12 Apr 06
Originally posted by darvlayThe reason for posting it in the debate forum and not spirituality is an old blog that I found while trawling about in google a couple of nights ago(while looking for something else) and it made me think.
Wrong forum, bud.
And NO! 😉
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2004/10/27/scherer-christian/
the article:-
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The Godly Must Be Crazy
Christian-right views are swaying politicians and threatening the environment
By Glenn Scherer
27 Oct 2004
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The assertion made by G Sherer is that the proportion of US legislators who are in near perfect consistency in voting against stem cell research, same sex marriage and abortion are also pretty much united in their apathetic vote against the environment. The statistics Scherer uses are that;
“Forty-five senators and 186 representatives in 2003 earned 80- to 100-percent approval ratings from the nation's three most influential Christian right advocacy groups -- the Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum, and Family Resource Council. Many of those same lawmakers also got flunking grades -- less than 10 percent, on average -- from the League of Conservation Voters last year”
Also that “Like it or not, faith in the Apocalypse is a powerful driving force in modern American politics. In the 2000 election, the Christian right cast at least 15 million votes, or about 30 percent of those that propelled Bush into the presidency”.
Their rationale being that as the world will end anyway and we are living in the last days, what point is there in voting for the environment. Does this then lead to a self fulfilling prophetic apocalypse? If significant sections of the US legislature is unconcerned of the environmental impact of say corporations like Shell’s practices in Nigeria or allowing heinous practices such as the privatisation of rainwater in Bolivia, then does that then not set the stage for a world system in such disarray that the disgruntled who are many, finally decide that suffering in silence will not lead to change and the apocalypse, then, is really a case of a chain reaction, of exploited peoples finally standing up and saying, we’re mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore.
12 Apr 06
Originally posted by kmax87Would such an apocalypse be so terrible? Does the system have a built-in self-destruct function--similar perhaps to nature's self-corrective tendency?
...the apocalypse, then, is really a case of a chain reaction, of exploited peoples finally standing up and saying, we’re mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore.
The splicing of apocalyptic theology and narrow corporate interests is bizarre to say the least--but do the corporations really buy into it or is it just another of meeting their commitments to the bottom line?
12 Apr 06
2 edits
Originally posted by Bosse de NageI think the problem with the whole Adam Smith description of the inate tendency of humanity to truck and barter and the invisible hand of commerce where benefit to others is secondary and unintentional when compared to the primary focus of self interested productive effort, is that no-one has fully extrapolated the cumulative effect that the self interested actions that corporations exert on the globe can have on the greater population that inhabits this fractious planet. I think the philosophies that spawned laissez faire economics has an unfortunate blindspot when enacted on a grand scale.
...but do the corporations really buy into it or is it just another of meeting their commitments to the bottom line?
While the economic activity of self interested actions are contained to a small local situation the negative rumblings of those that miss out are small and almost inconsequential. But as individuals wield ever greater disproportionate power(as do corporations which in essence are people) the pockets of negativity loom increasingly large to the extent that whole regions are subject to the exploititive will of a few untouchable "people".
That we in the west who are most empowered to check the plunder engaged in by these priveledged "individuals" yet because they are run on sound principles of servicing needs and profitability we often are blinded to the practices that they perpetrate on a world increasingly less interested in making arbitrary semantic distinctions.
As the rich grow richer at an increasing rate and the middle classes shrink worldwide and the poor become the greatest growth class, one has to wonder if the apocalypse then will result in the midst of good people working hard and giving their best for their companies while all the while setting the scene of an intractable dynamic that will lead to a breakdown of the whole system and the ushering in of worldwide anarchy.
