Normally Kristof writes about the tragedies of injustice and inequality in the Third World, I suppose this situates him uniquely to recognize the pattern in the US just as his fellow columnist Paul Krugman was aghast at seeing the financial meltdowns afflict the US after studying them in foreign countries for so long. For many years I tried desperately to make this point to my libertarian and conservative friends, if you want to see how your fantasy would play out in real life, just visit Somalia. Perhaps this was a poor example, too foreign, too distant, and of course... too black. The idea never garnered a response, I have to assume because in the minds of probably most of them a majority white country could never devolve into barbaric tyranny right?
Maybe I've just spent too much time studying the fall of Rome (all three, republic, west, and east) and the fact that my German brethern... WERE THE BARBARIANS WHO WRECKED CIVILIZATION! Rome wasn't perfect for sure, and the barbarians were only the final nail in its coffin, but the circle seems to be completing itself. Life was better in the Empire than after it, trade, commerce, travel all improved people's lives and after the Germans took over, this collapsed. Those who believe the conservative nonsense simply can't imagine that life has changed and will continue to decline as the government-free utopia is implemented. I still wonder how barbaric extremists take hold, Krugman believes political polarization drives economic polarization and provided considerable reasoning for this belief in The Conscience of a Liberal
and the rich people support political extremists only after the process is kicked off. I suppose I am more concerned with the process than the cause, and where it leads. Nowhere good, that's for sure.Also from today's times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/opinion/05doerr.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
Libraries are pretty dear to me, I married a librarian and try to help out at our local library as much as I can. As a grad student, I also spend a lot of time at the university library. I remember talking to my wife about how there are people out there who would cackle with glee if libraries went extinct and the mass population had to buy all their books, movies, computers, etc because nothing is legitimate unless a profit can be made on it. Needless to say, she thought I was being melodramatic, but here we are. This column is a pretty good counterpoint to illustrate where the process is going and its ugliness. Young people, particularly men, have little conception of how society is interdependent. They don't use parks or libraries, school is done for most of them (only what, 25% of Americans have a college degree? Men much lower) and most don't care for children, so it is pretty easy to imagine society as a cut and dried shell. Work, bar or other entertainment, home. That's it, so what do we need public spaces and institutions for? I know, the teabaggers are mostly cranky old bags and over-the-hill cowboy types, so where do these young men fit? It is a subsection, for sure, but bitterness and resentment can set in pretty quickly once you see that life isn't fair or free. I've always thought of 'baggers as boomers who never really grew up, so whatever their age the whole anti-statist, anti-politics basket of propaganda appeals to the selfish and ignorant. Only one side goes full court press redirecting the source of harm from private tyranny to public tyranny, and it isn't liberals as I will attempt to illustrate.
The problem right now, as I see it, is there are lots of "goo goos" good government, public-spirited, responsible people committed to a society over the "you're on your own" collection of atomic individuals. So, goo-goos like the librarian in this story, work very hard to try and maintain civilization by sacrificing time, energy and money while the merry tax-cutting wrecking crew keeps up relentless pressure. Ever see the poster that says "imagine if schools got all the money they need and the air force had to have a bake sale to buy a bomber?" And, what do goo goos get for all their effort? *Item* See Wisconsin, "budget-repair bill." Demonization, scapegoating, ridicule. I appreciate their efforts really I do, but most people don't see these extrordinary sacrifices to keep society running, so an awful lot of selfish children in grownup bodies really believe that you can cut taxes, cut services and they will continue to work. Having your cake and eating it too, the shitty part of the American way. How long could you continue to swim so hard against the current if your efforts were not only not appreciated by many of the people you are trying to help, but actively denigrated by people who really hate you? By the time the last of the goo goos throws in the towel it will be far too late.
I really wish I could publish this post on Salon, or HuffPo or wherever the monster trolls congregate and see what happens. On second thought, that would probably once and for all put me over the edge. I only wanted to write a paragraph on each story, ugh.
What's the point of this? From playing chicken with the debt ceiling, catastrophic unemployment and foreclosures, stratospheric profits for corporations, and on and on. Our civilization is crumbling, because of a small minority of extremists acting very much like muslims they hate. We, America, are headed for a new Dark Age. Once barbarians, always barbarians.
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