The state of society, random thoughts, and annoyances:

I've been doing a lot of thinking about one particular subject lately -- the state of society, and what I think is wrong with the world that we live in.

A little information may be in order, so that anyone that ends up reading this might understand a few things.  I'm a general "average Joe," one of those lower-class people that probably should be thinking more about where food, clothes, and rent are going to come from than thinking about society and what I think is wrong about it, and what might be a workable solution to fix it.  I have ADD, according to the 'state', and although I think it is more of an issue with the crap we call food, but anyhow, that may be something for later writing.

I've also always wondered about why the world is the way it is since childhood.  I've never understood the need for money to do... anything.  Seriously, there is very little that we can do without money.

Anyhow, on to what has been bothering me lately:  The state of society, from the viewpoint of a 'low-class' American guy.

I understand that up until recently, we humans have been surviving by the same principles as the rest of life on this planet.  From an evolutionary standpoint, Darwinism has its uses in strengthening the genetic stock of a species.  As the saying goes, "The strong survive."  That works for every creature on the Earth, with only one exception recently -- Homo Sapiens.

The reason I say that, is that up until recently, the strong survived, and the weak and/or infirm would die off.  The thing is that recently that has changed.  Currently, we have many people living that not long ago would have had no options -- we have insulin for diabetics, glasses for the visually impaired, surgery for broken bones, we can remove abnormal things via surgery, we have vaccines for many illnesses that could devastate the population otherwise.  This list goes on ad infinitum.  The thing that has enabled us to defy evolution's propensity for rooting out the weak or unfortunate is technology.  Without technology we'd still be running around with nothing but rocks and sticks.

So, a few years ago someone got me to watch the first Zeitgeist Movie.  I mostly pinned it for being conspiracy theory and religion-bashing, but there were a few little things in there that struck a chord (and it is very informative, if you account that he got many things wrong, especially concerning Paganism).  So, when the Zeitgeist Addendum came out, naturally I watched it.  I'll say that the addendum is much better than the first movie, though the speaker could have done a few things differently.  For one, not bashing religion quite so hard -- though it is worlds better than in the first movie, but he did do some bashing, which wasn't necessary and could have been said/done a bit differently.  Also, he left out a few important things about how the Fractional Reserve system works.... though the spirit of what the speaker is saying is true.  The monetary system is broken.  Horribly, irreparably broken.

The checks and balances that are supposed to be in the system obviously don't work.  There is no middle class anymore -- there are the "Have"s and "Have-not"s.  90% or more of the USA's population barely makes ends meet, and sadly these people are the ones that keep the country running at all.  Just think:  if all of the lowest-paid people (also worst-treated) were to not go to work tomorrow, how much do you think would get done?

I'd bet the country would literally stop dead in it's tracks.  You wouldn't be able to get gas to drive your car, because the clerks aren't there to run the store.  You wouldn't be able to shop for anything at all, because the workers at Wal-Mart (evil empire) wouldn't be there to stock or sell your food.  You couldn't call in any problems with your cell-phone, because no-one would be there to answer the questions (which are most often already in the manual that you didn't read).  Seeing the point here?  Everything would just stop.

Today, the USA throws away (wastes) enough food and materials -- by itself! --  to feed, clothe, and shelter each and every person in the world comfortably.  I'm sure other countries are doing the same.  So why the hell don't we do anything...?  The answer is money.  It 'costs too much' to do anything that betters the world.  It is the reason why there are uneducated, famished, poor, homeless, and diseased people all over the world and especially in Africa.  This doesn't need to be the case though!

Don't get me wrong here, by the way.  I like the idea of the Resource Based Economy (RBE) concept -- but I am not so naive or stupid to think that it is perfect.  I know it isn't perfect, and there probably is not a perfect solution that we imperfect people will come up with.  But, I will say that I believe that the RBE concept is a hell of a lot better than what we're doing right now.  And the thing is, with an RBE, we would have the time and means to efficiently find newer, better ways to do things -- so at least we could improve!  Right now with this monetary system, we're too damned worried about surviving for a week to worry about how to make things better... or we're "sheeple" that are too programmed to have the mind to think about it.

So yes, I will endorse the Zeitgeist Addendum movie, with a few minor reservations.  I think everyone should go watch it from beginning to end, and then watch it again so that your brain doesn't filter as much and you can actually note the good, and bad, parts of the movie.