many parents eat the same bad food they know to be harmful to their children, plays the same video games as their children, and have the model of excess that their children follow. And our politicians will never criticize the businesses that profit from these things, the Kmart, the McDonalds, the Electronic Arts.
As we experience this decline in morality, so parallels a decline in our politics. Havel mentions that politicians are a mirror of their society. We can definitely agree that public discussion in the current election has centered on the war records of 30 years ago and almost nothing about the problems facing us currently, like Iraq, or problems facing us in the future like social security. Of course, many people would suggest that they are not driving the debate, but it says something that people vote for those that participate in this kind of debate.
A democracy can only function if the populace is educated and involved and while no one would seriously argue that the political debate is positive and constructive in our political process we consistently elect people who engage in that kind of campaigning. Bush would deny that he was involved in the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ads, but a lawyer from his staff resigned due to a connection, and of of the two people bankrolling these as is one of the largest fundraisers for GW Bush. So we must admit that if we assume that our own moral decisions are often misguided that our politicians are extremely reflective of our own deficiencies.
This "moral decay" is not limited to a small subset of conservatives or "gay activists" or a small subset of another fictionalized radical group. I would conjecture that primarily due to globalization and a loss of national identity brought about by excessive media consumption we as a culture have lost our moral compass. It is now impossible to purchase almost any good that is made in America, much less in our local community. WTO, NAFTA and other trade agreements have liberalized tariffs such that local economies can no longer compete with cheap goods from China and India. Yet it is not fair to blame the efects of human nature on politicians. We can say that they assisted in our downfall - after all, they are we in every way - but we must realize we drove the final nail in the coffin. NAFTA would have had no effect had we strongly respected the work of our fellow neighbors as farmers, and had we respected the human rights of the people who produced that t-shirt under the threat of an AK-47. It is now almost impossible to live at our current standard of living in a moral way. Too many of the products we purchase have a long sordid history by the time they reach our shopping bags. Twenty years ago things were different but perhaps much the same; the distinguishing fact is that we now know what environmental damage is caused by our chemical and petroleum companies and it is getting harder to ignore.
So to improve our political system we must improve our moral system. When we buy something, we should ask ourselves, did anyone have to die to produce this? If ten people died because the factory attempted to suppress the attempt to unionize which ends in violence, any sane person would not purchase that product. It is as simple as that.
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unida:
thanks for your friendship!
luscious:
Hi