Social Warfare, Drawing the Lines

While it may not be obvious to many, there are several social wars underway that, if ever resolved, will determine the direction of society itself.

It's understandable if you aren't aware of them, or hear of them only in passing. The world is so busy today, with longer work days, automation leading to greater expectations at work (contrary to the initial assumptions), more leisure activities to distract. In addition, there are the societal demands of your spouse and children to eat into ones time. With all these distractions, there simply isn't time for most people to be socially aware.

So what I thought to do in this and the following blog posts is to summarize some of the most hard-fought wars that are currently underway in western society.

1) Creationism vs. Evolution
This simply won't go away. The lines were drawn with the publication of Charles Darwin's famous book Origin of the Species, however, I'll argue that the seeds for this war were sown with the origins of the Catholic Church.

2) Digital Rights Management
Simply put, this is a war over who has the rights to control that tech device you just bought. This is actually a subset of an much larger and more insidious war. Simply put, corporations are trying to control...well, everything. It sounds like a conspiracy theory when written, but anyone who pays attention to the machinations of Big Biz will note the trends.

3) Go Green
This, arguably, is the simplest and yet most complicated of the wars currently being waged, and the only one that, if one side is right, has a time limit. To make it more complicated, it has become my view that we could lose regardless of who wins unless calmer heads prevail.

In the next few blog posts I'll go through these issues trying to show where the lines are drawn and what each side has to win and lose. Of course, I have a side I favour and, sorry to disappoint, but I won't pretend to be impartial. Unlike the media, who pretend (or at least pay lip-service to the idea) that each side of an argument is equal, I will try and show the logic of one side over the other.

If you haven't guessed my leaning yet, I'm a humanist. I believe that everyone is born with the right to a healthy, happy life. It's not achievable for all, since there are people who are made happy by gaining power over others, but those people, regardless of their social position, should be considered to have a mental illness. As intelligent people building a healthy future, we should take the path that makes the majority happy (the meek shall inherit the Earth?). It has always struck me as strange that those who gain happiness from physically hurting another we lock up in prisons while those who gain happiness from controlling and making suffer thousands of lives, we reward with big houses and huge salaries. Ultimately, this is the mentality we will have to break, if we are to truly harness the power of the coming technology.

Religious Thought of the Day

Christianity is the McDonald's of religion.

It took something that had existed for thousands of years before, made it tastier and more accessible, and introduced kiddie versions to 'get them hooked while they're young'.