Politics Plus

Throughout history, civilizations and societies have fallen into ruin, and often time and tide have obliterated nearly all traces. The lore, literature, music, philosophy and art of these bygone peoples may be completely erased so that all archaeologists can find are tantalizing scraps such as building foundations and shards of pottery, but nothing providing any clues to how and what the vanished people spoke or sang or thought. A great deal of culture and learning has vanished forever when libraries and other depositories of human achievement fell victim to disaster, war or ignorance.

Anybody who has made more than a cursory study of history is aware that, many times in the past, valuable knowledge has been lost so later generations had to rediscover it. The Library of Alexandria is the poster child for the irretrievable loss of accumulated literature and science. It is not the only library that has been lost forever – the Grand Library of Baghdad and the Royal Library of Antioch are just two more of the many that have been demolished and their books and scrolls destroyed, thus denying their contents to posterity.

What if some calamity wiped out our present civilization, and much of our accumulated learning and art vanished? What if descendants of the survivors knew nothing of Stephen Hawking, Giuseppi Verdi, or the Bronte Sisters? What if millennia of history and scientific discoveries were forgotten? If the generations that come after a global catastrophe seek to rebuild, it would be a shame if they had to start from scratch.

Our current civilization may seem robust, but it is actually vulnerable to many threats, both natural and man-made. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated just how fragile our society actually is, and already the effects of climate change are causing widespread destruction and disruptions. Other calamities that could easily end civilization as we know it include an asteroid or comet hitting the planet, a war involving nuclear weapons, a supervolcano eruption, and a coronal mass ejection that scores a bullseye on Earth.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists recently moved the hands of the “Doomsday Clock” to 100 seconds to midnight because, according to them, world leaders have failed to address the largest threats to humanity. This is the closest the Doomsday Clock has ever been to midnight – even closer than it was at the height of the Cold War. Granted, this does not mean we are doomed; however, we should still be concerned about the possibility of an apocalyptic disaster.

The World One program, a computer simulation created in 1973, predicted the end of civilization in 2040; some of its predictions have been frighteningly spot-on. Though we are making progress in a variety of fields, we are not doing enough to curb climate change, and it may be too late to avoid the worst effects. Changing weather patterns will lead to droughts, causing crop failures and famine. Nations will make war over increasingly scarce resources. Millions of refugees will flee violence and hunger, possibly bringing emerging diseases with them and inadvertently causing deadly pandemics.

Because modern civilization faces many threats, we need some way to preserve our accumulated artistic and scientific achievements. Even if our civilization survives, even if we manage to slog through the worst effects of climate change and confrontations between world leaders, it is better to have that backup available just for the peace of mind.

So, why should we create preserves for our achievements? Imagine if the generations that came after some great calamity knew nothing of Shakespeare or Star Trek. Imagine if they had to rediscover nearly all of what we know today about medicine, engineering, mathematics, astronomy, geology and the like. Imagine if thousands of years worth of history was forgotten, and thus all the important lessons of the past.

If you question the necessity of squirreling away our accumulated knowledge, think of all the precautions you take in your personal life, such as locking your front door and wearing a seat belt. Do you back up the data on your computer, whether on a special device or in the Cloud using a service such as Carbonite^® or SugarSync^®? Do you keep important documents – or copies of them – such as the deed to your house, the title to your car, your birth certificate, and the like in a safe deposit box? If so, you have a mini-ark for your personal matters. A Knowledge Ark is essentially a safe deposit box for civilization.

A lot of our important knowledge today is on paper – or worse, in electronic form, which is even more vulnerable and ephemeral. Too many people disdain reference books because they can whip out their phones and get the answers they need. Much of humanity’s collective achievement is stored on such volatile media. Computers, tablets and mobile phones are good only as long as the electricity is on or the batteries last. Take away the power, and a great deal could be lost forever.

This is why we need to construct Knowledge Arks using low-tech materials. A disaster that is sufficiently devastating will deprive us of nearly all, if not all, information that is in electronic format. We need hardcopy backups so that we can preserve and eventually recover our accumulated learning and culture. There will be little, if any, power for fancy equipment in the post-apocalyptic world because bare survival will consume the lion’s share of resources as bands of people struggle to stay alive and fight off marauders. Thus, any materials will need to be rugged enough to last until the societies that arise after the doo-doo hits the fan can afford to divert resources from just plain staying alive towards rebuilding and restoration.

Don’t laugh at the idea of civilization collapsing. History is filled with examples of societies and groups that found themselves facing unexpected circumstances. Such a calamity may never happen, but it never hurts to prepare. Better to have the supplies for riding out a disaster – and preserving civilization – but never need them, than to need those supplies but not have them.

From time to time you read or hear a heartwarming story about a community coming together to help a family pay monstrous medical bills, or people giving up vacation time so a co-worker can receive medical treatment, or some other glurge that is supposed to restore your faith in humanity. These stories are certainly inspiring – but when you peel away the unicorns and rainbows, you find the hideous reality underneath.

In the United States, GoFundMe is one of the largest health care providers. At least a third of all projects are families begging for help to pay medical bills. And, unfortunately, there are a few fakes out there, which are not always easy to spot.

What kind of country are we that can spend trillions on defense and billions on tax cuts for mega-corporations and the ultra-wealthy – but blanches at the idea of providing everybody with affordable, if not free, health care and higher education? What kind of country allows insurance companies to d*ck around their customers with weasel words about “experimental treatments,” “pre-existing conditions,” et cetera? What kind of country lets children go home with “I Need Lunch Money” stamped on their arms? Whoever came up with that last idea could frighten Darth Vader into a dead faint.

The not-so-great USA is a hellhole of increasing disparity between the rich and poor, where a traffic ticket can balloon into a debt of over $10,000, where people seeking a good education so they can get well-paying jobs instead find themselves saddled with loans that they have scant hope of ever paying off, where millions of people – many of whom have other mouths to feed – are literally one broken arm from the street. People are working multiple jobs but still unable to make ends meet, even though they are pinching pennies until Abraham Lincoln begs for mercy, shopping at thrift stores and subsisting on beans and ramen. Meanwhile, the rich get richer and richer, at the expense of the Little Guy and Gal.

Stories about people taking heroic measures to help those in need certainly revive one’s faith in humanity, but many of them shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Children should not have to sacrifice their allowances and yard-mowing or lemonade stand money so their classmates can eat – schools should have enough money to provide healthful meals to all students for free. A high school robotics club should not have to construct a special wheelchair for a child with a serious birth defect because the parents’ greedy insurance provider wouldn’t cover even a nickel.

You’ve probably seen a bumper sticker, T-shirt or button that reads “It will be a great day when schools have all the funds they need and the Air Force has to hold bake sales in order to buy a bomber.” Our country’s priorities are utterly messed up when providing the rich with tax breaks, buying more weapons, supporting an apartheid regime, and subsidizing industries hostile to the environment are all more important than feeding, educating, housing and medicating the people.

Stories about people coming to the aid of those who really need it are truly inspiring, and remind me that people are basically good. However, in far too many cases these altruistic acts should not be necessary.

Here is one list of dystopian horror stories

Violence between Israel and the increasingly squeezed Palestinians has been going on for decades, but recently it suddenly exploded. Israel’s brutal persecution of the Palestinians has gone up several notches. And, of course, Israel’s tail continues to wag the U.S. dog.

Listen – I’m sorry about the way Jews have been demonized and persecuted over the last 2500 years. And I abhor Hitler and the Nazi scum as much as any gentile could. But that doesn’t mean I will knee-jerk take Israel’s side every time. Israel has a right to exist, but only if it acknowledges Palestine’s right to exist, and the human rights of the Palestinians whose ancestors were rudely robbed of their land more than seven decades ago. Israel has a right to defend itself, but it cannot use this as an excuse to commit genocide. The UN recognizes Israel as an apartheid state. Why won’t the United States do the same?

It is a sad irony Israel is inflicting on Palestinians the same kind of atrocities that have been directed at Jews for so long. One would think that Jews, having suffered from the worst instance of ethnic cleansing in history, would not do unto others as has been done unto them. Yet even while the ultimate evil of the Holocaust is still in living memory, Israel continues to exterminate Palestinians – whose numbers include Christians as well as Muslims.

Recently I learned that some US states have a shocking law: If you want government aid, such as to rebuild after a disaster, you have to promise not to boycott Israel. Don’t believe me? Here is a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRXuOeugOWU

Voltaire wrote, “To learn who rules over you, simply find out whom you are not allowed to criticize.” If criticizing Israel gets your government funding cut off, what does that say?

More and more people around the world – including lots of Jews – are getting fed up with Israel’s status as a sacred cow. People from every walk of life here in the US are getting more and more vociferous about our support of Israel’s ethnic cleansing. I have signed numerous petitions calling for an end to aid for Israel until they accept a two-state solution and leave the Palestinians alone. I have marched on behalf of the Palestinians and for peace in the Middle East. I dare to wear a shirt that proclaims my support for Palestinian rights.

As I write this, Benjamin Netanyahu has been unseated as Israel’s Prime Minister. If his own government has had enough of his brutality towards Palestine, so much that disparate parties with a wide range of political standings were willing to unite in order to effect his ouster, that may indicate Israel is finally ready to face its own dark side.

Naturally, Zionist bugnuts attack anybody who refuses to bow and scrape before their favorite golden calf. They accuse pro-Palestine activists of being Nazis, or at least of being anti-Semitic. Excrementum tauri! Opposing Israel’s vicious persecution of Palestinians does not make you anti-Israel, let alone anti-Jewish. You can hate the sin but love the sinner.

Some claim that Jews are entitled to Israel just because Jews had a nation there over 2000 years ago. Bonjour! Paging all First Nations/Native Americans, whose lands were stolen within the last two to three centuries. If Jews are entitled to Israel, then American Indians and Hispanics are entitled to all of the Americas. If we can shove Palestinians out of the Levantine, we can send all the white people here back to Europe, all the Black people back to Africa, et cetera.

Zionists point out that Hamas’ one goal is the destruction of Israel. No love is lost between me and Hamas – indeed, no love is lost between me and any terrorist organization. However, we need to take a walk in Palestine’s shoes. Imagine that you are part of an ethnic minority whose ancestors were robbed of their rightful homes and lands. Imagine your oppressors have the support of a powerful nation that squelches any and all criticism of how your people are treated. Imagine that, whenever somebody so much as throws a rock at one of your oppressors’ goons, they react with bullets and missiles, killing not just the rock thrower but also anybody who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – including children and pregnant women. Imagine that your cries for justice, which have gone on not just for decades but for generations, have fallen on deaf ears. Do you really think that you would not become a terrorist? By drowning out the voices of Palestinians, Israel has sown the wind, and Hamas is the whirlwind it is reaping.

The only solution is a two-state solution, with Israel allowing the Palestinians to flourish. The time is long overdue for the lion to lie down with the lamb.

So-called pro-lifers are among the biggest hypocrites and liars out there. They profess to be defending the sanctity of human life, when in fact they care about only the nine months (or less) between conception and birth. They are perfect examples of zealots, who redouble their efforts when they have forgotten their aim. They knee-jerk attack Planned Parenthood when that organization is about a lot more than abortion. They use all manner of sophistry to attack not just abortion, but birth control and sex ed in schools. The “right to life” movement is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The abortion debate is unusual in that it isn’t one end versus the other, but one extreme versus the middle ground. Pro-choice means exactly that – pro-choice. It’s up to the one with the “baby bump” to determine the outcome of the pregnancy. Pro-choice can actually be anti-abortion sometimes. This is because the real opposite of anti-choice is – anti-choice. One side says that every pregnancy should be carried to term, while its real opposite is that every pregnancy should be terminated. Unless you want humans to go extinct, you don’t want to harbor that attitude. If you are truly pro-choice, you support a woman who wants to carry her pregnancy to term when others tell her to terminate.

If you really examine both sides of the abortion fight, you realize that pro-choice is actually anti-abortion, while “pro-life” is pro-abortion.

Say what?

What.

Pro-choice activists by and large support better birth control, better access to birth control, and comprehensive sex education, all of which prevent abortions by preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Anti-choice activists oppose these measures for the most part. It is like opposing highway deaths while condemning seat belts, airbags, and defensive-driving training.

Self-appointed custodians of other people’s wombs may be sincere in protecting embryos and fetuses, but after the moment of birth their concern drops to zero. They may make the occasional pseudo-charitable gesture, crowing about giving one box of food to a homeless shelter; but their concern for human life that is not white, straight, male, fundamentalist Christian and wealthy is scantier than a stripper’s outfit. Where are they when people hold rallies against hunger, against war, against gun violence? Lots of things stop beating hearts, so why don’t the soi-dissant guardians of human life oppose them?

Not only that, many of them show no interest in providing for those babies that they want to “rescue” from the “abortion mills.” They want every ejaculation to get a Social Security number, but could not possibly care less whether those babies are fed, or housed, or clothed, or educated, or medicated when necessary. In fact, they don’t seem willing to make sure all pregnant women have access to affordable prenatal and perinatal care, or even to proper nutrition. Sure, sure, they’ll trot out one or two individuals they have “helped” – but are they willing to provide assistance for ALL expectant mothers? The people who oppose abortion are often the same ones who oppose providing affordable child care so the mothers can work and earn money rather than depend on public aid.

Sister Joan Chittister, a Roman Catholic nun, rather famously said, “I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.” Even though she was speaking from an anti-abortion viewpoint, she still gets credit for pointing out the hypocrisy of abortion foes.

The latest dirty tactic by anti-choice activists is hopping on the voting restriction bandwagon. In other words, they are willing to destroy democracy and civil rights in the name of safeguarding the unborn. Clearly they don’t want the poor and marginalized – those who suffer the worst when denied reproductive freedom – from having a voice in government.

Meanwhile, governors in solidly red states sign “heartbeat” bills that will abolish abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detectable. This often occurs before a woman even knows she is pregnant. Apparently, antis think that life is just a heartbeat. Could that be an indication of their intellectual capacity, or at least of their understanding of biology?

Outlawing abortion will never stop abortion, merely force it underground. Women facing unwanted pregnancies will try all manner of risky methods to self-abort. “Back-alley” quasi-clinics will pop up like mushrooms after a frog-strangler. Girls and women who can’t find a practitioner, or afford one, may simply abandon their unwanted offspring – one does hear stories about newborns found in trash bins or other places from time to time. The basket-on-the-doorstep cliché has some basis in reality.

Some parrot “Adoption not abortion!” Yeah, right – order women and girls to give birth, and then take their babies away. What if the fetus is racially mixed, or handicapped? Currently there are approximately 424,000 children in foster care in the United States. Unless they get adopted, as soon as they turn 18 their flimsy support vanishes, and they will wind up homeless, or exploited by human traffickers, or in prison.

The anti-choice crusade never has been, is not, and never will be about protecting the sanctity of human life. It always has been, is, and will always be about controlling women, about reducing half the population to the status of brood cows. Controlling women’s reproduction is the mark of a highly bigoted and patriarchal society. Such a society is a sick society, trying to fly with only one wing. Denying half of its residents many opportunities means that many great minds are forbidden to develop. To paraphrase Malcolm X, you can’t keep Woman down without staying down with her.

Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one. But don’t force your views on anybody else’s uterus. And while you’re at it, care about life AFTER birth.