Hard facts

2004-08-27 - 9:43 a.m.

I was lazy and didn't pick up the package last night. I'll do it today.

In the meantime, I read this sentence on Popmatters:

"...to lack political power -- as [an author of a book] submits the American people at large do, living in a post-democratic society where the media function in collusion with government -- is also to lack the ability to prove."

It touches on something that troubles me from time to time. Basically, that I want to believe that I'm flexible enough in my beliefs that good evidence can sway them toward the truth (whatever that is). The problem is in finding evidence, because there's so much of it out there, and so little of it is entirely good, or even true. And, due to my own circumstances, very little of it is verifiable. I can't really prove anything, let alone my reasons for being concerned about our planet's future and our society's ability to survive this century. I rely on the media, and while I do take care with how I select the media I consume, I'm really only going on faith that what I'm getting is somewhat close to fact.

It's the problem with living in a privileged society, I think. I'm sheltered from a lot of the realities that our world faces, and while it gives me the luxury of being able to look for patterns and connections that someone whose main concern is getting food on their table that day might not have the ability to see, it also distances me from the hard evidence. The problems that I think are the most pressing today are best experienced and witnessed by the extremely poor (as the most affect victims) and the extremely rich (as the largest participators). Those of us in the middle have to do the best we can.

I wish there was a better way to find out what's really going on, and how to make things better. I guess the best I can do is just to continue being discriminating in my choice of media, to occasionally shock myself by reading other viewpoints, and to take what hard evidence I can.

In Jane Jacobs' book Dark Age Ahead, for example, she talks about how the signs of an impending dark age, or a sign that a society is in trouble, is that people give up or lose luxuries and benefits, and then they forget they ever had them.

Do you remember a time when there weren't homeless people on half the corners of most cities? Do you remember a time when walking downtown didn't mean you were asked for spare change by a dozen different people?

I'm told that once, only 3 decades ago, the homeless were rarely seen. Now, I could probably fill a party hall with the homeless that I've encountered in the last six months.

Cheers,

The Magus

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