I think war is such a dynamic, multi-faceted thing that we can never say for sure whether it is good or bad. Obviously, people die and they die terribly but I don’t think that should be the sole basis for judging whether war is good or bad. For example, Europe was plagued by the black death in the 14th century and half its population was decimated in just six years! Imagine how horrible it must have been! But it was this black death that stabilized the population of the overcrowded, barbaric Europe. Renaissance followed, civilization flourished and Europe ruled the world for the next 500 years. So in the end, Black Death did something worthwhile, didn’t it?

I’m sure you will agree that we are going to have a war pretty soon (whenever soon is) but when we look at the complete picture it might be good because just like you said, we have 7 billion people scurrying around. We cannot have seven billion people on a planet that can support just 2 billion and expect everyone to live a happy, satisfied, rich life. Hence, the global crisis, the sickening poverty(some of us are really better off living as early men), the war for oil and stuff. So there will be a war in the end but no matter who started it, it will benefit everyone in the end because even though it sounds wrong, people will die. And nature seeks balance everywhere, even in our population and no matter how much we live in concrete, we are still a part of nature.

I think what we can draw from this talk is that for the society to really change, the people need to change. From within. Maybe this will happen, maybe this won’t-everything in nature exists in balance so maybe it is impractical to expect everything to be perfectly good; for example, in Hindu religion people worship tigers for their bravery, majesty and stuff but the very tiger kills its brothers so that it can have …um…’fun’ with his mother.

I think you should read this article: it deals with some very nagging problems of the society and links them in a very interesting way. And, it talks about this very same problem in a very thoughtful way. I’m sure you will be very interested. And if you wanted to know, I agree with every single word said here.

http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/john_gatto.html

You put 7 billion people together on one puny planet out in the dusty edge of a third-rate galaxy and you’ll find a lot of silly behavior. I mean, put a few thousand into one football statdium and you’ll find lots of idiots there too. Or even 15 people at a party somewhere, someone’s going to act like a fool.

The point is that there’s a lot of silly humans out there doing silly things. Leaving idiotic comments on webpages comparing the value of someone’s life to a soccer (football) game. Using TV as a babysitter. Starting wars.

That said: There are just as many people who are doing so many wonderful things. They don’t make the news. But if you look hard, you’ll see people raising great kids, choosing green products, helping others who need help, acting like mature grown-ups, living RESPONSIBLY.

People like you, leaving thoughtful posts on blogs like this.

You are your own evidence to show that the world – while full of sadness and disapointment, is also full of smart minds, compassion, kindness. It might not be a balanced scale, but the good stuff’s there too. I hate to sound like an old man preaching to the youth, but if you look for it, you will find it, because it’s there to be found.

But yes, the point is that a lot of our lives are filled with things that have no value. Things like passion, curiosity, desire to change something in this world, trying to understand the life that you live and what really matters-all of this has been replaced by mindless abstractions. All of what we see in TV and ‘social networking’ sites and music is addictive-it really is-but that’s the main point of this all. Its addictive. Just like a drug. And no one seems to understand that all addictions are the same. I’m sure you have seen some children while they are watching TV. Don’t they look hypnotized? All this stimulation just kills the value of being a human being.

A few months back I’d seen the facebook status of a guy who wanted a very famous (and ailing) political leader to die soon so that there’d be a national holiday and he could watch an English Premier League match. (!!!!)

And I’m a guy from Nepal-a country where you have power cuts for 14 hrs a day and it takes you 40 hours to download a movie. If its this bad here-I can only imagine how bad it must be in the US.

Once again, great post and keep writing more. I’d send it to my friends but I know none will give it a second thought so what’s the point? But it deserves more views.

Great job with the post.

In truth I once caught myself daydreaming as a DVR-recorded game ended and I found myself face-to-face with a TV-haters worse nightmare: An ad for a “sexual performance enhancement” drug. There are few things that can make you feel like the world as you know it has come to end more than one of those can. I really did have to hold back the effort to let a karate kick loose into the Panasonic for that one…

Thanks for the comment Julie!

The only time it really hurts not having a telly is during hockey playoffs!