Hey everyone, it is me again lol, the one and only. I know I haven't really written anything in awhile, and that can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you are and how you are related to me, but the bottom line is that I have been bogged down in work and exams. So as I sit here, and watch the news and ponder about the things that have happened to me the past few days, I began reflecting, and these are the words of my thoughts.
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For this note, it's not going to be the typical me ranting about the demise of the human species or me making fun of you or even an enlightening piece whereby I express how we can become better people, but rather its just an observation that I have made over the past years and have only begun to be able to formulate into words recently. The observation is less an observation than it is a criticism of the human species as it currently is. What I want to address tonight, and what I have pondered upon lately is this whole thing of contradiction and paradox.
When I speak of contradiction, I am not speaking of people changing their minds over time, for this is not really a contradiction, it is merely an evolution of a personal philosophy or belief, and thus it is not by definition a contradiction. What I mean by contradiction is when a person prescribes a certain theory or belief, yet acts or argues the exact opposite in the immediate preceding moment. Now I am certain that many of you agree with my proposition and deem this note as useless because you assume axiomatically that these contradictions within society are simply true. But for me, that wont be enough, and for the sake of intrigue, I wanted to find out why, and the reason behind this.
There can be many approaches to many contradictions within society, you can look at it from a purely economic, or a socio-economic, a political, or other view, but I will focus on very general ideologies that the society at large accept. The first example is this whole environmentalist movement, or the "green movement" as many like to coin the phrase. The jist of this movement is that global warming is bad, and we need to save the environment, preserve biodiversity, and save animals from extinction. Now most certainly you would take this to be a virtuous and noble cause. When you speak to people around the streets or even looking at political leaders, they will play this "green card" to get voters' attention, by using words like "recycling", "energy management", "Carbon emissions", "clean water", etc. People nearly everywhere agree that the world is facing a global crisis of environmental degradation. Yet what is our answer to this problem? Worldwide concerts to raise awareness, political leaders paying lip service, and a Kyoto accord that makes pinky promises seem like an unbreakable blood bond.
Now, people tell me all the time, but Zack, these things are not meant to save the world right then and there, they are meant to raise awareness and spread knowledge. Well you know what? Awareness doesn't take much. I could hold a speaker phone and shout really loud a sentence like "Baby walruses fly across the canyons of Mars"... guess what? You are now aware that I am a nutcase. My point is that we as a global community is beyond the point of raising awareness, we are quite aware of what is going on around us, if not through propagating television or the internet. It is time for action, time for movement, and time to stop BULLSHITTING.
You know how people bullshit all the time? You ask them, "What should we do about the environment?" they say "Protect it". You then ask them, "How are the gas prices?", they say "Too high". Implicitly, they have just contradicted themselves. We should save the environment.... but after I feed my car, I eat that nice sirloin steak, and then use an air conditioner to cool me off in an office that is part of an urban sprawl that disrupts rainfall, wind movement and produces massive waste.
Now I know I am being a bit harsh, saying that people can't be held responsible for every possible indirect effect on the environment that our actions have. But isn't that EXACTLY what is wrong with us? It is because we act and behave and isolate ourselves into little pieces so that nobody ever knows what the complete picture is, where everybody says, "I didn't know that that was what is going to be used for... I was just doing my job". So, we act like we are in our own little vacuums, but admitting at the same time that our actions have a butterfly effect on the things around us. It is this mentality, this contradicting ideology that is so dangerous, the fact that we knowingly act destructively yet tell others that we should do our best to be virtuous.
Ok, so let's say I am wrong, let's say that for all that I have said, it is bullshit and indeed that you should now believe a word I have said, for you sincerely believe that it is our duty to save the planet, or our duty to save the animals, or our duty to praise God and banish all gays and lesbians. Ok, let's say that I am wrong, and that since people are always being born or that there are ignorant people, that we need to constantly raise awareness... then what is left for you? What is left is this: inaction. If you're going to always need to tell new generations this and that so that they have all the information they have to act, there will never be any action at all (Refer to my Theory and Action quote on my page). I ask you then, why do you want to save the planet? To leave a better world for your kids? To simply protect the world? To live a better life? Well I'm sorry to break up your utopian dreams, but for those that have actually done the time to research and understand even the surface of the real issues, one of the biggest problems is because of our exponential population growth, not only in the third world, but also in the developed world. The problem, some argue is consumption. For example, some argue, that it is because people in the West consume more resources than third world countries, and that is why the world is degrading. Sure, that could be true, but what do you propose? That those people reduce their quality of life to increase others, are you telling them to subscribe to a utilitarian type of philosophy? Because keep in mind, for all the subtleties of the developed world, they are far from being ideal, places such as ghettos, poverty stricken cities, the homeless, the hungry are rampant in developed countries. To tell them that they should reduce their quality of living to help someone else in, say Mongolia will never be taken as a serious comment unless this is imposed upon them. And this brings me to my overall point, if environmentalists are to succeed, it must be done with force, and imposed forcefully upon the entire world, otherwise, free will will always override environmentalism.
It is because we have free will, that we contradict ourselves, it is because we have all these options open to us, that we are so capable and powerful, that we do not know what to do. We are far from omnipotent, far from almighty, but this is only so because we cannot even begin to comprehend the powers of the choices that we make. The implications that we make, the effects of our actions. We as a species are destroying the planet, knowingly and willingly. To paraphrase Smith from "The Matrix", we are a virus, our behaviours mimic those of infectious organisms and parasites. But we don't want to see ourselves like that, because we are too full of ourselves.
So what does the future hold for us then if all this pessimism is in me? The answer is simple, I don't need an answer. I am content with the chaos and contradictions that exist within us, that exist among our relationships and with each other. To say that I want a natural disaster to destroy half the human population is a bit extreme, because the repercussions would be enormous, we don't need a revolution, because history tells us that that would only result in tyranny. So what is to happen next? I have no answer for you, and it's that simple, some of you may find that unsatisfactory or even a bit stupid... but it is the most honest answer that I can give you. And if I have learned anything from the time I have spent on this place we call Earth is that to be honest with yourself and others is what is most ideal, although the results are not always ideal, it is nonetheless necessary.
Now what do I think if the world does end, if the environmentalists are right and we are headed down a path of destruction? My answer is, so what? What is so bad about dying? What is so bad about us destroying ourselves due to our inadequacy? Is that not realistic? Is that not evolution at work? Why cling to life relentlessly? This too relates to one of my quotes on my information section referring to wants vs. needs. There are no needs in life, you do not NEED to live, you merely WANT to live. Remove this want, and your life becomes that much more simpler. Live without wants, and you will live without regrets, and a life without regrets is a content life.
Be honest, be content.
- Zacchaeus Chan
