Why Can't the Gov't Make My Life Perfect?
Editorial
Do most people live in a fantasy world structured by an illusion that we are somehow entitled to a perfect life supplied by our government and political leadership? This reliance on such a false expectation becomes a slippery slope to tragedy when we find our beliefs are actually misplaced. Did the sense of "entitlement" in this country play any part in the tragedy in the early hours after disaster struck the gulf coast? We expect homeland security, food on the table, a job, shelter, good health, medical care, free attorneys appointed to us, civil protection, a free pass when we are a first time offender for virtually anything, cures to all our ills and countless "benefits" of life in the Great Society. Sure we believe we pay for all this through our taxes, so we are entitled.
Are these entitlement expectations realistic when it comes to "natural disasters" that are NOT man made? What IS the yardstick by which someone measures these things? Consider Katrina....or the recent pacific tsunami, surely a "natural disaster" and part of the evolutionary pattern of earth physics, whether you believe that global warming is a root cause or not. The arm chair pundits sitting in the comfort of their own "illusion of protection" [like myself writing this piece] might take a moment and expand their consciousness. Is this idea that collectively we as a species can dominate our environment also extend to ideas that we can prevent asteroids from hitting this planet or other such natural calamities? Do we unconsciously believe that even earth itself is "entitled" to exist in the universe as we know it today? We certainly try to fool ourselves into believing so. After all, won't scientists find a way to save us from such things? Surely our leaders are EXPECTED to save us. Yet man is insignificant in the scheme of things on a cosmic scale. There ARE catastrophies both natural and man made (WMD) that are certainly even more horrific than a category 5 hurricane. It's enough we have to deal with the natural ones, let alone the ones of our own making!
The political posturing and bickering over WHO did a good job or bad job in the early hours of the New Orleans crisis has as an undercurrent this incessant expectation of perfection or near perfection from our leaders and decision makers and is actually laughable. It's self-centered and self-serving to both political parties, and the American people are seeing through the politics. The media contributes and magnifies this problem by the way they "steer" what their viewers hear and see. There was plenty of evidence of this by virtue of the subliminal biases in reporting that have occured this past week. (Note the cover up here) That a Democratic controlled Congress and a Democratic President in the White House would have somehow made the disaster recovery better or worse is a fools game to play and guess what? We are playing it! The issues lie in our "systems of understanding" and adapting to our natural universe and the nature of man himself. Not in politics. IMHO.
Lesson.... maybe we Americans need to swallow some humble pie once in awhile and understand where we, like all life on this fragile planet, stack up in the scheme of things. Tragedies like Katrina need to be a wake up call to learn how to work together just as 9/11 did for a man made disaster. We need to recognize that the one most powerful gift we have is our capacity to LEARN and ADAPT with the understanding that there are NEVER any assurances that "the next time", events and outcomes will somehow be predictable and perfect. Chaos theory is always in effect my friends.... and past performance is no guarantee of future results! - ZZB
Do most people live in a fantasy world structured by an illusion that we are somehow entitled to a perfect life supplied by our government and political leadership? This reliance on such a false expectation becomes a slippery slope to tragedy when we find our beliefs are actually misplaced. Did the sense of "entitlement" in this country play any part in the tragedy in the early hours after disaster struck the gulf coast? We expect homeland security, food on the table, a job, shelter, good health, medical care, free attorneys appointed to us, civil protection, a free pass when we are a first time offender for virtually anything, cures to all our ills and countless "benefits" of life in the Great Society. Sure we believe we pay for all this through our taxes, so we are entitled.
...The political posturing and bickering over WHO did a good job or bad job in the early hours of the New Orleans crisis has as an undercurrent this incessant expectation of perfection or near perfection from our leaders and decision makers, and is actually laughable....
But how much of it is realistic vs. a false illusion and promise? Does anyone really believe that ANY agency can protect ANY country from another 9/11 type of terrorist attack given the will of an evil minority to cause great harm? Do we believe that our world health agencies will ALWAYS find a vaccine for the next deadly virus that might threaten all of humanity making the devastations in New Orleans moot?Are these entitlement expectations realistic when it comes to "natural disasters" that are NOT man made? What IS the yardstick by which someone measures these things? Consider Katrina....or the recent pacific tsunami, surely a "natural disaster" and part of the evolutionary pattern of earth physics, whether you believe that global warming is a root cause or not. The arm chair pundits sitting in the comfort of their own "illusion of protection" [like myself writing this piece] might take a moment and expand their consciousness. Is this idea that collectively we as a species can dominate our environment also extend to ideas that we can prevent asteroids from hitting this planet or other such natural calamities? Do we unconsciously believe that even earth itself is "entitled" to exist in the universe as we know it today? We certainly try to fool ourselves into believing so. After all, won't scientists find a way to save us from such things? Surely our leaders are EXPECTED to save us. Yet man is insignificant in the scheme of things on a cosmic scale. There ARE catastrophies both natural and man made (WMD) that are certainly even more horrific than a category 5 hurricane. It's enough we have to deal with the natural ones, let alone the ones of our own making!
The political posturing and bickering over WHO did a good job or bad job in the early hours of the New Orleans crisis has as an undercurrent this incessant expectation of perfection or near perfection from our leaders and decision makers and is actually laughable. It's self-centered and self-serving to both political parties, and the American people are seeing through the politics. The media contributes and magnifies this problem by the way they "steer" what their viewers hear and see. There was plenty of evidence of this by virtue of the subliminal biases in reporting that have occured this past week. (Note the cover up here) That a Democratic controlled Congress and a Democratic President in the White House would have somehow made the disaster recovery better or worse is a fools game to play and guess what? We are playing it! The issues lie in our "systems of understanding" and adapting to our natural universe and the nature of man himself. Not in politics. IMHO.
Lesson.... maybe we Americans need to swallow some humble pie once in awhile and understand where we, like all life on this fragile planet, stack up in the scheme of things. Tragedies like Katrina need to be a wake up call to learn how to work together just as 9/11 did for a man made disaster. We need to recognize that the one most powerful gift we have is our capacity to LEARN and ADAPT with the understanding that there are NEVER any assurances that "the next time", events and outcomes will somehow be predictable and perfect. Chaos theory is always in effect my friends.... and past performance is no guarantee of future results! - ZZB
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