The world we live in run by money
When I was younger I was told the old adage that money is the root of all evil (make that money and girls haha). Well it was easy to believe people when they said that it was all these 'large companies' and 'rich, greedy people' or 'politicians' that were stomping upon the poor people, tearing down the rainforests, causing war, stealing the oil, building mansions while their country starved, briging drugs into the country etc etc etc. While this all has a ring of truth to it, growing up taught me that reality is a little more complex than that.
As Adrian Veidt in the Watchmen (the graphic novel not the movie) discovered, the idea that evil is somehow monopolized by a few individuals and perpetuated to the world, fails. Sure, some faceless company pays for the rainforests to be torn down, but it is the South American man who needs to feed his family that puts the blade to the trunk. Sure gangster mobs bring in drugs across international borders, but it is the kid who grew up in the very neighbourhood that sells the drugs to those living around him. Sure some deranged despot of a country steals its wealth to build some mansion in a foreign country, but it is the country's people who let him get away with it, declare genocide upon each other, lop of each others' children's limbs and a whole host of other hellish acts. 'Evil' is not contained only by the rich.
I experienced this first hand following my father around in the business world. I learnt that it is not only the rich billionaire in possession of swathes of land who will try to cheat you, but also the millionaire who owns food processing factories, the average earner be he an engineer, a farmer or a shopkeeper, the poor man who drives a truck to and fro and even the destitute who come from a neighbouring country trying to ekk out a living by performing hard labour. They all try to gain advantage in a situation. 'Evil' is inherent in us as human beings. It is as much a part of us as our virtues of hope, love and faith.
Evil - that's an interesting word to consider. Maybe a consideration for another post.
Still it is money that links all these economic strata. Whether they have a lot of it, or a little, money is the prime motivating factor. Not because money itself is evil. Money is simply some metal lumps and paper pieces with faces and numbers on it. These days it's increasingly becoming pieces of plastic and digital numbers on a screen. The perception of its worth lies within us.
Many are the theories of humanities inherent 'evil'. Religiously, humanity is condemned as evil and steeped in sin. While it has been criticised that religions then place a heavy burden of guilt and shame upon people, in our modern age where large populations have shaken of the mantle of religion, they are still discovering the same thing. Human beings are capable of and do perpetuate great harm upon themselves and the earth they live upon. Of the many theories of why this is so, today I hold on to what I think of as 'the scarcity mentality' theory. Studies upon apes, namely chimpanzees, discovered that although it has always been thought chimpanzee tribes were naturally violent in nature, fighting any other tribe that might enter their territory, recent discoveries point to the fact that chimpanzees only turn territorial when resources are scarce. I think we humans are not so different. When we believe that there is a limited resource, we start to panic and scavenge for it.
Despite the fact that the truth is that there is enough for all of us. There is enough land for us (even though we are heading for a 7 billion world population). There is enough food for all of us. There is enough water for all of us. There is enough for all of us and the flora and fauna of this earth. We live in this world because we have been told a lie. The lie is, there simply is not enough. Our systems are built upon this lie, and our survival mentality kicks in, depriving many of resource further perpetuating and reinforcing the lie. We hoard wealth in order to protect us from our own systems and then delve into prosperity wondering why we are still not happy, why our health degenerates and we grow ever more cynical with the world. Fear breeds more fear, doubt breeds more doubt. And so it is true what is written in the Bible, through one man death came upon all. And today we still perpetuate the lie, while the earth and the heavens keep trying to tell us, there is enough for all. All is provided for.
I recently completed the game Alice: Madness Returns. This is not a computer game review, but I will say that the game had some of the most beautiful art direction I've ever seen in a game. I was quite literally stunned by the atmospherics. It also had all the elements to create a twisted and immersive game. But it just never came to be. Why? Because of the limits placed upon the game by industrial standards, I feel. I am brought to consider my usual angst of current Hollywood and how movies are made. Quite simply, if there is a love story 70% of Americans will watch the show, thus every movie must contain an element of romance (even if it detracts from the story). If there is a hot girl in it you claim 50% of the population. If there are explosions you will claim 50% (probably the same 50% that would have been there for the hot girl). There are entire theories and models built to gauge how much return a movie will bring in. So the movies are then directed not by the creative will of a producer, a script etc. but by what will bring in money. And so creativity, art, insight, truth, beauty, effort and inspiration are all sacrificed upon the altar of revenue. Who do we blame? People still need to eat don't they? People still need to pay bills don't they? People still pay to watch these things don't they?
It would be nice to say that this ended with merely the movies. But this principle extends to every other field. If it doesn't return money, we don't do it. We have known for years that oil and coal pollutes the environment (whether or not you support global warming theory), yet we have invested little into alternative fuels and power sources when compared to the amount we have spent in securing the remaining oil wells and the wars fought over them. Pharmaceutics have always been known to pour money into 'cures' while little is spent upon prevention and education. We pay sports stars and movie stars millions and pay our teachers peanuts, then complain the education system is failing us. Fields of great benefit such as appropriate diets, meditation, acupuncture - are labelled as new age, home medicines etc for decades, before being investigated fully and justified as useful. Today hypnosis is regarded as a medical reality as is acupuncture. Once upon a time these were relegated to the shelves of quirky experiments and mysticism. Today solar panels are reaching new levels of efficiency as are ocean powered turbines etc, when truth is that we have always had the expertise and the ideas to develop them. It was just never 'profitable' to invest in these fields.
So Jesus tells us, "A man can never serve two masters. He either serves God or Money." Look at the comparison. Jesus doesn't compare God to the Devil, Evil, any of the random reglions around at that time, Death or anything mystical. Just money. But money is just series of numbers. A country's GDP, your bank account, credit cards, stock markets, home loans. Numbers are just numbers. Some of those numbers are even imaginary. But our attitude towards those numbers are monstrous. We kill for those numbers, we ignore good things for those numbers, we make plans and strategies on those numbers. Not only do we perpetuate the lie of there is not enough. We bring death and destruction to this world.
When will we learn? Life is not found in those numbers. So I keep watching films in the cinemas, celebrating every time I see someone create a piece of art resisting the pressures of monetary gain, to maintain its integrity (Kung Fu Panda 2 is one of them :) ) And hope to learn what it means to lead a life not dependent upon those numbers.
As Adrian Veidt in the Watchmen (the graphic novel not the movie) discovered, the idea that evil is somehow monopolized by a few individuals and perpetuated to the world, fails. Sure, some faceless company pays for the rainforests to be torn down, but it is the South American man who needs to feed his family that puts the blade to the trunk. Sure gangster mobs bring in drugs across international borders, but it is the kid who grew up in the very neighbourhood that sells the drugs to those living around him. Sure some deranged despot of a country steals its wealth to build some mansion in a foreign country, but it is the country's people who let him get away with it, declare genocide upon each other, lop of each others' children's limbs and a whole host of other hellish acts. 'Evil' is not contained only by the rich.
I experienced this first hand following my father around in the business world. I learnt that it is not only the rich billionaire in possession of swathes of land who will try to cheat you, but also the millionaire who owns food processing factories, the average earner be he an engineer, a farmer or a shopkeeper, the poor man who drives a truck to and fro and even the destitute who come from a neighbouring country trying to ekk out a living by performing hard labour. They all try to gain advantage in a situation. 'Evil' is inherent in us as human beings. It is as much a part of us as our virtues of hope, love and faith.
Evil - that's an interesting word to consider. Maybe a consideration for another post.
Still it is money that links all these economic strata. Whether they have a lot of it, or a little, money is the prime motivating factor. Not because money itself is evil. Money is simply some metal lumps and paper pieces with faces and numbers on it. These days it's increasingly becoming pieces of plastic and digital numbers on a screen. The perception of its worth lies within us.
Many are the theories of humanities inherent 'evil'. Religiously, humanity is condemned as evil and steeped in sin. While it has been criticised that religions then place a heavy burden of guilt and shame upon people, in our modern age where large populations have shaken of the mantle of religion, they are still discovering the same thing. Human beings are capable of and do perpetuate great harm upon themselves and the earth they live upon. Of the many theories of why this is so, today I hold on to what I think of as 'the scarcity mentality' theory. Studies upon apes, namely chimpanzees, discovered that although it has always been thought chimpanzee tribes were naturally violent in nature, fighting any other tribe that might enter their territory, recent discoveries point to the fact that chimpanzees only turn territorial when resources are scarce. I think we humans are not so different. When we believe that there is a limited resource, we start to panic and scavenge for it.
Despite the fact that the truth is that there is enough for all of us. There is enough land for us (even though we are heading for a 7 billion world population). There is enough food for all of us. There is enough water for all of us. There is enough for all of us and the flora and fauna of this earth. We live in this world because we have been told a lie. The lie is, there simply is not enough. Our systems are built upon this lie, and our survival mentality kicks in, depriving many of resource further perpetuating and reinforcing the lie. We hoard wealth in order to protect us from our own systems and then delve into prosperity wondering why we are still not happy, why our health degenerates and we grow ever more cynical with the world. Fear breeds more fear, doubt breeds more doubt. And so it is true what is written in the Bible, through one man death came upon all. And today we still perpetuate the lie, while the earth and the heavens keep trying to tell us, there is enough for all. All is provided for.
I recently completed the game Alice: Madness Returns. This is not a computer game review, but I will say that the game had some of the most beautiful art direction I've ever seen in a game. I was quite literally stunned by the atmospherics. It also had all the elements to create a twisted and immersive game. But it just never came to be. Why? Because of the limits placed upon the game by industrial standards, I feel. I am brought to consider my usual angst of current Hollywood and how movies are made. Quite simply, if there is a love story 70% of Americans will watch the show, thus every movie must contain an element of romance (even if it detracts from the story). If there is a hot girl in it you claim 50% of the population. If there are explosions you will claim 50% (probably the same 50% that would have been there for the hot girl). There are entire theories and models built to gauge how much return a movie will bring in. So the movies are then directed not by the creative will of a producer, a script etc. but by what will bring in money. And so creativity, art, insight, truth, beauty, effort and inspiration are all sacrificed upon the altar of revenue. Who do we blame? People still need to eat don't they? People still need to pay bills don't they? People still pay to watch these things don't they?
It would be nice to say that this ended with merely the movies. But this principle extends to every other field. If it doesn't return money, we don't do it. We have known for years that oil and coal pollutes the environment (whether or not you support global warming theory), yet we have invested little into alternative fuels and power sources when compared to the amount we have spent in securing the remaining oil wells and the wars fought over them. Pharmaceutics have always been known to pour money into 'cures' while little is spent upon prevention and education. We pay sports stars and movie stars millions and pay our teachers peanuts, then complain the education system is failing us. Fields of great benefit such as appropriate diets, meditation, acupuncture - are labelled as new age, home medicines etc for decades, before being investigated fully and justified as useful. Today hypnosis is regarded as a medical reality as is acupuncture. Once upon a time these were relegated to the shelves of quirky experiments and mysticism. Today solar panels are reaching new levels of efficiency as are ocean powered turbines etc, when truth is that we have always had the expertise and the ideas to develop them. It was just never 'profitable' to invest in these fields.
So Jesus tells us, "A man can never serve two masters. He either serves God or Money." Look at the comparison. Jesus doesn't compare God to the Devil, Evil, any of the random reglions around at that time, Death or anything mystical. Just money. But money is just series of numbers. A country's GDP, your bank account, credit cards, stock markets, home loans. Numbers are just numbers. Some of those numbers are even imaginary. But our attitude towards those numbers are monstrous. We kill for those numbers, we ignore good things for those numbers, we make plans and strategies on those numbers. Not only do we perpetuate the lie of there is not enough. We bring death and destruction to this world.
When will we learn? Life is not found in those numbers. So I keep watching films in the cinemas, celebrating every time I see someone create a piece of art resisting the pressures of monetary gain, to maintain its integrity (Kung Fu Panda 2 is one of them :) ) And hope to learn what it means to lead a life not dependent upon those numbers.