d Blog

Welcome to d blog, also known as Dan's rant. The content herein is essentially comprised of miscellaneous ramblings and random thoughts on the nature of contemporary existence.

"Platforms of Perception"

This Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend I find myself grateful to be comfortable in America. Simultaneously, I'm severely angry at several developments in our society. I am upset at where we the people have let a misdirected government lead us. Americans form an egalitarian society, I hope we are about fair play, tolerance and freedom. I don't want to be about Patriot Act limitations on privacy and rights. I don't want to be about abuse and torture. I thought that we were bred to be saviors, heroes, I had hoped that we wanted to be the good guys. Instead I perceive us as totalitarian evil doers in a world gone awry. We whacked the hornets nest and fomented schism! I do not have an immediate comprehensive solution, except to say that we should be strong enough to play by the rules we'd like to live by. If not who are we and what is our message?

I am perturbed at the Enron like economic debacle spearheaded by the sub-prime loan implosion. It was obvious for years what was happening. The big guys underwriting investments at the back of the market were so overwhelmingly euphorically deranged to be collecting their vig, that they didn't supervise the front end feet in the street originating loans. The ensuing expanding bubble in Real Estate valuations attracted all kinds of FAST BUCK FREDDIE wannabees to the party. This in turn has led to everything from fiction writers cum mortgage brokers filling out customer applications with a nod and a wink to the development of entire service industries such as whole TV CHANNELS about all things Real Estate including but not limited to home improvement and "Flipping That House". I wonder how the economy will absorb all those Ex-mortgage brokers, let alone deal with the ruined lives of those that got in over their head and were or will be foreclosed on.

Here in relative short measure are some brief comments about greed and the development of global warming, childhood obesity and other societal and planetary maladies. It feels as if we are caught in a deadly circle of self consumption. I recently read that if the rest of world's population lived materialistic American lifestyles based on our current levels of consumption and waste production the Earth would be DEAD in Thirty Years. Like the snake eating it's own tail in many regards we are pursuing an end game of self annihilation. Sustainability will have to be the mantra going forward.

I don't expect to live much past another thirty years. It's hard to think of being dead as a blessing but I'll be happy to avoid seeing the horror that awaits. Having said that, personally I'd like to leave a clean campground in my wake. I have come to the realization of and desire for a less consumptive life because I have seen that this personally leads to a healthy, happier and longer life. A life with more pleasure and less pain. It's like a car that uses less fuel will certainly last longer. This only makes sense as there would be less wear and tear on the mechanical components. Humans being organic machines follow that same logic. A person that eats only the minimum that it takes to survive and prosper is healthier, happier and longer lived. I speak from personal experience when I say that obviously most cases of obesity especially childhood obesity are the result of psychological problems. Who among us isn't troubled by something? I hope that this leaner philosophy holds true on a macro level as well. The possibility of that truth gives me hope for the future.

In the long term the ability of individuals, governments and other political entities to behave magnanimously towards themselves and towards those whom they disagree with is the only sustainable solution. Isn't that what America is about anyway?

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