I've wanted to write a post about this for a couple of months now, but I couldn't figure out a way to downplay the bleakness of our world today. In an effort to put a more optimistic tone on the last decade, I believe things can be summed up in the following manner:
We're screwed.
Now, I'm sure you're wondering how in the world this statement can be construed as being optimistic. I think the majority of people can generally agree with the "screwed" part in principal, however, it is the "we" part that I want to focus my commentary on.
The 2000s can be summed up as a decade in which the bad guys won, but the good guys grew exponentially. To focus in on the events of 9/11, the ascension of George W. Bush, and the greed that brought our economy down would be to give undue credence to the corrupt minority. In fact, while all of this was going on, a growing backlash has occurred against those who have abused the concept of freedom in the name of power.
The boundaries that have defined our society for decades -- namely race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation -- are finally showing signs of coming down. The advent of the Internet and globalization has shrunk our world and made us realize that we really aren't that different from one another. Despite the fact that the media continually plays up the growing violence between the Muslim and Western world, it is becoming clear that it is merely those in charge who are fighting. Meanwhile, a growing majority is uniting in the name of freedom, mutual respect, and fairness.
However, as is true in most cases, people who possess power will always find ways to keep it.
In the face of Obama's election, corporate funded propaganda machines such as Fox News have done everything they can to skew the concepts of freedom for their own personal gain. We're led to believe that corporations are the same as people, and as such, should have the freedom to say and do whatever they want. We see commercials on TV telling us we can lose weight with "little to no effort", and have just sort of accepted the fact that our society runs on a shaky ethical foundation. Dishonesty in the name of money and power has become the status quo.
To make things even worse, it has become obvious that those with money have more influence on our own government than the people do. The US Supreme Court -- an entity stacked with "political appointees" -- just last week ruled that capping corporate donations and lobby contributions to elected officials was "unconstitutional". Meanwhile, the Conservative party in Canada tried last year to remove public (and voter based) funding to political parties, which would have effectively left all influence in the government to wealthy private contributors.
But you know what? These people remain a minority. "They" will continue to hold a firm grip on power while "we" continue to grow. "We" elected a minority candidate to government on a message of change. "We" stand against the division that is continually growing between the rich and poor. "We" stand against oppressive regimes that use religion to control people.
The only thing we need to do is channel this opposition into our everyday lives. The corrupt want us to think that life is a "game" where exploiting our morals is the only way to get ahead. We need to start questioning what we are being told and what we are being asked to do on a daily basis. To give up and start playing the "game" is to give them more power.
Cynicism is the one quality that strays us all away from enacting real change. We need to realize that there are growing numbers of us who are at odds with the people in power.
Time will tell how this will all shake out in the decade to come.
