Disclaimer: this is just my take on it, and since I live in only a small bubble of perception in the vast Jacuzzi of humanity it must be (as all things from all sources) taken with the appropriate grain of salt.
That said, this began with a friend asking me:
"How do we uncorrupt ourselves?"
Since I am prone to short concise replies, I said this:
You used the plural so I assume you mean the (unwholesome) whole sum of people. This is neither pleasant nor easy, certainly not likely and will most certainly require bloodshed (not by necessity, but by stunted spiritual evolution).
There are six billion-plus humans which means that there is little hope for starting some isolated experimental society that, over time, would show, by demonstration, its superiority to the forms of government we have instituted.
Without such time-worn proofs the populace as a whole is basically too lazy and timid to try on a new governing system. "If it ain?t broke don?t fix it", well, its broke only you haven?t realized it yet and its only getting worse. This sheepishness is unfortunate but understandable--in a myopic fat-assed sort of way.
With this many folk in the world--about 6.5 months worth of seconds sized populace--there will not be the opportunity for a "Revitarianism", "Nicastratolagarchy" or some such "new" system spawned by a group governing themselves to show itself as "the way", there is neither the time nor the space. This is probably for the best, however, as I fear that the negative side of the mixed blessing that every being is utterly unique is that there is no one "way" which can possibly suit the over-one-person-for-every-year-of-the-earth's-existence massive population we have. I hope that I am wrong on that, as if I am then there is the possibility of avoiding a lot of special suffering and compromise of happiness.
Currently there doesn?t seem to be a governing system for a mass of any relative size that does not appear riddled to the core w/ corruption and greed (religious or political). Why? Well because mammals aren?t meant to live in hives. The whole special approach is flawed. Our pack dynamic is only efficient when small- when personal contact cannot be avoided, so that interpack problems MUST be dealt with. Our instinctual set is so geared at this being the default parameter that we have entire 'laziness' and 'disregarding' behavioural trait inborn to counterbalance against it. These faceless, powerless "1 of many" lives we lead cause those traits to throw us into terrible imbalance. This is why it is so generally difficult to care that there are starving children in Africa unless somehow you have personalized it by seeing one of your inner-pack [friends, family, etc.] starve.
Rule of mammalian thumb: once a committee needs to be made the pack has got too big; once an ID is needed the mass is too large. When it is possible to screw a stranger for the benefit of you and your friends mammalian instinct says "DO IT!" Why? Well because it means that your tribe will survive over theirs. It?s how genes get spread without the monkey having to think about what genes SHOULD be spread. Great- if the world and the species were in equilibrium. Perfect- if we hadn?t become so MANY that we MUST act like one pack or collapse taking many other species of flora and fauna with us en route.
Humans produce roughly 5.5 billion gallons (Canadians: do the math) of urine per day.
Why can?t we overcome these instinctual thrusts? We can but there are a number of things in our way and that number is 995,000 years (take or leave a few) of evolution versus 5,000 of even barely giving a fuck. I say this so that at least a little perspective can be put on things.
As a mass, I really can only see a couple of options:
Violent revolt that leads to the break up of the larger nations into thousands of tiny (though still too big) city states that allow for the governmental meme-pool to open up some and give room for the rise of Joe-Shmoetopianisim, or some other potential advancement. This is not a solution but a chance for a solution to be discovered. A Band-Aid, not a treatment. This would equate to much death, suffering, lack of resources, environmental depletion etc. for several generations in its wake. Sigh. Plus, to keep the revolution from living up to it name (ie: a complete circle) we would have to make sure that:
1) Those who crave the power of ruling us NEVER EVER are allowed to rule us again (or procreate for that matter) because invariably the trait of wanting power and the trait of deserving power DO NOT occur in the same person EVER;
2) We begin making the aesthetically high-minded rule us under the threat of death should they corrupt from the power (that?s a joke "Haha..ha..eh...")
Or optionally:
3) Start saying "fuck it" to the natural world, absolutely accept the hive, and let the mass become drones for the queen bee power elite. This would result in a total lack of individual rights and a deeper stratification between the workers, the drones, the privileged and the queens. This is both due to special necessity and the mammal turned queen bee's capacity for hoarding, waste and greed. On the plus side of this option resources and society could be managed quite well (a la "chocolate rations up 2 grams double plus good"). Its gross to me but it is a viable option that could preserve the species and bring harmony back to life with the planet because all it would take would be the decision of the queen bee to make it so. Personally I don?t credit them (the frickin' queens that lead us) with enough intelligence to choose that over extinction through over-consumption--actually, I don?t credit them with enough awareness to know about the choice in the first place, but its like the old bit that says "a dictatorship is the perfect government provided you got the right dictator" tempered by the Chinese one "Ants die in sugar."
In any event it seems fairly clear that we (and I include all nations in this) sure as hell don?t got the right dictators, and there is lots of sugar/smack/distraction whatever to go around.
What to DO though? Live life like you think it should be lived regardless of the ramifications of that. Currently I am homeless and trade computer maintenance/software tutorials and graphic design for food, cigarettes and coffee. In raw dollars I spend like 15 or so a week. I sleep on the beach. I teach high-school students creative writing. I read philosophically based poetry to a pack of 10-15 year old punk kids that like to kick in the walls of the place I sleep when it rains in hopes that they will think more or at least develop an interest in art. A couple of them have started writing poetry.
I help Food-Not-Bombs feed other homeless folk when I am able. I am going to aid some people with Sudden Oak Death identification for Park Services in Pfieffer (they cant pay me, but that?s okay because it needs to be done, and because of this I am willing to help in doing it, how unheard of is THAT) I dumpster dive and find stuff like stereos, bicycles, sealed and wrapped food etc. Things that work and were only tossed out because of the rationale "If we gave it away no one would buy the product, they'd wait for us to hand it out--lets just toss it." See what I mean about our packs only working when small? Only a corporate entity could rationalize like that.
There is a bagel place here that tosses rough 20lbs of bagels/ day in a garbage bag. In that bag there are sets of 6 that are further plastic wrapped. Not only obscene when people go hungry, but not biodegradable despite the bulk of its contents being so-guessed yet that I live in America?
What else? Don?t involve the police in anything period. If it needs big action- be a vigilante, or organize mob. Ugly? Yes. Better than the cops? By a shaving of a degree (depends on the mob, depends on the cause). Don?t involve any institution in ANYTHING you do unless it is one that is small and/or angled against systems that slow the growth of the species. Keep as much power out of the power mongers hands as you can and it will be redistributed into the people.
I don?t have a lot of faith in the average person but that?s a WHOLE FUCKLOAD more than I have in the string-pullers we got now. Most importantly: if you plan to procreate, have one child or adopt. Our most threatening problem, aside from instinctually designed blind selfish, self-destructive sociopath, is our numbers.
I pray for a plague that arbitrarily, quietly, and painlessly sterilize 2/3rds of the Human race.
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