Who else is feeling..

[wtr]

The end, the second coming, or perhaps a point of inflection of our destiny? Dread and devastation is all around us. Extremists, disease, disasters, and a blurry future.

Can't listen to the media because it's saturated with dooms and glooms; can't sleep peacefully without worrying about tomorrow; and don't know how to say "good bye" to your love ones because their farewell might be their last..

I'm rather pessimistic tonight, because lately I haven't had the chance to settle down and reflect on the world around me. Now come to think about it, I feel like we are inside a tunnel once again, and I can't quite see the other end.

Images of the dead and wounded; scenes of relatives at funerals; deaths of flu victims; terrorism hotline posters.

Would love to live in the pre-90s era again, can't help it, I'm a bit nostalgic.


Funny, I have a report to be submitted tomorrow, and I end up posting this bitter trash on the net. How constructive..

Hit me with a pan please.

 

[S.]

Throughout history, people have died. I wouldn't worry about it too much mate. Diseases, wars, etc etc aren't anything new to the world, and for the most part the earth is still here.

 

[Christo]

I really do think that every generation has felt that way at some point, as a child of the 70's/80's I always felt that nuclear annilhation was inevitable.

A wise prophet once said..

'What, me worry?'

 

[shmity]

Throughout history, people have died. I wouldn't worry about it too much mate. Diseases, wars, etc etc aren't anything new to the world, and for the most part the earth is still here.

but will we still be on it tomorrow?

Actually i couldnt' give a shit, i dont see the point in worrying about it, other wise we waste our lives with worry.

 

[johnny]

Would love to live in the pre-90s era again, can't help it, I'm a bit nostalgic.

No you wouldn't bro.

The pre nineties had massive starvation and disease in Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, North Korea, China, Bangladesh, etc. Apartheid in South Africa, Invasion of Tibet, slaughter in South Vietnam, rolling civil wars and insurgencies throught Central and South America, Carnage in Israel/Palestine, same in Algeria (which spread to bombings in Paris) and Egypt, Pakistan and India were going at it in Kashmir/Jammu, 50 times the current violence in Northern Island and England to a degree..........., not to mention that we all lived under the umbrella of over 12 000 strategic and tactical nukes in the USSR/Warsaw pact states and USA/NATO. We have yet to see any other threat in human history reach that same magnitude.

You have to remember two things Wazza.

1/ These days the media is far more reaching. This works in two ways. Technology has proliferated the camera. In ww1 there were very few war correspondents with movie cameras, WW2 saw a few more, Vietnam saw the introduction of television cameras, other Cold War proxy conflicts saw the restriction of info, Gulf War 1 saw the manipulation of info to a degree never before seen, Gulf War 2 has seen a backlash against this control.

This technology has also spawned, phone cameras, infrared/night vision equipment, bomb cameras etc. there is far more information available than ever before. the threat was the was actually worse then, but your exposure to it has heightened exponentially since.

Technology also works in another way. Not only has collection been advantaged but your receipt of it has widened too. We have both the internet, cable TV and more magazines and print publications than ever before. The main two are the net and cable, we have a greater collection capacity of information as well as a greater supply.

2/ You are older now. You understand things much better and you pay more attention. When you were a kid you didn't have the responsibility of your keeping friends and family safe. It was some one else's job to keep you safe, therefore you will obviously recognise less of the threats. Life back then was carefree due to youthful ignorance of the world around you.

Worry not brother, things are getting better.

 

[demo man]

everday when i catch the bus home i see some grafiti that has been written on a large wall near civic, it's in black spray that has fadded a little to a dark grey, and is probably of 75cm letter height.

"THESE BAD DAYS WILL END"

it's a strange thing to read everyday, but it does give me this nice warm feeling inside.

 

[notb4dinner]

Worry not brother, things are getting better.

I seem to remember some of your old posts saying we should expect bad things(TM) in the not too distant future, why the change of heart?

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Would love to live in the pre-90s era again, can't help it, I'm a bit nostalgic.

Sorry to bring an off-topic discussion round to mountain biking but if I remember rightly weren't MTB's in the '80's fully rigid, weighed half a ton and would snap faster than a pre-menstrual saltie?...

 

[johnny]

Bad things will always happen, and things could definately get worse if the US and China go head to head. Russia is also still quite a threat, let alone their recent naval excercises with China. So we are far from out of the woods yet.

But there are heightened awareness and concern toward issues that affect global security such as poverty, national debt, environmental mismanagement, the Israel/Palestine conflict, extremism, media representation, global governance , corporate conduct etc.

This awareness that has only really come about in an accelerating form since the era between WW2 and Vietnam. I have quite a belief that this awareness gives us greater hope than ever before that we can see our way past the threat of anihilation or a general breakdown.

First things first though, deal with the China issue, then poverty and the environment and the rest should deal with itself I believe.

 

[ajay]

No you wouldn't bro.

The pre nineties had massive starvation and disease in Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, North Korea, China, Bangladesh, etc. Apartheid in South Africa, Invasion of Tibet, slaughter in South Vietnam, rolling civil wars and insurgencies throught Central and South America, Carnage in Israel/Palestine, same in Algeria (which spread to bombings in Paris) and Egypt, Pakistan and India were going at it in Kashmir/Jammu, 50 times the current violence in Northern Island and England to a degree..........., not to mention that we all lived under the umbrella of over 12 000 strategic and tactical nukes in the USSR/Warsaw pact states and USA/NATO. We have yet to see any other threat in human history reach that same magnitude.

you forgot about Pol Pot ... and his 3,000,000 victims - i was sitting in Angkor Wat (massive temple in Cambodia) chatting with the Buhdast Monks about the Kahmare Rouge and the slaughter, and they are in great spirits now about the redevelopment of their (was) great country... the pain still remains from their losses, but there courage to make it right again is very inspirational, especially when you see the poverty in which they live...

If the rest of world could adopt a similar way of thinking, we would be leaps and bounds in front of where we are now!

 

[johnny]

I seem to remember some of your old posts saying we should expect bad things(TM) in the not too distant future, why the change of heart?

....2nd try with an attempt at greater clarity:

Whilst we are still in for some more troubling times, I think the over all trend is towards progression and improvements.

 

[wtr]

To be honest about why I am being extra negative tonight...

I send my girl a silly sms after finishing work at 10:30pm on last saturday night as per usual. But only to shocked later that night that bombs went off, and her parents live in Indo. Talk about bad timing..
3 days onward, she still didn't pick up nor reply my calls... I must have done the most pathetic thing in the most inappropriate time, and I don't mind if she's mad at me because of that. But more importantly, the wellbeing of her parents, and here I am, sitting here next to a pile of lecture notes, a report to type up, and a phone waiting for her to fill me in on what's happening. This worrying and frustration is drilling into my head by the minute...

Worry not brother, things are getting better.

"THESE BAD DAYS WILL END"

Thanks for the lift bro.
It's strange ain't it? The place that makes you feel, if I may say, intimate, to others isn't next to a bonfire, but rather on a cyber space where a bunch of men with the same hobby gather. Praise farkin.

 

[demo man]

i've said it before and i'll say it again, it's amazing the sort of people you can connect with in the strangest ways.

be good, step back, take a few deep breaths, and go to sleep. there isn't anything you can do by staying up late tonight.

or bury yourself in your work, and when you look up you may be in a whole new mood...

 

[Commander Dilsnikk]

'Sometimes I feel like I can do anything,
Sometimes I'm so alive/'
Sometimes I feel like I can zoom 'cross the sky,
Sometimes I want to cry.'
-Michael Franti

Swings and roundabouts my friend.
It's always when the essay's due in under 24 hours that the existential crises kick in.
Good luck with it.

 

[Christo]

To be honest about why I am being extra negative tonight...

I send my girl a silly sms after finishing work at 10:30pm on last saturday night as per usual. But only to shocked later that night that bombs went off, and her parents live in Indo. Talk about bad timing..

Hey man, feel free not to answer if you want, what was so bad about the SMS that irked your girlfriend so much?

 

[wtr]

what was so bad about the SMS that irked your girlfriend so much?

The kind of msg that would make your silliness sound funny under normal circumstances, but last saturday night proved to be a very wrong time..

 

[Binaural]

First things first though, deal with the China issue, then poverty and the environment and the rest should deal with itself I believe.

Wish I could be so confident I am cautiously optimistic, but apart from things we cannot control (asteroid strikes, exploding supervolcanoes etc) there are a large number of things that threaten either the quality of life on earth or its entire existence.

At bottom, it is human nature that will have the greatest effect on our ability to sustain a civilized world far into the future (again, provided no uncontrollable external factors such as an asteroid strike intervene). There are two basic characteristics of human behaviour that will have a great outcome on this:

1. Very strong tendency to group all people into "us and them", leading in extreme cases to xenephobia, holy wars, invasions etc.
2. General disinterest in "abstract" issues like global warming, political change

The "them and us" mentality is probably the most dangerous, since it both encourages black-and-white thinking and encourages a negative attitude towards the "others". It doesn't get a lot of credit, but you could argue that a whole lot of destruction has taken place since the dawn of humanity because of this. Hopefully the dawn of the information age and international trade and politics will help build bridges between societies and help make a more peaceful future.

An inability to really appreciate abstract as having the potential to become concrete problems is another danger. Of the long term risks to global political stability and survival of the human species the degradation of our lands, seas and skies rates the highest by far in my opinion, even above nuclear bombing (although this is much easier to imagine).

 

[demo man]

it's only easier to imagine because it happens in a matter of minutes's rather than decade's/centuaries.

i think that i mostly agree with Johnny on this one. deal with the big stuff and the little stuff really does fix itself, or simply seems much easier to fix after fixing something huge.

none of it is actually that hard to do, in theory, but after all the processes and bullshit in the world it becomes so complicated. it's actually quite depressing the way we keep shooting ourselves in the foot - so close yet so far. we have all the resources and tech etc.

we're all ganna die. just grab a helmet and ride your bike - because we have that option - but after you sponsor a child and donate some stuff and $$$ to a charity.

here's an idea - make a money jar, gold coin donation everytime you go for a ride. when it fills up give it to a charity.

 

[johnny]

The "them and us" mentality is probably the most dangerous, since it both encourages black-and-white thinking and encourages a negative attitude towards the "others". It doesn't get a lot of credit, but you could argue that a whole lot of destruction has taken place since the dawn of humanity because of this. Hopefully the dawn of the information age and international trade and politics will help build bridges between societies and help make a more peaceful future.

I truly think that globalisation will break this down. Right now we are seeing the us and them mentality ratchet up, because of globalisation. This is evidenced by the emergence of parties like the BNP in the UK, One Nation in Australia and the "rightening" of the Liberals, Jerg Haider in Austria, Jock Le Pen in France, Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands etc. (please allow for minor spelling irregularities in these names).

But I think it's an innevitable back lash against the dilution of traditional cultures and resurgent nostalgia. People movement due to globalisation and technology is unstopable (not to mention post-colonialism) and this recent swing to the right is the last gasp of nationalism and conservatism. It will give way to an irreversable intertwining of cultures and ethnicity. It has been slowely going on since we learnt how to sail (or walked out of Africa depending on your perspective) and has accelerated since the second world war.

I should be writing my assignment

 

[RCOH]

'Sometimes I feel like I can do anything,
Sometimes I'm so alive/'
Sometimes I feel like I can zoom 'cross the sky,
Sometimes I want to cry.'
-Michael Franti

I'm not too good at giving morals
And I don't feel the consequence
If life makes you scared & bitter
At least it's not for very long
-Greg Graffin

I tend to focus on smaller thing (think global, act local [metaphorically speaking]), or break down bigger issues into a series of smaller ones then deal with them 1 at a time. Not so overwhelming & get satisfaction of seeing results of effort sooner which gives more incentive to continue. Alas, I am a very impatient person, so even this is hard for me (but i'm working on it, having kids has helped a lot )