12 postmodern problems

6/21/2008 4:03:59 AM	12 postmodern problems
dbsuma Lakewood, OH 48, joined Dec. 2007	These are some of the problems facing mankind in the future, as it was posted on another site. 1. Pollution - of the air, the water, the soil. 2. Natural resources running out, or being degraded. 3. Population growth outstripping resources worldwide. 4. Unequal distribution of financial resources. 5. The overwhelming power of multinational corporations over governments. 6. Nuclear weapons; the imminent danger of worldwide catastrophe. 7. Military means and thinking as a way of resolving political problems. 8. Genocides in Africa, Indo-China, Tibet, Europe, North America and Israel. 9. Racism, sexism, hatred of homosexuals, anti-Semitism. 10. Rising expectations in third world countries 11. Fundamentalism and narrowness, exclusivism, particularism, terrorism. 12. Ethnic groups clinging to land, to resources, to sacred space. my suggestions and comments. 1. I suppose largely the problem of industrialism and lack of government control. Sure, yes, I do feel that the civilian populations of the world contribute to this, but the bottom line fault is in manufacturing and government. Companies tend to seek the cheapest and easiest route to produce their goods, regardless of any consequences to the environment. Then people buy them, use them and throw them away. Government wants to blame the people for it's own lack of initiative, but the problem begins with the start of the process. If manufacturing used cleaner and safer production methods, regardless if they might be a little more expensive, then the problems of pollution will disappear. But they are not going to do this by themselves, which is why government intervention is needed, but does not occur. 2. I suppose this is the product of the thinking of long ago when there still were plenty of natural resources, still undiscovered. We thought of resources as boundless and unending. Now we are finding out that is just not the case. Sure we still have plenty of "some" resources left but others have run out or will soon run out, at an increasing rate with the rise of third world nations. Better management of natural resources are needed, which would impact property rights. Or.... Of course, we must start to explore space for access to greater resources. 3. Again I see this as a problem of proper management of resources rather than over population. Yes overpopulation is the cause in an unregulated environment. So we will have to continue to limit population or find better ways of managing resources. Again, bottom line faults lines in industry and government. 4. And yes, another unregulated system will tend to lead to this effect. Ultimately Marx was right, the rich will get richer and the poor will remain poor. I'm not sure he found the correct solution to the problem but the problem is only becoming more and more pronounced, if not purposely. Any political freedoms that we might arguably have is meaningless without financial freedom to enjoy them. Largely the problem of an outdated elitist mentality that continues to grip mankind. The rich fear that any solution will deprive them of some portion of the money in which they problem have entirely too much of to begin with and resist any change, if not purposely prevent it. So a solution must be found that will ease the fear of the wealth while granting greater access to wealth among those who now do not have any. For most poor and working class the only accesses to wealth they might have today is public assistance, which can hardly be considered wealth. Child support, workers comp and crime. The governments blame those involved in crime for their activities but it largely the same government that has left the people no other avenue to explore, while not too long ago all a person would need was an ax and a horse to start their own lives, to live as they saw fit. People then were only limited by their own abilities and imaginations, while today most people are poor and kept poor, since a large working class is what is required for our economic environment, relegating people themselves as just another resource to be controlled for the mildest passive conveniences of only a few. Our economic system itself is a majority of the problem. People tend to view economics and money as having some supernatural power itself but it is just another system that evolved over time and like most systems that naturally occur, probably not the best one. Something that has been slowly built up over time with small changes along the way, since the days of the barter system. Like any system, measurement of space in feet or yards, miles or meters, Knots or inches, measurements of time in seconds or decades, measurements of weight in tons, pounds or grams, money and just another systems and all systems can be changed and should be changed when they no longer suit the needs of the people, which they do not anymore. 5. Again the problem of government to regulate industry and commerce. 6. Yes, this is a problem. more and more nations are getting weapons of mass destruction without any real need for them. Probably most of them want big huge destructive weapons to protect themselves from us, quite frankly, such is the case with North Korea and Middle East States. Pakistan and India have both armed themselves against one another and the rise of the EEC and crumbling remains of the USSR will only mean more weapons of mass destruction being held by more and more governments. The problem might be greatly reduced if the US government foreign policy was not so predatory towards other nations that might have resources that corporations might desire. The US has been a world leader, culturally, politically and economically since the revolutionary war. Other nations look to us as an example and that has been a pretty bad example for them to follow in the last 40 years. I think that fear largely is the motivational force behind the proliferation of nuclear weapons and that fear is well founded. The United States is not the good guy anymore, in fact we are the scourge of the earth. We have done a great and noble thing in our pursuits to uplift the state of mankind threw our struggles threw the past 2 centuries but now we have done a 360 and are quite easily argued a force of evil in this world. The cause of this? Our own failure to take the next step up. It would only serve our own good and reputation that we have historically held to do so, because somebody else is going to do it eventually, leaving us as a disgraces relic of long gone days. What is that next step? Well I'm not entirely sure but it sure the f**k isn't murdering millions of people so that Haliberton energy can have easier access to cheap, if not free oil. As long as America continues to propagate a predatory policy to other nations, they will continue to arm themselves with whatever weapons they believe will be able to deter of defend themselves from us. WE ARE THE PROBLEM. As for India and Pakistan, maybe it would just be best for the rest of the world just to turn it's back for a second and let them have it out with each other and be done with it already. Meet singles at DateHookup.dating, we're 100% free! Join now!
6/21/2008 4:04:09 AM	12 postmodern problems
dbsuma Lakewood, OH 48, joined Dec. 2007	7. Yeah, we really shouldn't think too highly of ourselves if war is the only method of resolving conflicts that we've been able to come up with in the last 10,000 years. And largely this problem is also linked with the over population issue, as war has long been a way of disposing of surplus population, so another way is also needed for population control, which will lessen the amount of wars needed. Also the notion that human beings are an asset that are only there to work in factories or sent off to war. Somewhere, at some point in time the ruling class developed this idea and it still exists. Granted more understandable in the days of feudalism but clearly an out of date mentality in the post modern era. 8. Ah, Well, I'd like to say that things like this were always going on and sure, they probably were. A problem largely based in human nature itself, to split off, divide and subdivide groups from one another, just another problem of the lack of structure in society. Though, in this case, I find largely a good one. Not saying that Genocide is a good thing but the cause of genocide, to define oneself rather than to conform to a pre-existing social construct. The health of any society is based on it's diversity and diversity is a good thing and brings forth new ideas and advancements that would not otherwise be found in a monoculture. But once you separate yourselves from other men, you also create an adversarial relationship between the two, in extreme examples resulting in Genocide. And sure, there are people on this earth that we can just live without. But really are we all that really harmed by allowing them to continue to exist, in most cases? I don't think that this is a political issue, an economic issue or a military issue even though it might often be used as such but rather a basic problem with human psychology. If we have a greater amount of well educated people in our societies, then this problem would also greatly lessen. Were as today, the basic tactic of those who "have" try to keep the "have nots" as poor and stupid as human possible, so of course they are aways going to try somebody to blame. Their leaders will always continue to nurture this idea as to distract for the real cause, their lack of ability to properly govern the people. 9. Also largely related to the above but with additional comments. I suppose this problem is with Thomas Jefferson writing "all men are created equal", which sounds good but is completely untrue. Probably what he really meant to say was that all men should be considered to have been created equal, in regards to rights, legislation and trials, but the long standing phrase just sounded more catchy. And you can write 100 books 1000 pages long and not counter act the impact of one cleverly worded catch phrase. But what we are left with is the thinking that all people are equal, instead of accepting people for what they are, which would work a hell of a lot better. I suppose with the exception of people like Jews who believe that all other men in the world should be killed and enslaved, since they are not one of "gods chosen people". The only thing that should not be tolerated is intolerance. 10. They want our stuff. And they should, everybody should be allowed to live a good as life as they want to and are able to afford. But then what happen with billions of Chinese have motor cars spewing pollution into the air. We are in trouble now, where are we going to be in 50 years? Not to mention all those factories needed to produce all those other consumer goods and the pollution they will no doubt cause. Again I see the problem is an unregulated Capitalist system. Which is fine if you want your children and grandchildren living in a world covered in shit, where only trillionaires can afford clean water. Our consumerism capitalism system is based on people continuing to buy things to replace other things that have broken down. In fact it is a whole school of science of industry called "built in obsolescence" AKA "Planned obsolescence". Planned obsolescence: the process of a product becoming obsolete and/or non-functional after a certain period or amount of use in a way that is planned or designed by the manufacturer. Forcing the consumer to buy another one. If we actually had light bulbs that didn't burn out and razer blades that didn't get dull then the amount of manufacturing we'd need to allow the entire world to share in a consumer market would not be such a detrimental problem. The real problem again being an unregulated capitalist consumer market. 11. A problem of our government. America is not a democracy and there is no democracy on the face of the earth today. Without access of the people to "properly address grievances" terrorism becomes the only option. 12. I don't really see this as a problem. If people want to cling to some ceremonial dung heap as their sacred ground, then just let them. If the world was freed up on land that was only held for investment purposes, then there would be more than enough land to go around to allow such things. Conclusion: Well, I'm not sure I knew that when I started writing this post that it would end up being a condemnation of our current capitalist NOT democratic system, but as it turns out, that is exactly the problem we have in the world today. Not saying it is a bad thing, in fact it was quite a good thing, 100 years ago but mankind has just outgrown it and change is needed but not sought. It has served us well but it is time for the next step and if we do not take it then we only have one other direction to go, back down. "that which does not grow dies" We have accomplished remarkable things and it is only a testament to mankind that we have managed such much so quickly, but the methods of the past will no longer function with the needs of the future. Finally, one of the biggest problems in the post Modern era I think, IS the Term "Post Modern". The word modern means current. granted over time the word modern represented artistic, political, social and many other aspects to the human condition that is pretty well defined. If you look at a modern style building or modern art sculpture, you know that style. But then what happens when something newer than modern style comes along? It is forced to be post modern, which is something that is after what is now. Which is really what is needed for the world today, something post modern, in every aspect but I really do think we should come up with a new definition, just to be technically correct about things. [Edited 6/21/2008 4:06:42 AM ]
6/22/2008 1:03:34 PM	12 postmodern problems
grizz67 Bernville, PA 49, joined Jan. 2008	How happy you must be to have a place to climb up on your soap box and get to spew your rants uninterrupted?
6/22/2008 8:06:53 PM	12 postmodern problems
dbsuma Lakewood, OH 48, joined Dec. 2007	Indeed!
6/23/2008 10:03:48 AM	12 postmodern problems
grizz67 Bernville, PA 49, joined Jan. 2008	Ah hell, enjoy your rant.

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