Given the mess they have made for us, and for themselves, it comes of no surprise that political, business and religious leaders are losing the trust and confidence of their followers. Even the Japanese people who have been known for their benign obedience and orderliness are beginning to question their government’s response to the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster they are now confronting under the watchful gaze of an anxious world. They are not alone as rebellion and revolution are spreading around the globe like a wind-swept out-of-control prairie fire. Where will it end?
Fueling this massive defiance of those who have long held their subjects under the sway of their self-appointed authoritarianism is the growing realization that “the emperors have no clothes.” What happened to the expert reassurances that the generation of nuclear energy was perfectly safe? The answer: Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and now, Fukushima. What happened to the political promises of freedom and justice? The answer: Rampant totalitarianism, oppression, and violence as the preferred method of control. What happened to the predictions of abundance and prosperity by way of a free-market capitalist economic system? The answer: Widespread poverty, hunger, and homelessness. And what happened to the religious admonition to “love thy neighbor” and “do unto others”? The answer: Hypocrisy of the highest order, beginning with Crusades and Jihadism and ending with pedophilia, warmongering, and all manner of intrusion into our private iives.
Is it any wonder, then, that there is a rising tide of resistance? And is there any doubt that what we are now witnessing is only the beginning of a process that will surely intensify, and that that rising tide will soon become a tsunami sweeping away all those arrogant leaders who assume we will remain their docile subjects.
Your (r)evolutionary music for today is Billie Holiday’s heart-rending rendition of “Strange Fruit.”
walter:
thanks for your continuing and thoughtful observations. here’s hoping that your message passes from friend to friend on and on until it reaches the ears of millions!