dagblog - Comments for "The World Is Dying"

Not sure re: "the world is

demunchained — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:30:48 +0000

In reply to There was one mass killing in

Not sure re: "the world is dying", but it certainly looks like our nation is seriously floundering; not delivering the goods, as the old adage goes, to the American people.

Also not sure why "the cure is worse than the disease"-- related to our absurd gun violence/death problem. If solutions are put forth such as stopping or requiring background checks and permits at the now wide open gun shows, and stricter laws re: mentally ill people buying guns and ammo-- seems to me these are common sense solutions which congress must act on.

Well you are on the trail of

Erica — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:07:34 +0000

In reply to You're right. I'm obviously

Well you are on the trail of it then! :-)

You're right. I'm obviously

Orion — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:00:31 +0000

In reply to Orion, I always enjoy reading

You're right. I'm obviously depressed and trying to get out of that. I've regularly deleted stuff I thought was too masturbatory and didn't have anything productive for others.

Orion, I always enjoy reading

erica20 — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 20:30:37 +0000

In reply to The World Is Dying

Orion, I always enjoy reading and thinking about your pieces. If I could make a small general suggestion--you might apply a rule of thumb that the darker the connections you're making, the more the piece might need a more careful logical progression (or possibly a re-think.) This won't be true in all cases, but at this moment in your writing I think it would be useful to you to take a look at this issue--there is a way in which this piece drives off a cliff, leaving the reader to wonder what happened to you and the car....

FWIW, I hope that reports of the world's death are premature and perhaps exaggerated. I always think of Mark Twain, and more recently Morgan Freeman, who has been reported dead several times and yet seems to still be alive.

I agree with Moat above, but

CVille Dem — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:08:01 +0000

In reply to The World Is Dying

I agree with Moat above, but I would also add a question about your conceit that people are more independent now. How so? You give the example that they can buy things for themselves as though that confers independence. Our predecessors on this earth fed, clothed, and housed themselves to a degree most of us cannot fathom today.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if you could explain this paragraph because it makes absolutely no sense to me at all:

About the same time I was in Micronesia, a friend of mine was in India. We had both lived in the Bay Area about the same time and idolized the respective cultures we visited. He said himself to me, "India sucked." Like me, he has come back....weird. On New Year's, my friend literally got invited to a New Year's Party but decided to skip in, go home and sleep. Very strange if you were to know my friend well.

Your friend, who "idolized" the culture he visited said it "sucked." Why? Does his turning down a party invitation have anything to do with the rest of the stuff you wrote about? Does not wanting to go to a party mean your friend is dying? I guess as you said, I don't know your friend well -- in fact I don't know him at all.

I just really don't get your point here, and wonder if you really thought much about this before you pushed the "publish" button.

In 2010, there was a single

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 23:28:54 +0000

In reply to There are a few more since

In 2010, there was a single mass murder, 8 deaths. So if we had this conversation earlier, we'd agree how well things were going on the gun front. Sure, semi-automatic pistols may change the score, but realistically we have no way of knowing by how much. 142 deaths in 2012 is less than 1/2 millionth of the population. 8 deaths is about 1/40 millionth of the population. 6 incidents vs. 1 makes a bad year rather than good.

I am not sure about the right

moat — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:34:55 +0000

In reply to The World Is Dying

I am not sure about the right way of going about this reply. I am unable to pull your thesis together in a way that lets me offer an alternative. But several things you said should not be left unchallenged:

People back then were very different than they are now, however. People now are used to being independent, of telling themselves what to do, of buying what they want and having what they want.

A general reading of history shows that when some "people" acquire the means to do what they want, gain possession of what they desire, and prevent other "people" from taking those advantages away from them, their life is very much like the life of those who enjoy those advantages now. If there is a very great difference in the experience between past and present, it needs more explanation than a declaration of it as a self evident fact.

That is one disturbing thing to remember when we think back to the rise of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Josef Stalin or other fascist/communist leaders. Those people were only people. If nobody wanted them around, they could have easily been taken down.

Many people, very many people, died, saying no to those guys. Your use of the word "easily" makes me want to break something. It makes me cry.

Humans are a collective entity - anyone who thinks we're "individuals" is fooling themselves. Groups enter wars, groups enter depressions - history would look alot different if people ever really lived for themselves.

It was more than a little disorienting to read these lines from someone who bases so much of their writing upon the vantage point of their own personal experiences. I could understand the statement if Marx had said it. I have no idea what you mean by it.

There are a few more since

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:27:31 +0000

In reply to There were actually several,

There are a few more since 2006, as the Mother Jones compilation shows, but as a significant # over 310 million people, no, not really. I think 6 incidents for 2012, which was tops.

There were actually several,

Orion — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 22:35:37 +0000

In reply to There was one mass killing in

There were actually several, including one yesterday. There was another one in Aurora, Colorado today. It may not be as catastrophic as the news makes it sound but it is a sharp increase.

There was one mass killing in

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:36:57 +0000

In reply to The World Is Dying

There was one mass killing in Europe - hardly a big deal.

Even for the US, in a violent culture of 310 million, the occasional mass killing is insignificant compared to even traffic deaths and accidental gun shootings.

Society isn't dying. It's just we're running scared and paranoid and can't seem to put solutions much in context - the cure's worse than the cold.