|
Presumed
Superiority (Jan/Feb 2006)
Everything these
days is about thresholds. Tolerances. It's a matter of what one
has grown accustomed to expecting. For those raised with silver
spoons clutched in fleshy, pink palms, it becomes easy to attribute
situational circumstances to divine decisions. Self-righteousness
is an automatic response.
It's the caste
system of the subconscious.
The 20% of human
beings who consume 86% of the world's goods don't need rational
justifications when providence is invoked. Manifest Destiny and
the Monroe Doctrine are mirrored in the actions of corporate executives
and modern military aficionados. The Adam Smith approach to economics
demands an unmentioned pledge to preserve the status quo.
Globalization
is now synonymous with resource extraction.
No one wants
to compromise when it comes to quality of life. No one wants to
negotiate when it comes to matters of personal comfort. We'd rather
send younger generations off to die-it's easier than realistically
readjusting our standards. If a steady supply of material cushioning
is all you've known, then a stain on your designer-label clothing
becomes the end of the world. A sob story you share with your
closest confidants. If you've never experienced a break in the
steady, annual cycle of on-demand heating and conditioned air,
then the price of oil becomes a matter of life and death.
Immediate withdrawal
becomes a "recipe for disaster."
The farthest
gone on the egomaniacal spectrum will even claim the undesirables
in our midst deserve the hand they've been dealt. The poor are
always impoverished because they are lazy, and the victims of
natural disasters are simply being punished for their sinful behavior.
However, upon examination of the elite's flaunted extramarital
affairs and the dysfunction taking place behind the closed doors
of suburban gated communities, this type of assumed moral superiority
quickly becomes laughable.
Unfortunately
history only remembers the prevailing outlook of the ruling class.
We live in a
world where the GDP of the poorest 48 nations is less than the
wealth of the world's three richest individuals combined. To the
three billion who live on less than two dollars a day, keeping
up with the Joneses becomes an endeavor too ludicrous to dream
of pursuing.
Those at the
bottom tiers of the IMF-endorsed wealth stratification pyramid
have learned how to live more with less. The trick is to expect
nothing and shun all special treatment. To eliminate all desire
so each earthly experience-every waking breath-becomes a most
magnificent gift.
-Jason M Glover
|
