Soooo Last Century

 

Here are the faces of three old men. Let’s kick off by guessing who they are.

One wants to go back to a time when his countrymen lived in fear of a knock on their door and were provided with tailored information that kept them subservient to a political ideal that could never be a reality. He wanted to spread that way of life as far as he could through the world whether they liked it or not. Hint: he just won his latest sham election where no opposition is allowed and will carry on destroying his country in the present to satisfy his lust for the past.

The second wants to go back to a time when his country was the richest and most powerful in the world, driven by a law of the jungle approach that mixed military force, dirty tricks and the raw power of money to remove opposition. A time when there was little or no thought given to the health of the world and the biggest enemy was hidden somewhere within. Most likely over your neighbour’s fence. Hint: he is likely to pull out some dirty tricks to make sure he hangs onto power, just like he did two years ago and four years before that.

The last wants to go back, way back to days when there was no written word. To establish a kingdom worthy of a higher being, where his chosen people can live in endless prosperity and security and divine retribution is the law, delivered by religious leaders who act as said higher being's appointed enforcers. Hint: he is a genocidal maniac with a cutesy nickname.

Not much of a test really.

Putin wants to re-establish the Soviet Union and the European eastern bloc - something that fell apart under its own weight in 1990 and was the most repressive and empty political empire the world has ever seen. Great for those in power, cruel and cold for everyone forced to live under its restrictions. Why? Because that’s how it was when he was young and in his prime.

Trump wants to go back to the 1980s when the USA had its finger in every pie around the world and used its power to suck up resources from every corner like a rabid vacuum cleaner. Unchecked imperialism posing as democratic righteousness. Except with Trump the democratic bit is entirely optional. In fact, it’s downright expendable. That aside - why does he want to impose this on the world? Because that’s how it was when he was young and in his prime.

Netanyahu (I can’t use his cutesy nickname sorry - just can’t do it) wants to re-establish Israel as God’s chosen kingdom in the Holy Land, vanquishing heretics and others he considers subhuman. There is nothing last century about it, but what he does want to carry forward from 1948 is the myth of perpetual victimhood: the get-out-of-jail card of the world's most maligned people standing up to forces of hatred and destruction. That kind of sympathy goes a long way and can be used in just about any circumstance when you might push ‘standing up for yourself’ just a little too far.

None of this is relevant to anyone born in the last 30-40 years, who have never lived under those circumstances and who have their own, more immediate concerns to deal with. The 21^st Century is a time to look forward, not back, because the past is how we arrived here and the future is getting increasingly more bleak with ever passing year.

So instead of setting up a communist bloc, or saying this Holy Land ain’t big enough for both of us, or imposing your own brand of ‘democracy’ on half the world, people need to be dealing with what actually affects them today, which is in short:

1. The climate is changing in ways we can’t control, with a closing window of opportunity to slow down the impact. Water and food shortages are on their way and the politics of fossil fuel are a cancer that could trigger another world war long before we run out of safe places to live.
2. Technology is not our friend. Technology is a dystopian control tool in the making, generating unimaginable wealth for the tiniest fraction of people and placing everyone else under a microscope to make sure it stays that way. Trump is a demented imbecile who will die before too long, but what will happen if another version arrives that is younger, smarter and slicker. A lot of people thought he was a joke in 2015, but that joke is still stinking the pace up 11 years later. Imagine living with that stench for another 30.
3. The western world is not all that and a bag of chips. European colonialism got us into this mess and it sure as shit won’t get us out of it. The African continent is the cradle of humanity and it could also be its savior if the world stops viewing it as either a millstone of poverty or an open field for existing political bullshit to spread. Climate change could potentially turn it into a desert, but instead of accepting that as inevitable maybe the world should be investing in Africa as the place where whole food supply and renewable energy can be developed on a global scale. All you have to do first is get rid of the political corruption and civil wars.
4. When the oil has gone and the USA and Russia are a ghost of their former selves. China will stand alone as the world’s super power. What that means for the rest of the us is open to debate, but let’s just say their record on human rights isn’t something we should be looking to for inspiration. That and the blatant political sham of their ‘communist’ system. Trump wants to turn the USA into China, but China already exists and it isn’t going anywhere.

What is needed, in other words, are people growing up in the NOW to lead the world forward into the NEXT for the benefit of the planet, not demented old fools wanting to take us BACK to their ‘glory’ days for the benefit of themselves.