It's already past New Year's and the anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection. We are still trying to cope with Covid as the virus mutates. A real fear is the serious threat that the Delta variant poses has combined with the transmissibility of the Omicron variant is combined in a single mutation. At the same time, we still have a significant percentage of people in a nation that takes pride in its educational system refusing to get vaccinated. If we had practiced that resistance to Science and vaccines when I was young, we would still be threatened by Polio.
Supported by those who passionately embrace conservative leaning conspiracy theories, some non-consesrvatives also have their favorite conspiracy theories, we have a movement in the GOP that is overtly authoritarian. Their authoritarianism resembles the authoritarianism that that is a foundational part of the nationalist movements in Europe. After all, these conservative authoritarians want to take their nation back which implies that their nation only belongs to them. While it's not that conservatives here have a monopoly on authoritarianism, it is that the conservative version of it here has a very harsh edge to it not seen in the authoritarianism of the Democratic Party. The authoritarianism that is very present in some Leftist groups goes undetected because of the actual size of the Left in this nation.
Outside of that, the Netflix movie Don't Look Up gives a simplistic but accurate enough portrayal of those who are refusing to listen to Science regarding not just the Covid virus but Climate Change as well. It shows how human vanity can cause some to stare oncoming destruction and even death in the face while quoting Alfred E. Neuman's famous question: 'What, me worry?'
Of course there are worries to have that lie outside of our borders. Russia and China seem intent on wanting more say and possessing more areas. Their military developments, especially that of Russia, is part of a renewal of a nuclear arms race that has not been seen in decades. There is a twofold danger in this renewed arms race: First, that one of the nuclear powers begins to discard the belief in MAD; and second, that the new arms race makes even smaller and quicker the response time to a perceived nuclear threat or attack. We should note that there have been several instances where we were within a few minutes of experiencing a full scale nuclear war.
Of course, there is another danger with the reliance on nuclear weapons for defense. It is that that technology will cause a proliferation of nuclear weapons to those nations or parties who are more willing to use them. And let's face it, because of technology, the proliferation of WMDs, whether they are nuclear or not, is inevitable.
Of course there is the growing wealth and income disparity that exists not just within our nation between economic classes and races. That growing disparity exists between nations as well. There is the global persecution of people because they are different both in our nation and in the world. Those differences that have sparked persecution include differences in race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Thus, we have threats from nature, our pursued way of life, and ourselves to try to survive this year. But with all of that, the biggest threat we face are the consequences of our unwillingness to share power and wealth. That is what we human beings face each and every year in which we don't either blow ourselves up or poison ourselves into extinction. To make matters worse for Christians like me, too many of my fellow believers are part of the problem with not wanting to share power and wealth. That makes matters much worse for people like me because if we, who have God's Word, are a part of the problem, where is there hope for the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment