Atta (9): 242: Today's kick-ass question

[Daniel Harper]

Oh, I never said that there wouldn't be pockets of goodness here and there.
Science has come a long way for us to just lose it all except in the case of
a worldwide disaster. But right now it seems that the forces of intolerance,
theocracy, and authoritarianism in general are rising ascendant, and that
even most "enlightened" people in our society don't really get the role of
science and reason in making decisions.

Most of the time I think we're going to turn out okay. But sometimes, in
darker moments, well.... I fear that everything we've striven for over the
last four centuries or so is just going to turn into dust and ash in the
not-too-distant future.

On 5/17/07, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> This is a huge, Pynchonesque (multi-layered, multi-dimensional)
> world.  Sweeping statements about the end of democracy, the coming age of
> theocracy, miss the nuances.  Consider the following link, for example:
>
> http://www.tehranmoca.com/collection/collection.htm
>
> There are enagaged, involved free-thinkers around the planet who, for the
> first time, thanks to the internet, reach out to each other.  Human rights
> activists, labor activists, artists, environmentalists, and anti-corporate
> types are all out there fighting the good fight.  They form their own
> Shambhala-like nation.  I like to think we're part of it.
>
> Laura
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Daniel Harper <daniel.e.harper at gmail.com>
>
>
> >I've gotta head to work in a sec, but in my darker moments I worry that
> this
> >concept we call liberal democracy is basically coming to an end. Right
> now
> >it's really only Western Europe and parts of North America that even pay
> lip
> >service to things like freedom of speech and the like, there's been a
> >gradual creep towards oppressive religion even in this country, and the
> >forces of good can't hold off the powers of totalitarianism forever.
> >
> >I'd only be mildy suprised if we aren't living in a de facto theocracy
> >before my natural life has ended. And Western Europe isn't that far
> >behind....
> >
> >On 5/17/07, Monte Davis <monte.davis at verizon.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>  Mike Bailey writes:
> >>
> >> > actually, don't you think it's really the coming thing, and that
> >> lopsided power relations are
> >> > gradually being phased out systemwide as unsatisfactory to all
> >> concerned?
> >>
> >> Umm.... no. I'm somewhat sanguine about reductions in "lopsidedness" on
> >> racial, sexual, and imperial lines -- but on a 50-to-500 year time
> scale, I
> >> don't see that nation-states, corporations, religions -- or political
> >> systems advancing claims akin to those of religions -- are in much
> danger
> >> of "being phased out."
> >>
>
>
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