Article

2010: Birth pains of a new century

What are our defining issues, and can morality save us?

Lectionary Jan. 31: 1 Corinthians 13

Copyright © 2009 Dorian S. Cole

• How do we evaluate ourselves?
• Out with the old, in with the new
• The age of change, the age of dragons

How do we evaluate ourselves?

For several years I wrote articles on the State of the Onion, in which I evaluated several aspects of the US and our world. I had to ask myself, "By what standard do I do this evaluation?" I'm not the judge and sole arbiter of the human condition and behavior. But in the US and Western world, we often call ourselves a "Christian nation." (Not to be exclusive - the values of other religions are very similar to Christianity.) In the US Constitution, and in Christianity, we have high standards. The US Constitution, which contains the articles by which this nation (and many other nations who used it as a basis) founded itself.

One message rings loud and clear from the US Constitution: "We the People." It is not "We the government," nor "We the corporation," nor "We the democracy," nor "We the Congress," nor "We the Supreme Court," nor "We the capitalists." We may appreciate these values and elements, but most of these are completely absent from the Constitution. It is "we the people" who join together in mutual support to our mutual benefit - this is the idea around which we gather as a people.

We call ourselves a Christian nation. Christianity is not a political movement, and in this country religion is clearly separated from politics. Christianity is a religion, but more importantly it is people who join together to follow the path that Christ has shown us. It's significant that we collectively endorse the values established by Christ and religion. So between the US Constitution, and Christianity, we have a way to judge our progress - not ultimately judge ourselves - but try to understand what we need to do to improve.

The Apostle Paul, the writer of 1 Corinthians 13, addressed us about the things we value. He said (paraphrased), look, we can know everything there is to know; we can have enough faith to move a mountain; we can give everything there is to give. But if we don't have love, we're just making a lot of noise, moving a lot of dirt, and making ourselves broke. In the end, it is all meaningless unless it is done out of love.

Paul goes on to say (paraphrased) that love means being patient with others and kind to others. Kindness is an important historical Jewish ideal that includes giving or charity. People who love are not jealous of others or rude to others, they aren't arrogant in the way they view and treat others, they aren't irritated with others' situations or resentful of their needing help. People who love don't insist on having everything their own way. Love is the willingness to carry a burden for others, and to supportively endure with others while they suffer.

In this we have a nice summary of what we are about as a people - the ideals and values that we share. We join together in a way that is supportive of each other so that we can all benefit or prosper. We put aside arrogance, rudeness, jealousy, and irritations over people's difficult situations so that we don't offend each other. We stand ready to help carry each other's burdens and endure the difficult path ahead.

We have to weigh other values that we have in the light of our primary values. Those values include: Fierce independence, everyone carries their own weight, and the right to seek our own prosperity. When conflicts between values arise, then we know we need to defer to our primary values.

Out with the old, in with the new

The roaring 1990s were a time of unequaled economic prosperity, but held the seeds of disparity as wealth continued to accumulate with the wealthy, and the plight of low income people continued to decline, while the middle class shrank. Terrorism struck us, but outside of our own borders, so we didn't really have to worry about it. We were caught up in an economic bubble that seemed like it would rise forever, and we just didn't have to worry about our neighbors either inside our borders or outside.

The first ten years of 2000 did not glide in with a whimper. The first decade brought to light many problems that we preferred to ignore in the 1990s. Most of these problems are interdependent on each other.

The age of change, the age of dragons

It is symbolic that long-time CBS news anchor, who was retired, Walter Cronkite died at the end of this first decade of this Century. Cronkite was the anchor of CBS News for many years, and was known as the most trusted man in America. We believed that he tried hard to be impartial and present an unbiased selection and view of the news. He used to host the popular and long running CBS program The Twentieth Century, which covered significant events of the 20th century. Other news people today try to follow in his footsteps, but in the last twenty years we have seen a significant departure from unbiased reporting.

End of our age of innocence

There is a reason for this radical departure from reality. When people can't cope, they hide. During the last twenty years we have had major developments in this world that many people have had no idea how to cope with. Spurred by excessive competition from inside the US and outside, we have lost entire sections of our economy, and entire communities, losing jobs while wages race toward the bottom.

The current popularity of the 1930s stage play, Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, is indicative of our need to hold on to something in our lives. It is a play about the fabric of our daily lives and the sameness of it. Divorced of setting (in limbo or black box), there is nothing to distract the audience from what is important in our lives - not the dazzling settings of today, nor the magic of stage devices. The characters and audience are led to appreciate the things that remain the same in our lives, such as our family voices, and the rhythms of daily activity and events. The play stands out in that emphasis in contrast to our ever-changing lives of today. It reminds us of what we can look to, to hold on to.

New technology has replaced many skilled people in many fields, and is about to do so again in the computer software repair field as platforms become more reliable and programs move off site. Middle manager jobs and automotive manufacturing jobs have evaporated, and with it the middle class has shrunk substantially. Corporations have become very lean to meet competition and the demands of the stock market for high quarterly profits. We are fearful of job loss and low wages - we don't know how to cope. The world has changed and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

We were once a virgin land that had never been attacked in the 19th. and 20th. Centuries. Now foreign threats that can destroy us are dragging our armies into conflict in many parts of the world, creating another costly drain on our economy. We didn't much listen when they tried to blow up the World Trade Center or the US Cole in the 1990s. They were incompetent. They failed. And if anyone had suggested the security measures we take today, they would have been laughed out of office. But then in September 2001 the terrorists perfected their game, and they brought down not only the twin towers, they partially brought down the Pentagon, and tried to destroy the White House.

In the last ten years, terrorists have made numerous attempts to strike inside the US. We can no longer ignore the threat on foreign shores - they are at our door. We fear we have no response that will end terrorism. The world has changed, and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Once we could do as we pleased with our environment. We thought we could impact the environment forever. The world is a big place, and you can pollute and kill without ever seeing a change. But we can't. Now our environment is beginning to impact us. (See State of the Onion, 2006, Environment.) We are seeing dramatic changes to our environment, particularly from man's activities, and partially from natural weather changes.

Bison have been reduced from 30 million to only 1000. Trappers in the 19th. Century nearly drove the beaver extinct. Passenger pigeons once clouded the sky in the US, but now hunting has made them extinct. North Atlantic Cod numbers have dropped 80% in 30 years from overfishing, and nets have destroyed the fish beds so they won't come back. Topsoil, the thin layer of ground that we require for growing crops, is being eroded by wind and water erosion - because it is laid bare during farming. The ocean currents that keep Europe warm are in danger of stopping, which may cause an ice age.

We are seeing land thawing that hasn't been unfrozen in 10,000 years. Ice is melting from mountain peaks, such as the Alps, so that there is no more skiing. Permafrost is melting in northern climates, which will lead to increased C02 levels, which accelerates global warming. The Arctic ice is melting much faster than any model has predicted in the last ten years, so ocean levels are rising and threatening many major cities, and some islands and their people will vanish, all happening within 10 to 50 years.

We're fearful that the environment on which we depend for life, is going to turn on us. It's too big to ignore, but too big a problem for individuals to consider, and governments have little will to impact their own economies with changes. The easiest thing to do is simply hide from it and hope the problem goes away until we die, and then it can be some other person's problem. The world has changed and we haven't. (We have to ask, are we stewards of this earth, and responsible citizens, or are we simply here for the fun?) Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Job satisfaction dropped from a high in 1987 of 61% to only 45% in 2010, despite being in a severe recession when everyone should be grateful to even have a job. ( See: http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/05/news/economy/job_satisfaction_report/index.htm.) The biggest problems are that jobs are not interesting, and there is no job security. Competition has slimmed corporations to the point that people are simply a commodity to be purchased only when needed. The world has changed and we haven't learned to adapt. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Our economy has grown steadily since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The US economy appeared to be invincible. In 2008 the economy fell with a resounding thud. There were huge losses in the stock market, any banks were destroyed because of risky loans, the housing industry plummeted in value, unemployment rose to over 10%, and wages are now lower than in the late 1990s. The number of those living below the poverty level actually increased from 11.3 to 13.2%.

Detroit automakers followed the airline industries into bankruptcy, largely due to market incompetence (enticing people with ever larger gas guzzlers, and pandering to union inefficiency, instead of designing sleek and more economical cars). The world has changed and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Medical prices increased at double-digit annual rates for the last 20 years, so employers either had to reduce benefit expenses or drop medical benefits, insurance companies dropped those who are sick and refused to insure pre-existing conditions, and 47 million US citizens could not purchase health insurance. The only field expected to remain stable and grow is medical care. Yet nurses are underpaid, and short-staffed due to supply, and physicians can't afford to keep their offices open, so they are retiring early. Companies with vested interests in keeping things just as they are, influence the government and the marketplace to keep things just as they are... to our destruction. The world has changed and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Technology is one of the main drivers of change, and is turning our world upside down. It is very hard to cope with. I'm partly a technology person, having started my careers in radio announcing, then electronics, medical and beginning in 1996 in computer and Internet communications. I've somehow always managed to be on the cutting edge of technology, working both sides of communications, technical and communicating, as I do today. I use it for ministry and publication. Yet it is a very difficult field to keep up with. Interactive 3D environments have been available for years on the Internet, and now television is going to a version of 3D. My next venture is probably a FaceBook blog, and I'm behind the times, even though I did a research paper on the merging of Internet and TV and movies on demand back in 2000, and began publishing on the Internet in 1996 and ebooks in 2008. Whew, things move fast!

Anything that happens in the world today, relevant or irrelevant, is instantly communicated around the world. If you aren't part of it, you may get buried by it. If you purchased new technology three years ago, in audio, video, computer, TV, recordings, radio, telephone, communications, medical, electronic games, GPS, etc., it will probably still work for another three years, but you are already behind and may have difficulty with your technology being outmoded, lacking in new features, and incompatible with other technology.

Just as we think we have a handle on the world and know how to use it, it changes. Technology changes every aspect of the world around us, from the way we cook our meals, to the way we communicate, to the way we travel. We can't ever be caught up with technology. The world has changed and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Job security?! There is none! The US workforce is simply another expendable and replaceable part in an on-demand assembly line. Any job can be moved to any other place in the US, or eliminated by technology, or outsourced to a foreign country. Yet the same can be said of any company. There is no security in employment or in income. Only the following fields are expected to grow: Medicine, education, legal services, clergy, computer and network analysts and software engineers, financial services, real estate, welders, and automotive service. The rest of us are in quicksand.

The world has changed and we haven't. We are fearful of losing our jobs, which can lose our lifestyle, home, retirement, career, marriage, and educational for our kids. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Our government in the first ten years of this decade, has been challenged and found incompetent: Ineffective government response to natural disasters (New Orleans flooding), the economy (no 60 minute fix), the Madoff and ponzi schemes (failure to monitor, evaluate, and regulate), terrorist strikes (failure to protect), illegal immigration (failure to agree to an appropriate and effective response so the legislators do nothing). The world has changed and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

Religion has changed. The US no longer has a substantial Christian faith majority - there are large numbers of Islamists and Hindus, and their memberships are growing while Christian membership declines. The mainstream denominations have been fading out since the 1960s, and other denominations are beginning to follow a similar trend, while other religious groups rise in numbers. Young adults don't find the mainstream denominations relevant in their lives, and as the baby-boom generation marches in lockstep out of the building during the next quarter century, the various Christian denominations are likely to go with them. We are fearful of losing our religious moorings. The world has changed and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

We are in a time of great change - revolution - very difficult to cope with. It isn't that the world has changed. It changes and changes and changes. It's upside down, and when we get oriented, it goes upside down again. It never stops. We're disoriented. We hardly know what has meaning anymore. We don't know where we belong in employment or culture. The world has changed and we haven't. Our reaction is to hide from it, or hate it and find someone or something to blame it on. Where is the dragon slayer?

What ever shall we do?

Enter the dragon.

To borrow a Bruce Lee (martial arts movie) title, "Enter the Dragon." The dragon is already in the building. Let me paint a face on this dragon by quoting President Roosevelt, when faced with The Great Depression: "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Cool heads have not prevailed in today's climate of unnerving rapid change and fear. Many people are clinging to their seats, unable to escape the bus that is racing out of control headlong somewhere, screaming for their lives, and hoping for any small explanation or hope to save them from the dragon. But many are unwittingly holding onto the tail of the dragon.

Who is the dragon? People masquerading as truth. There are always people who, for whatever reason, profess their misconceptions and inaccuracies about the times, sometimes through misinformation, more often by crackpots or those motivated by their own greed. For example, it would still be very difficult to convince some that the US did not enter WWII for economic reasons, even though the US was dragged very reluctantly into both war theaters. People believe what matches their attitude. That's the problem, we want emotionally to blame happenings on someone, so we look for any scapegoat. Our gut reaction is to hate it and blame it on someone.

Scapegoats aren't difficult to find in today's news environment. We have in the US a large segment of our population who are being bombarded daily by fear and disinformation mongers who sound like they know something, but instead steadily polarize people into a state of hysteria. They are not cast in the Walter Cronkite mold of news reporting. They are completely reactionary and incendiary, casting immediate blame on their opponents for anything that happens, and relating the news from a very polarized point of view.

The terrifying thing about these broadcasters, politicians, speakers, and writers, is that they are as zealous and as dedicated to their causes as any religious zealot. They focus on building a mountain of proof for their cause, while downplaying or reinterpreting any contrary evidence, seeing only what they want to see. They are ideologists who are becoming more and more extremist, now willing to not only distort the truth and deceive for their purposes, but to outright lie to swamp any opposition. Liars can't be trusted. Lying is a sign that their moral integrity is gone, and how far they will go to get their way is anyone's guess. Unfortunately the actions of religious and political zealots often become not only harmful but violent.

I'm not comparing these people to the rogues of history, but they are edging closer to groups that use disinformation, propaganda, and inflammatory rhetoric in their disinformation campaigns. Consider the disinformation propagated by Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan, who often misused religion and poorly conceived history, and consider what happened as a result. Disinformation and misuse of religion has been at the heart of many cults that prey on people who have genuine needs like ours today, such as the Branch Davidians and Jim Jones, both of which garnered cult followings and ended in violent conflict and disaster.

Often there is just an element of religious or other truth in this disinformation so that it sounds credible, and then it flies off in a direction that can only be considered hate and violence. Hate and violence are clearly against the direction God points us toward. Consider the Civil War and the deep feelings that were inflamed by the rhetoric of various men who stirred up the passions of others until the result was a deep split and violent war. Consider what is going on in Iran with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad simply lying to the people about things like the Holocaust, to polarize people into hating Jews and distrusting the Western world. A similar thing is happening with these US politicians and broadcasters who are stirring up people who have both strong feelings of fear, and a feeling of powerlessness to create or oppose change, to polarize them for their cause.

Congressional approval has been dismal for years. People notice what Congress does, and approval hovers around 14%. Our Congress is deadlocked on many issues on which we are deeply divided as a nation. largely because of polarizing rhetoric. Legislative progress gets made by ridiculous back room deals through which congressmen reap huge benefits for their districts in exchange for votes on legislation, or congressmen slip legislation into their bills which are actually written by special interest groups.

We are told by leaders, "this is the way things get done in Washington." People are reacting. Congressional approval is 14% and recently Massachusetts voted against more of the same by electing a moderate Republican over a Democrat bureaucrat for the seat of a Democrat pillar, Kennedy.

The deadlock is encouraging abuse of the political system. Deadlock often stops important legislation because the people who are for or against the legislation are uncompromising. There are few people in the middle to consider the bills and swing one way or another - they are all polarized into voting blocks who stand rigidly on their agendas.

For many years we have watched many problems in the US and world go unresolved. Some we simply lack the experience to solve - eventually we will get there. Others we have have the power to resolve, but don't. Polarization is often the reason. We have a belief that independence and cooperation are opposites. They aren't. Some have believed that organizations and systems can monitor and control themselves. They can't - they require intelligent people to shepherd and guide them with close monitoring and regulation. We see religious intolerance - it is the result of prejudice, organizations trying to perpetuate themselves, and hate. We see poverty, lack of opportunity, and starvation, and fail to address it because it might affect voting. We see drug addiction, and haven't the experience to know that we have to be there for people, not control and imprison them - we are polarized into believing that wars on drugs and imprisonment is the answer, even though it doesn't work. We see people devoid of purpose and outside of our society. Sometimes they become terrorists or do mass killings, and we fail to help them find their way before they become so polarized that they become radical and visit terror on us. We find many people polarized with the idea of self-aggrandizement (greed) and unwilling to do mutual support.

These are the defining issues of our new century: Polarization, independence with cooperation, monitoring and regulation of business, religious intolerance, poverty and lack of opportunity, drug addiction, and lack of purpose that leads to radicalization. (Terrorists have come from all background, from poverty to the well educated, and the most recent self-radicalizing terrorists have been doctors. These are people who react to injustices like Abu Ghraib, Guantanoma, and Western soldiers killing Muslims, and become preoccupied with terrorist Web sites, driving their anger to the boiling point, so they see their purpose as martyrdom, until their only relief can be to strike out with something that seems powerful, such as terror.) Polarization plays a central role in all of these problems. We will not solve our problems until we solve polarization, and the interfering roles of special interests and getting re-elected.

We need to stop going in the direction of these deep polarizations in our society if we are to survive. I'm not a prophet, but I've watched the Congress and population, for 50 years, and I see the warning signs, and it very well could end in violent conflict as opposing camps fail to find central ground.

If these agents of polarization want to assist others with the difficulties we face, the appropriate thing to do is help give people ways to understand change and cope. We don't dare point fingers and argue with these agents - this will only harden their attitudes and heighten the angry and argumentative rhetoric. They thrive on controversy, which brings publicity, which brings an audience. These people are not only rabble rousers, they are symbols of the disenfranchisement and powerlessness that people feel in this environment of constant change. We need to substitute different symbols - ones that give people hope, educate and inform them, assist them, and help them cope. This can defuse the anger, hate, and blame and replace it with positive feelings and action. Hopefully this is one of the things people will find on this Web site.

There is a place for entertainment, and I love to be entertained. But when issues and important information are brought to light in the news, that is not the place for entertainment. We have substituted polarization and spectacles, for reality, and it is destroying us. In our vision of ourselves in this world, quoting myself, "We join together in a way that is supportive of each other so that we can all benefit or prosper. We put aside arrogance, rudeness, jealousy, and irritations over people's difficult situations so that we don't offend each other. We stand ready to help carry each other's burdens and endure the difficult path ahead."

The dragon slayer is truth. As religious leaders, and the press, one thing we can do is demand honesty and integrity from our politicians and news media. We can fight fear mongering and outright lies with truth. But most importantly we need to continually remind this nation of what we are about - what are our values - things we can hold on to as life around us changes.

Yours in Christ,

- Dorian Scott Cole

Author's Books

Ontology of God: The voices of the ancients speak.

Distribution notice:

You are welcome to make standard size quotations from this article with proper attribution (Dorian Scott Cole, One Spirit Resources Web site). This material is not public domain and may not be sold, mass distributed, published, or made electronically available in any form, without permission from Dorian Scott Cole.