I read too much science fiction as a child - well - to be honest, Sci-Fi is still my staple.
And for the most part, the "type" of science fiction that I gravitate towards is the imaginative dystopian hard science stuff where authors are dreaming of a future state of being and how that affects us.
So, for example, Robert Heinlein was one of my mentors in the field and he talked about everything from religion to race, sex and politics in his groundbreaking work like Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.
Or think about Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game.
These works were meant to criticise the way we do things, the way we are, and to subtly point to other possibilities.
Like what if the marriage idea was wrong and we should be polyamorous? What if men were, in fact, inferior to women? What if militarism was left unchecked?
But I digress from what I was going to write about - which was just a quick sketch of a dream I just came up with for moving forward with society after the pandemic.
(by the way - this is by far the perfect science fiction story - and in fact, has been written a few times check our Steven King's the Stand or Margaret Atwood's MadAdam series)
So - here is my science fiction suggestion for moving forward.
First and foremost - every household, everywhere, every class and country - needs free high-speed internet, probably from Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites. We also all need free state of the art computer systems and "smart" enabled devices.
These should no longer be for-profit creations - well, in a perfect world nothing should - but I am willing to start there.
This is step one - and you are not going to immediately agree with me on step two - but suspend your disbelief for a second.
Step two is that we sell off every school, every police station, every doctor's office, every church, every psychiatric clinic, every public health clinic, etc. Especially those that are government-funded or require tax breaks.
Step three is that we build campus organizations where all of these professionals work, together, along with high tech infrastructure and broadcasting studios.
NOW
Here is the thing, we start having multidisciplinary teams producing educational and creative resources that educate children, teach holistic health, manage conflict, embrace spirituality, and provide - through the internet - all the resources necessary to create "health" in the population.
Yes, we would still need hospitals, and teams that could be dispatched to deal with crime or emergent situations.
But in reality, we would be approaching the human situation from a whole different perspective while at the same time cutting an incredible amount of cost. Each of these campuses would create content that is regional, that honours every culture and race and sexuality and background - but at the same time does not have to reinvent the wheel as they would all be networked as well.
We would instantly level up humanity worldwide.
The reason we do not do this is that we are stuck in archaic patterns of professional services that are stuck in outdated thought patterns and traditions.
And I would argue that this is because of racism and elitism, classism and sexism - all of those isms.
Otherwise, we would have been working together on all this stuff long ago.
Why do we have two dental clinics in the same small town, one of which offers better care for higher prices and one of which offers to take anyone?
Why do we have food banks, churches, and social workers all doing the work while not communicating with each other?
Because we believe some people deserve better care. It is as plain, as simple, and as horrible as that.
Oh, and it also has to do with turning a profit. That is why I am fed up with capitalism and our current economic lie of trickle-down wealth.
So my solution might not be the best, and it might not be feasible, I am not a city planner or a sociologist.
But here is the thing. Even I in my little corner of the world can come up with a better solution than how we currently do it. I am willing to bet there are hundreds, if not millions of solutions that would make the world a better, and safer place - that would allow us to accomplish more with less, and that would keep us safe.
We do not implement them because they do not make anyone rich.
So here is my idea. Close the schools and make teaching an online resource. But while we are at it. Close the rest and force us to work together. I am 99% certain that it would only make the world worse for the 1%.
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 June 2020
Thursday, 19 September 2019
Dark Times as Colonialism Dies
Yesterday I listened to an interview on the CBC with author Alexandra Fuller who was brought up by white and English parents in Rhodesia, which has since become Zimbabwe.
Her candour in describing systemic racism and white supremacy as a matter of course was really astonishing. However, in the midst of the interview, she said a casual throwaway line that reverberated in my brain for the last twenty-four hours. She said, "These were the last days of colonial rule, and in the end times, the people hold on the hardest."
It was as if a light bulb went off in my thinking about the modern world.
In the last days of a system - instead of accepting the coming change and working to move carefully and harmoniously into the new world order, we fight tooth and nail against said change and seek to hold ever more tightly to the past.
Wow.
First off, the whole populist political shift in the world all of a sudden makes sense. We know, intuitively, that these are the last days of capitalism and our current economic system. We know that these are the last days of nationalism and independence. We see through travel, global economies, and transnational corporations that, well, everything is changing and what will be remains to be seen.
When I first started to become interested in the church, in religion and the like - I was still in the tail end of the era when we thought everything was set in stone. The '80s were a rich and heady time when everything was working. Systems and institutions had power. Racism and Sexism were being addressed. Life looked good for a few years there before it inevitably fell hard.
As the world tilts on its axis, we are finding ourselves deeper and deeper into shifts where we do not see the outcome. Whether we are talking the move from a goods-based to an information-based society, whether we are talking about the divide and class structures, or whether we are speaking of the climate disaster that will destroy most of what is left - things are changing and the final form of our politics, economy, and even global map seems unwritten.
But then it clicked in terms of church.
We are dying faster than most.
Or, rather, becoming irrelevant in the new system.
At our full power, the church controlled the medical, educational, and perhaps even the political realm. Now we have trouble influencing the crosswalk guard.
(see, this is where it clicked for me - I have for a decade been questioning how the mainline, progressive, left-wing United Church is attracting clergy, leaders, and even congregants who are right-leaning and traditionalist - that simply is not our jam, or was not our jam when I decided to play with the band)
It only makes sense that what we see in our dying congregation is the last gasp of holding on to something of the past. Ministers are becoming more authoritarian and old fashioned. People are actually talking about heresy and fundamentals and things that would have been laughed out of an annual meeting not that many years ago. Our church who once fought the government for inclusion of LBGQT++ issues now turns inward and fights about the nature of biblical inerrancy or Christological significance.
I have been riding along, wondering who cares, and why, and how we got so off track from the socialist hippy message of loving everyone and sharing that Jesus taught us in kindergarten.
And it really is just fear. It really is just a lack of acceptance that those days are over. It is the hardcore believers in the institution and in the Christian Kingdom refusing to let go and say this is no longer Rhodesia and controlled by the Whites, it is now Zimbabwe and open to everyone getting their say.
(I realize it might not be the best example because Zimbabwe and most of the post-colonial countries had a hard go of it too - but I hope you get the meaning behind the example - the "church" we grew up in is not coming back...)
I think that we are seeing staunch belief in old fashioned religious ways of thinking because we are witnessing the fear of death. And the reality that death leads to resurrection is not good enough for most, because we cannot control the form of resurrection.
What will "faith" look like on the other side of this period of upheaval and change? We cannot know. But it too, like global boundaries, politics, and economic systems, will change. The change will be rapid and continue to be painful.
It could be easier if we let go.
But I admit it is always scary when you need to let go in order to fall into the unknown. It is hard to go with the flow and live in the moment and realize you cannot control tomorrow...
Still... we should try
Her candour in describing systemic racism and white supremacy as a matter of course was really astonishing. However, in the midst of the interview, she said a casual throwaway line that reverberated in my brain for the last twenty-four hours. She said, "These were the last days of colonial rule, and in the end times, the people hold on the hardest."
It was as if a light bulb went off in my thinking about the modern world.
In the last days of a system - instead of accepting the coming change and working to move carefully and harmoniously into the new world order, we fight tooth and nail against said change and seek to hold ever more tightly to the past.
Wow.
First off, the whole populist political shift in the world all of a sudden makes sense. We know, intuitively, that these are the last days of capitalism and our current economic system. We know that these are the last days of nationalism and independence. We see through travel, global economies, and transnational corporations that, well, everything is changing and what will be remains to be seen.
When I first started to become interested in the church, in religion and the like - I was still in the tail end of the era when we thought everything was set in stone. The '80s were a rich and heady time when everything was working. Systems and institutions had power. Racism and Sexism were being addressed. Life looked good for a few years there before it inevitably fell hard.
As the world tilts on its axis, we are finding ourselves deeper and deeper into shifts where we do not see the outcome. Whether we are talking the move from a goods-based to an information-based society, whether we are talking about the divide and class structures, or whether we are speaking of the climate disaster that will destroy most of what is left - things are changing and the final form of our politics, economy, and even global map seems unwritten.
But then it clicked in terms of church.
We are dying faster than most.
Or, rather, becoming irrelevant in the new system.
At our full power, the church controlled the medical, educational, and perhaps even the political realm. Now we have trouble influencing the crosswalk guard.
(see, this is where it clicked for me - I have for a decade been questioning how the mainline, progressive, left-wing United Church is attracting clergy, leaders, and even congregants who are right-leaning and traditionalist - that simply is not our jam, or was not our jam when I decided to play with the band)
It only makes sense that what we see in our dying congregation is the last gasp of holding on to something of the past. Ministers are becoming more authoritarian and old fashioned. People are actually talking about heresy and fundamentals and things that would have been laughed out of an annual meeting not that many years ago. Our church who once fought the government for inclusion of LBGQT++ issues now turns inward and fights about the nature of biblical inerrancy or Christological significance.
I have been riding along, wondering who cares, and why, and how we got so off track from the socialist hippy message of loving everyone and sharing that Jesus taught us in kindergarten.
And it really is just fear. It really is just a lack of acceptance that those days are over. It is the hardcore believers in the institution and in the Christian Kingdom refusing to let go and say this is no longer Rhodesia and controlled by the Whites, it is now Zimbabwe and open to everyone getting their say.
(I realize it might not be the best example because Zimbabwe and most of the post-colonial countries had a hard go of it too - but I hope you get the meaning behind the example - the "church" we grew up in is not coming back...)
I think that we are seeing staunch belief in old fashioned religious ways of thinking because we are witnessing the fear of death. And the reality that death leads to resurrection is not good enough for most, because we cannot control the form of resurrection.
What will "faith" look like on the other side of this period of upheaval and change? We cannot know. But it too, like global boundaries, politics, and economic systems, will change. The change will be rapid and continue to be painful.
It could be easier if we let go.
But I admit it is always scary when you need to let go in order to fall into the unknown. It is hard to go with the flow and live in the moment and realize you cannot control tomorrow...
Still... we should try
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Deck Chairs
I just came back from the Annual General Meeting for my church Region. Well. For two church Regions that used to be one Conference. If you are not part of the United Church of Canada ignore the second sentence and focus on the first.
I want to be particularly careful in what I say here because for once, what I am about to say is not judgement but an observation. I do not think this is anyone's fault - and I do not think it is unique to the world of churches and their ecclesial hierarchy. I wager those of you who have annual corporate or shareholder, or NGO, or even parliamentary meetings could echo what I am about to say.
What a waste of time that was.
And perhaps this is human nature. Perhaps this is corporate culture. Perhaps there is absolutely no way to satisfy the needs and wants of any group larger than, say, one.
Still, and not to put anyone down, I am going to use an example from three days of church meetings involving 350 people. I don't say I have a better answer or understanding or anything - so don't hear this as chastisement or ego driven or anything - it is... as I have said... observational.
Last year the church voted to divide this group in half - for efficiency, for cost, for a new vision of how we work and are in community. So we began the next phase of church life as Regions 14 and 15 - and hired separate staff and began a separate journey of identity.
We then promptly voted to meet together for our annual meeting anyway.
And then, I kid you not, we spent somewhere up from six hours of business time debating whether or not to continue to meet together.
I want to be particularly careful in what I say here because for once, what I am about to say is not judgement but an observation. I do not think this is anyone's fault - and I do not think it is unique to the world of churches and their ecclesial hierarchy. I wager those of you who have annual corporate or shareholder, or NGO, or even parliamentary meetings could echo what I am about to say.
What a waste of time that was.
And perhaps this is human nature. Perhaps this is corporate culture. Perhaps there is absolutely no way to satisfy the needs and wants of any group larger than, say, one.
Still, and not to put anyone down, I am going to use an example from three days of church meetings involving 350 people. I don't say I have a better answer or understanding or anything - so don't hear this as chastisement or ego driven or anything - it is... as I have said... observational.
Last year the church voted to divide this group in half - for efficiency, for cost, for a new vision of how we work and are in community. So we began the next phase of church life as Regions 14 and 15 - and hired separate staff and began a separate journey of identity.
We then promptly voted to meet together for our annual meeting anyway.
And then, I kid you not, we spent somewhere up from six hours of business time debating whether or not to continue to meet together.
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
Okay - think about that a second. 350 people spent 6 hours debating how to circumvent a change to modernize our meeting and governance practices to ensure that they remained the exact same as they have been since 1925.
That is 2100 work hours of the church to decide we need to spend the weekend together once a year.
Do you know what other discussions or business we had? Others might interpret reality differently, but I would say nothing. Sure - we rubber-stamped a few things that now we actually do not have a say in any more - such as who was ordained and what the budget is.
Generally, this is what the changes that went into effect six months ago did - gave the power to decide things to a higher court or paid staff and made it easier to get things done.
Except for this meeting.
Now, I am not complaining. I get to take a Sunday off, go there, have my room and board paid for, hang out with friends, drink beer and commiserate.
But this is not a necessary business meeting, although people will stand up and say the reason we need to be together in this fashion is to do then work of the church. And it is not a spiritual retreat although some people will stand up and say it is. And it is not networking although that happens...
Like most of the corporate culture, no one can quite put their finger on why we do it this way and whether or not it works.
I really think this will be the epitaph on the tombstones the cockroaches erect to remember us all. "They always did it this way."
and gosh darnit, we will die trying not to change.
Generally, this is what the changes that went into effect six months ago did - gave the power to decide things to a higher court or paid staff and made it easier to get things done.
Except for this meeting.
Now, I am not complaining. I get to take a Sunday off, go there, have my room and board paid for, hang out with friends, drink beer and commiserate.
But this is not a necessary business meeting, although people will stand up and say the reason we need to be together in this fashion is to do then work of the church. And it is not a spiritual retreat although some people will stand up and say it is. And it is not networking although that happens...
Like most of the corporate culture, no one can quite put their finger on why we do it this way and whether or not it works.
I really think this will be the epitaph on the tombstones the cockroaches erect to remember us all. "They always did it this way."
and gosh darnit, we will die trying not to change.
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