Dr. Herb Ruhs & grandson
|
|
At the root of the problem
|
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
Sept. 17, 2007
Al Gore is certainly justified in calling the destruction of the climate
system by runaway industrial activity an inconvenient truth. But
gosh, those darn inconvenient truths are piling up like drift wood on
the beach after a big storm. The mind recoils. There is an urge to
prioritize these truths along a continuum of inconvenience.
Some
inconvenient truths are mere daughters of more fundamental
inconvenient truths. If we agree to progressively remove from
consideration inconvenient truths that are derivative of more central
inconvenient truths, we begin to approach root causes.
Many might say, like the
primitivist, that climate destruction is the
|
| |
child of
civilization itself, that very uncivilized process that, over the
last five or six thousand years, has driven us to this point of
desperation. A more philosophical turn of mind might well point to
religion as the
mother of civilization, since they are inseparable, and
with religion's entreaty to surrender critical judgement, it can be
seen as a necessary element in social self destruction.
Others might point to monocropping, field agriculture,
and the domesticating of animals for food as the source of the
problem that Gore wants us to ultimately confront. Still others
would point to technology, toolmaking gone wild, as the core
problem. All these suggestions have merit and deserve consideration,
but I would like to suggest that we ask another question that might
point us to a core problem that we can actually do something about,
conceivably before it is too late.
I ask, what is it that gets in the way of saving ourselves
from error? The answer I come up with is, our dedication to selecting
as leaders those amongst us who are mentally ill.
Take a look at the
leadership that is closest to you -- your boss perhaps, or your local
officials. Folks, face it, to a great extent these are not well-balanced people. And as you go up the hierarchy, it just gets worse.
A powerful congressman soliciting sex in a public rest-
|
|
|
room? J. Edgar Hoover
crossdressing and having hissy fits because his second in command at
the FBI was also his wife (well maybe J. Edgar was playing the female
role and the guy was his husband)? John Kennedy with a penis with a
mind of its own? The list is extreme and very, very long, and the reality of the enormity
of the list correspondingly much larger, due to the ability of the
establishment to cover up the peccadilloes and peculiarities of its
royal families.
And the problem gets worse over time. The Bush/Cheney phenomenon
would suggest demonic possession to those inclined to believe in
demons. But perhaps we are being fooled yet again by considering
these inept, often demonic leaders as having been chosen at all.
After all, there is an endless supply of fools ready to assume
leadership positions.
Maybe it is the positions themselves, the
systems themselves, that are the problem. Why is it that we think a
billion people can be organized under one leader and come to any
good? Or a million, or a hundred thousand?
The truth, I suspect, is that any attempt to organize a group
any larger than a small town under one leadership is going to lead
to trouble. Perhaps decentralization of power to the smallest
possible scale is what is needed, to give the greatest possible
expression of human and civil rights.
Another element of this
approach would be to make real broad based education as available and
user friendly as possible. The equation I'd suggest is: Security plus localization plus education
equals happiness.
© by the author.
|
| | We're usually unable to forward readers' emails, but both readers and authors
are invited to visit our 'dialogue' page for two-way communication: |
| |
This is an archived Unknown News page. For newest material, visit our main page.
|
|
Take a look at the leadership that is closest to you -- your boss perhaps, or your local officials.
Folks, face it, to a great extent these are not well-balanced people.
And as you go up the hierarchy, it just gets worse.
|
|
|
|
|
