The regression of humanity (salvation, America, church, prophets)

[fnord]

I recall, as a child in the 80s, watching the news about whatever war was hot at that time (probably the conflict in Lebanon) and how the fighting had gone on for seven years. At the time I couldn't comprehend how a war could last so long - still can't - and I remember thinking surely once that ended everything would be peaceful, that people would reach an agreement and it would never happen again. Same with other issues - religious and racial acceptance, equality for all, unhindered advancements in technology and development that actually help people instead of hurt them.

Now, two decades later, this obviously isn't the case and things seem to be getting worse. The election here in the US has brought out attitudes and behaviors that I thought were long gone. The hateful verbal spewings, the racial comments, the anti this & that, the blatant ignorance and idiocracy despite vastly available resources for education - it's regression. Now the new chosen enemy seems to be Muslims - judging an entire culture of people based on the radical and violent actions of a few. The ignorant forum topics, newspaper editorials, and media propoganda is growing at an alarming rate and I'm both shocked and disappointed. I guess I'm just missing the defective gene that tells me it's ok to judge a person, and hence hate them, based on the color of their skin, what God they believe in or don't believe in at all, or who they choose to love as a life partner.

I watched another documentary today about the Rwandan genocide - a great pick if you want to sink into depression and loss of hope in humanity. After the Jewish Holocaust, an "international oath" was made by numerous nations to put an immediate stop to any genocide. I think we all know what happened in Rwanda. And Cambodia. Bosnia. Congo. And on and on. My point is not that the US (or other country, or group of countries) should jump into the role of playing superhero and saving the day, but rather that wars and genocides continue happening to this day. It's as if humanity as a whole is learning nothing from the horrors of war, the losses, the destruction - and deliberately continuing the struggle. Years into the Vietnam War, people started wondering what the war was actually for. It was pointless. Press repeat with the US occupation and invasion of Middle Eastern nations, five years and counting. Political corruption and corporate greed is a huge source of the world's problems. I'm really beginning to wonder if we are actually just a part of The Matrix. Not real.

"It's too peaceful now - time to pick something new to hate...hmmm, how about Muslims - they're all terrorists and those head scarves and prayer rituals have got to go! And homosexuals - they are a sin in my holy book and even though others' personal lives are of no concern to me, they don't deserve the same rights as me and they've got to go too! And Jewish people - they run Hollywood and banks and are all wealthy - I hate them!" I'm just giving vague examples of regressive hatred common in the US, but human conflict is worldwide and the bottom line is intolerance.

Why hate?

I watched "The Day After" yesterday (it's on Google video), an early 80s TV movie about the presumed scenario if A-bombs were dropped in middle America. I hadn't seen this movie since I was 9, but I've remembered it clearly all these years. With the US government meddling further and further in the business of countries on the other side of the world, such a scenario doesn't seem too far off.

Einstein said "WW3 will be fought with nuclear weapons. WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones." I don't doubt it.

[moonshadow]

Perhaps, and I realize this could sound like burying your head in the sand, but perhaps it is better to turn off the media? Or at least limit how much of it you pay attention to.

Ultimately the ONLY real impact you will have in this life, is how YOU live YOUR life. Focusing on the bad in humanity will only give you a sense of hopelessness. I can't see that the bad is going to go away, people will always do bad things either randomly on their own or collectively in groups. Really the only difference between now and history is that these days if someone does something truly dispicable in Darfur you are going to hear about it on the 6pm news in downtown America, thrown in after the story about who Angelina Jolie is adopting next and whether Madge's marriage is on the rocks or not.

Treat yourself, friends, family and neighbours well. Be kind to animals and those around you. Involve yourself in community projects and if you have the time and energy and some good will left over then perhaps put it to some good use helping larger causes and fighting injustices?

I don't doubt for a minute that you are feeling very hopeless if you've just watched The Day After. That is the kind of response a movie like that evokes, but if it makes you feel any better I saw that movie ONE time over 20 years ago AND it shaped HOW I went about my life. In all those years since seeing that movie I have always stood firm and been true to the principles of pacifism. I'm quite sure that the film has had an equally positive impact on so many others that have seen it but you don't hear about them in the media. So I guess I say to you, don't make what you take away from that film be a sense of hopelessness. Grasp it as an opportunity to decide how YOU will go about changing the world to be a better place. There are plenty of other people doing just that RIGHT NOW, you just have to find them. Focus on the positive achievements of humanity. I would say your battle for now is to not let the bastards grind you down.

[Terryj]

There is an ole saying: "Those that do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."

[esselcue]

Originally Posted by moonshadow

Perhaps, and I realize this could sound like burying your head in the sand, but perhaps it is better to turn off the media? Or at least limit how much of it you pay attention to.

Ultimately the ONLY real impact you will have in this life, is how YOU live YOUR life. Focusing on the bad in humanity will only give you a sense of hopelessness. I can't see that the bad is going to go away, people will always do bad things either randomly on their own or collectively in groups. Really the only difference between now and history is that these days if someone does something truly dispicable in Darfur you are going to hear about it on the 6pm news in downtown America, thrown in after the story about who Angelina Jolie is adopting next and whether Madge's marriage is on the rocks or not.

Treat yourself, friends, family and neighbours well. Be kind to animals and those around you. Involve yourself in community projects and if you have the time and energy and some good will left over then perhaps put it to some good use helping larger causes and fighting injustices?

I don't doubt for a minute that you are feeling very hopeless if you've just watched The Day After. That is the kind of response a movie like that evokes, but if it makes you feel any better I saw that movie ONE time over 20 years ago AND it shaped HOW I went about my life. In all those years since seeing that movie I have always stood firm and been true to the principles of pacifism. I'm quite sure that the film has had an equally positive impact on so many others that have seen it but you don't hear about them in the media. So I guess I say to you, don't make what you take away from that film be a sense of hopelessness. Grasp it as an opportunity to decide how YOU will go about changing the world to be a better place. There are plenty of other people doing just that RIGHT NOW, you just have to find them. Focus on the positive achievements of humanity. I would say your battle for now is to not let the bastards grind you down.

This is so true. The only power we really have is over ourselves and how we live our lives. You can choose to be depressed and fearful and horrified about the world around you or you can choose to be kind, happy, and hopeful. It all starts from within. Maybe your light will not affect the rest of world, in fact it probably won't, but it will affect YOUR world and that is the first step. There is still far more good in this world than there is evil, far more wonderful people than bad people...we just don't hear about the good and the wonderful...you have to believe that they're out there. And they are.

Put away the doom & gloom and go forth into your neighborhood, your community and be a positive force.

[Black Ghost 7]

Very good post and I think at times we all share the same frustrations. As a believer I even more confused and angry that within the church for example there is a similar attitude when its Creator Jesus stood for hope and life. I myself was often confused as to how this hope and life worked out in my ordinary life, what does it mean beyond my personal salvation? Over time I learned that in fighting the bad, in standing up for all those things that are in fact bad you can find nothing but fulfilment and hope and life. This is where I agree with moonshadow; focus on the good, fight injustice and know that making even the smallest difference actually makes a difference.

Desmond Tutu said:

[SIZE=4]If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor[/SIZE]

[Huckleberry3911948]

internet and TV bring a lota news into the house of which b4 we were ignorant. when TV came to malaysia for the 1st time the small village saw how the west lived. they were so ashamed of their poverty many committed suicide.

[GCSTroop]

It's the ebb and flow of humanity. It has some horribly depressing aspects to it but it also has its beauties as well. You know what's strange, though? In a few hundred years, schoolchildren will be reading about all of the things that happened in our day and age. To the history readers of the future, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the two Iraq Conflicts as well as all of our other excursions will make it seem like we lived in a time of brutal conflict, war, and strife. Yet, there will be a strange sort of femoral detachment from the reality of the things we have incurred. Have you ever read about any large scale battle in history and actually really empathized with it? It's not only difficult to put it into perspective, but it's also difficult to obtain a modicum of reference for elapsed time.

We hear 19th century and we tend to think of the century as a whole as if it happened in a single week or a single day. When in reality there were an enormous amount of things that happened throughout our country as well as the world in that time. After all, to put it in context, Lewis and Clark charted the Louisiana Purchase in the early 19th century (that Thomas Jefferson was responsible for buying) and we finished it out just a few years short of automobiles and airplanes.

I guess my point is that history will always seem more vivid and realistic to the people living it. Both the horrible and the wonderful things that we live through will always affect us much more deeply than reading any history book will ever give us a perspective on. It's not because we're inhumane or incapable of understanding, it's just hard to put a frame of reference on both the time and the occurrences when we weren't living it.

Overall, I don't really view it as a regression of humanity. I think that as odd as it may sound that we are actually becoming better people. While there are still genocides that occur in this world, they are not happening on the scale of those that took place several hundred years ago (read about the Spanish Conquistadors). Disease is being cured on an unenviable level and charity organizations such as Danny Thomas' St. Jude Children's Hospital in my very own crime-ridden hometown of Memphis are wonderful things. Hardly will you find these things by picking up a history book. Compassion and love are surely human traits and as bad as things may seem in this world today, they have always been bad and or worse if you choose to put those spectacles on.

Yet, perhaps I'm a bit of an optimist but I tend to think the world is very slowly but very surely becoming a better place - contrary to what all of the Doomsday prophets and Armageddon preachers want you to believe. Don't worry about them, they're still stuck in the 12th century.