Monday 11 July 2016

And the temperature rises


Hi, this is me. I am fortunate enough to have grass that needs cutting and a scythe that needs using.  For this 44-year old it's an awesome way of getting exercise and enjoying nature, close up.  I carry out this in the evening, the temperature can be too hot for me in the day and at least I can avoid the discourse.
 
You see the level of discourse that I find myself seeing and hearing is deteriorating fast.  The discourse in politics is infantile and at the same time very dangerous.  The discourse between regular people is polarised and angry, we have ceased to be courteous, we have ceased to respect differences of opinion, in short we are all becoming hate-fuelled dumbasses.  I do not exclude myself from this charge, before anyone calls hypocrite.

And the temperature rises.

We create punchy, simple and memorable labels to identify those we support and those we wish to vilify: BLM, Brexit, Nuit Debout, Christian, Muslim, Black, White, Liberals, Libertarian, Librarian, for fucks sake!

Fear keeps the stress levels high and stressed people CONSUME. Boy do we consume, if all 7-billion people on the planet consumed at the same rate as the Wealthy West, we would need in excess of 1.5 planets to feed that consumption.  But have you ever stopped to ask what should we really be afraid of?

And the temperature rises.

We demonise the intelligent, the thoughtful, the artist, the expert, the peaceful, the philosopers, the child-like who see the world as a beautiful place to awe our only and most magisterial home.

We instead allow the worst among us to narrate and contextualise the changing world around us instead of investigating for ourselves. As Charles Bukowski said "The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are filled with doubt while the stupid ones are full of confidence."

And the temperature rises.

We are consumed by information and entertainment, reality TV and 24-hour news is stronger than heroin, your hand is merely a tool for supporting your smartphone and no longer the amazing versatile tool it was developed to be, you don't even know you are addicted, these drugs are THAT STRONG.

We are manipulated like puppets... without consciously knowing.  We are told who we are, what we think, what products can make us special and we spend all we have on these useless trinkets. We just don't want to be angry, or afraid, or left behind, or in poverty.

And the temperature rises.

We are all being played and we are all willing participants.

Our species is beholden to wealth and power instead of love and beauty

And the temperature rises.

We spread to all environments and force them to accommodate us despite the damage that causes.

We value money first family and friends are a distant second, the rest of the non-human species are way down the pecking order.

And the temperature rises.

We despise and mistrust our neighbours because they differ to me... how soon would we bore of identical people surrounding us, trust me, I'm a twin and understand the tedium of "sameness". We should be thankful and embrace the differences, it's what makes us interesting.

We are extremely intelligent and adaptable, our food and all over living things are not so blessed...

And the temperature rises.

Enough of your "click baiting" and meme forwarding and pathetic simple minded jingoism.  Enough of focusing on what separates us and focus more on what unites us. We are all human, we are all born, we all fall in love, we may become parents, we all age and we all die.  That knowledge should encourage us all to help each other and not fuck each other over.

Without a livable planet everything we know is meaningless.

Without a diverse ecosystem, rich in all manner of living creature, all we are left with is sterile lifeless and unsurvivable.

Put some wise adults in charge... probably the quieter ones, definitely the women, us men have proven ourselves to be without doubt the worst to make the hard and right decisions.

Stop watching your Television and using your smartphone just one day a week.

And reconnect with the living biological being that you are... dependent on food, water and shelter.

The temperature is rising. It is probably too late to reverse that trend, but you could bear witness in your short lives, cos lets face it, life is too short and enjoy the stunning bewildering and awe inspiring spectacle that is the only home we have... earth.

 
Don't hate me, I just want to draw your attention to a huge problem we need to face, now! Our new battle cry must be "We are not defending nature, WE ARE NATURE defending itself."

And sadly, the temperature still rises...