I don’t like being a pessimist. Too much of my life has been spent believing that things just continue to spiral downward with no end in sight. When you were raised in poverty like I was, or you’re a member of an oppressed minority as others have been, you start to build a foundation of skepticism and cynicism when it comes to the potential inherent goodness of human beings.
We pollute the earth, we murder millions of animals, not just for food but for sport, we wipe out entire species, decimate forests, detonate bombs in the atmosphere, and scorch the ground so many of us live on.
We lie to each other to gain an edge or to protect a hoard of resources, we compete with each other for basic necessities despite having plenty for everyone, and the people who insist that they are good are also the people who rob us blind of those very resources, let a little of it trickle back to us in exchange for our blood and sweat, and then condemn us if we ask for more.
Sometimes, when you read the history of your country, especially if you’re a western nation, you realize that we were a terrorist nation for so long. The US obviously continues in that role, but so many western nations have been involved in the genocide of countless lives over its history.
It’s not that white western nations are the only ones who committed genocides, but white western nations were so good at it we stamped out and erased the history of the previous nations that might have engaged in the same. In other words, we were so ruthlessly efficient at ethnic cleansing and cultural appropriation that we simply erased the existence of millions of human beings and took their land, calling it Manifest Destiny or Lebensraum.
We need to make amends for that. I believe paths to restoration include landback and reparations. White societies, which is what I live in, owe a massive debt to native Americans, to black people, to oppressed minority groups it used as chattel and then tossed aside once the roads, rails, bridges, and dams had been built.
There is blood underneath the streets in every city in the US.
So when I read about these things, and then think about these things, I wonder if there was ever any good in human beings or if we’ve always been rotten.
Religious folks, like Christians, like to believe that God created mankind, and mankind failed God, sinning and being cast out of the Garden of Eden and made to toil and sweat, always living in imperfection as a punishment for disobedience.
I don’t subscribe to that. Humans don’t need a vengeful, spiteful God to give us a reason to be hateful, cruel, and bigoted.
On the other hand, I also don’t believe we need a God to be kind, compassionate, and generous. We don’t need to devote ourselves to a religion just to do good, or to be good, because in many ways we define what is good, and while I won’t get into the sophistry of it, our potential as a species to create, connect, and grow is enormous, almost unlimited.
I do believe we could have a Star Trek future one day, that we could have the glorious luxury gay space communism that many of us like to joke about tongue in cheek, but our hearts truly desire a world where we can be treated gently, with compassion and understanding.
It’s not pie in the sky to want a better world, to want a materially better world, and I’m tired of living in a society that demans we temper our expectations to accept the “lesser evil” of an already bad situation.
Why do we keep letting these assholes write the rules? Why do we let them dictate what is and isn’t human nature? The rich aren’t superior human beings, they’re just assholes who were willing to lie, cheat, and extort to get what they wanted, and then claimed it was good.
Well it’s not! Good may be subjective sometimes, but I can tell you what isn’t good: stealing from the people who build roads, rails, bridges, and dams and then claiming they’re not smart enough or good enough to deserve the benefits of their labor.
It’s also not good to other people who are disabled, pushing them to the margins of society as if they’re burdens or undeserving of food, shelter, medical care, and all of the other social necessities.
We deserve better than this! We can have better than this! I believe most people are good. I also believe that most people are exhausted and when a human being is tired and stressed, they’re more easily lead into thoughts and frames of mind that allow corruption to control them.
I believe that is where we are now: we live in a country, speaking of the US as it’s the one I know, where our authorities try to make it seem as if wanting basic human rights is somehow a controversy, where the idea of kids being fed meals every day without cost, where people who need medical care can get it without cost, where not letting homeless people die of exposure is somehow a debate point that needs drawn out and studied.
We already know! We already know what we need as a people! What we DON’T need are these rich, self-absorbed assholes who control the purse strings and the people’s minds telling us what they think is and isn’t important.
The only things a rich man’s opinion is good for is to trace back the source from which he was paid to spout them.
We deserve better than this, and we can make it right. We have to make it right. We have to start rejecting the narrative that we are a lost cause, a hapless failure, a certain death spiral of humanity, because I don’t believe we are. I believe we can become that future where all are welcome, where all benefit without having to qualify for basic rights, without jumping through hoops just to secure housing, food, medicine, and safety.
Yes, I grew up watching George Carlin, who taught me to view any politician with skepticism, but I also grew up listening to Mr. Rogers, and he said to look for the helpers. He said that he loved us just the way we were, and that he was proud of us. Levar Burton told us our imaginations could lead us to the stars.
Our fires can’t be out yet, we can’t give up, and we can’t pretend the issue will go away. We, as member of Generation X and as Millennials, have to start helping this younger generation fight for a real future free from the chains that have laid on top of our hearts and crushing our bodies for centuries.
No more chains.
No more lies.
In the words of Immortal Technique, a socialist rapper, we can’t take this lying down, “cause you can only get them off your back if you stand up.”
We have to stand up.
.Red
