Of limited resources and political arrogance - where the foundations of our society are wrong

Progress is what we always wish for. We spend our lives looking for that, and we are doing a fair good job if we consider what we are collecting and employing. We are producing more and more, from food to high technology. Internet is more widespread than ever and communication surely should bring mutual understanding between people.

And yet, we can perceive that our society's progress is struggling. Worse, we are taking some steps back and these are not good signs at all. We have to be anxious about our economy's state, as we still are recovering from the 2008 crisis and we live in fear of another one. There are ongoing wars begun more than ten years ago, and the War on Terror is not very efficient in making us feel more safe from terrorists. The West, the leader of the rest of the world, as we like to see ourselves, has indeed lots of issues. Energetic crisis, immigration, overproduction, disoccupation, international tension and so on, are all problems deeply embedded within our system. These problems were there long in the making, and they can not be deceived and are not to be ignore. However, most politicians do not really have solutions to them. Now we have to face the consequences of such inaction.

Then, why such weaknesses were intertwined with the basis of the society and left alone? Why we struggle so much to overcome this economical crisis? When and where were those mistakes made? Here I will articulate my answer in three points, elaborating a bit on what I think are three main reasons for our situation.

1 - The unlimited world concept does not work anymore

We already have a global problem that is overpopulation and it is going to get worse. Our society and economy are built on the concept that we live in an unlimited world. That is, an unlimited world with unlimited resources, unlimited markets and unlimited possibilities. 

Farmville, by Zynga

That would be an unlimited world to allow for an unlimited growth of trade and business. It worked acceptably in the past because we had less people and entire continents were yet be discovered. Those new resources and spaces, new trade routes and possibility to expand were all factors contributing to stabilize and recover the economy after a crisis. Now, we realize that it is just a dramatically outdated approximation of the real world. To us, the world seems so much smaller. Everybody trades with everybody and things are far too interconnected to allow the economical trembling of any major player. Indeed, we are not in an unlimited world and here if any house burns the other ones are far too next to be comfortable.

The truth, unpleasant as it can be, is that we are much like too many dogs in a too little cage, with not so much food available. It is already a bit too late for a non painful remedy now. We all need resources, we all need energy, food and space; we all need money, raw materials at low cost, efficient refinements, good productions and distributions. There must always be new markets able to buy what we have to offer.

from TheSourceNews.com

Resources are not unlimited in a limited world, as it is the case for energy. For instance, we still do not have anything to completely replace fossil combustibles as energy source. As of now, the alternatives we have developed are not efficient enough to make petrol redundant (and of course this is so convenient for whoever owns and sells petrol). In general, what ultimately runs contemporary economy is far from endless. Fundamental pieces of that game are open non-saturated markets and people with the willingness and the money to buy products and services. This is what makes overproduction crisis scary.

2 - We are lead with both arrogance and weakness

With things left so much out of control, in time the situation can only get worse. Why politicians do not halt this course and try to steer away from those dangerous pitfalls? Why rulers do not appeal to popular consensus to make the due changes in their people's best interest? Ultimately, it is a combination of don't want and can't due to a very bad combination of arrogance and weakness that permeates modern Western politic. This is evident from economical development to immigration management to international relationships. The West moves to enforce its own interests (in a pseudo-imperialistic way) without caring for the mistakes made along the way nor taking responsibilities for them. 

from http://forums.canadiancontent.net

    These are symptoms of an inability to bring forth changes in front of a situation that urgently requires them. It happens that arrogant people shout: we don't need to change, we're fine like we've been until now while weak ones whisper: we can't change, we don't have the strength to. On the background, many others are there to say: we can't think about the far future now, we have to work for today and tomorrow. 

In happy times, people like to keep things going in the smooth way; and in harsh times, people are even more scared to change things out of fear to lose what they hope to save. Thus, the drastic measures that could change our society will probably not be implemented. The result is a receipt for disaster through immobilism and inconsiderate actions.

3 - Public opinion is manipulated to make sure things remain on this track

Public opinion is manipulated. I hope I am not shocking anyone with this statement. Everybody can see that on most networks and newspaper the information is mostly concordant with the line adopted by the political establishment. 

from bootheglobalperspectives.com

    We are encased in layers upon layers upon layers of information that is conformed and normalized to what we are meant to know. Campaigns of disinformation (or counter-information) can be exerted such efficiently and pervasively that they are overall perceived as the truth. This directly translates into manipulation of consensus and in reassessment of political power. It is the power that (apparently) makes reality bend to words and not the opposite; it is the power to do stupid or wrong things while people ignore or even approve them, thus avoiding consequences altogether. Definitely, it is what unfitted politicians use to keep their positions and personal influence even in front of situation they do not want to face.

  

We can conclude that the issues afflicting our society are deformed aspects of its very strengths. Economy, politic and information are not easy to reform without a major overhaul of the system that is very unlike to happen as of now. This means that, crisis after crisis, the Western world is on a course of decline and we are not taking the right decisions to stop it. However time it may take, we are in a privileged position to witness what happens when an important, pervasive system like ours is approaching its collapse.