This is not a time for good people to do nothing.
If there is a lesson we might all learn from history it is that all too often good people have stood by and let vested interests, at odds with basic values and common sense, impose their will. Regrettably such interests can easily get support from the disaffected, the gullible and the self aggrandising. As we wake up to the nightmares that often such interests create, it takes time, for the forces of the open society, to organise and evict the dictatorship of the few.
What if now was one of those times? What if these vested interests, instead of focusing on the trappings of political power, exercised control, either consciously or unconsciously, and much more quietly, through the levers of economic power? What if in the interests of shareholders – who might be you or me – actions were taken in direct opposition to our interests as humans on the planet? While all this might sound a little alarmist, every day we hear leaders everywhere, almost without thought, putting current economic interests light years ahead of environmental and social concerns. In the face of what can only be called a global environmental crisis, without sounding like some social centralist, or someone so smug in their own righteousness, what should good people do?
Perhaps its time for a different debate? Perhaps as we read the muddy waters of increasingly obscure infotainment we might ask ourselves some of the following questions: [other suggestions gratefully received!!]
1. Will I be able to justify my actions to children born 25 years from now?
2. Do I too easily dismiss the unthinkable because it would undermine what makes me
comfortable and successful?
3. When I consider those things that I believe are important have I thought, at any time, what
information would make me change my mind?
4. Am I the kind of person that needs a crisis, which really affects me personally, before I’m
prepared to advocate change?
5. Do I spend my time listening to those people that support me or those that challenge me?
In sum it’s all a legacy issue. We can decide to build networks with other good people, who are starting the conversation to redesign our planetary society and how to organise to make the 21st Century livable, or we can decide it’s all too hard and simply take what we can now.
In the end we are either future makers or future takers. I know who I want to hang out with.
What if now was one of those times? What if these vested interests, instead of focusing on the trappings of political power, exercised control, either consciously or unconsciously, and much more quietly, through the levers of economic power? What if in the interests of shareholders – who might be you or me – actions were taken in direct opposition to our interests as humans on the planet? While all this might sound a little alarmist, every day we hear leaders everywhere, almost without thought, putting current economic interests light years ahead of environmental and social concerns. In the face of what can only be called a global environmental crisis, without sounding like some social centralist, or someone so smug in their own righteousness, what should good people do?
Perhaps its time for a different debate? Perhaps as we read the muddy waters of increasingly obscure infotainment we might ask ourselves some of the following questions: [other suggestions gratefully received!!]
1. Will I be able to justify my actions to children born 25 years from now?
2. Do I too easily dismiss the unthinkable because it would undermine what makes me
comfortable and successful?
3. When I consider those things that I believe are important have I thought, at any time, what
information would make me change my mind?
4. Am I the kind of person that needs a crisis, which really affects me personally, before I’m
prepared to advocate change?
5. Do I spend my time listening to those people that support me or those that challenge me?
In sum it’s all a legacy issue. We can decide to build networks with other good people, who are starting the conversation to redesign our planetary society and how to organise to make the 21st Century livable, or we can decide it’s all too hard and simply take what we can now.
In the end we are either future makers or future takers. I know who I want to hang out with.
posted by Mike at 2:38 PM
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