The world according to Wuilios

Okay, here goes.

Many a night have I spent having the sort of discussion you are having now. Taking things to their deepest abstractions and building it back up again to a better way of ruling the world.
I used to love it.
I used to love to take extreme stances to rile people with views not unlike Brasas. I must admit I still sometimes feel the urge, because like Ilaekae my views on world politics are almost diametrically opposed to the ones Brasas defends with so much vigour.
But I am very hesitant to do so again.
The easiest excuse for that is that I don’t think my English is good enough to state exactly what I think and feel. But it’s a feeble excuse at best. My English isn’t that bad and if there’s something really intricate to talk about, I’ll just have to try a little harder or work a little more at it.

The real reason lies deeper. It has started to disgust me terribly, politics, and I’ve grown more cynical about it than I would care to admit. I don’t think we as mankind can manage our problems a lot better than we do now. We haven’t made much progress in the last 5000 years, and I don’t see how that would change in the years ahead. Whether our gallant leaders claim to be Democratic, Republican, Socialist , Communist, Dictator or Rebel, they all manage to fuck up their country, the planet and the general well-being of the people.
Maybe Anarchy is the best system for us after all, although I fear for the weak among us when that actually happens.

Okay, already this is depressing me no end.
I’ve always thought the value of human life was sacred, but I’ve learned it is not.
I always believed in the good of people, but I see now that a lot of them are bad.
I’ve always believed in society, but more and more I only see the good qualities of people come shining through in small groups, with no clear structure of leadership.
And I am not a cynical person. I like to laugh, I like to love people and I do, but I don’t trust anybody of the Powers that Be anymore, and frankly I don’t want to discuss their wrongdoings anymore.
I would like to talk about a way to make us better, to make this planet a better place to live, but I’m afraid that means a world without people, or at least no more than a few million concentrated in rural communities living off the land. Or better yet, living as nomads, because the trouble started when people began to settle down and claim land as their own instead of seeing it as a commodity free to use for all.
I believe I’ve mentioned it before, but Bruce Chatwin had some interesting things to say about that in his book ‘The Songlines’.

Now, don’t think I’ve lost all hope. I still think most people want to be decent and loving and not hurt anybody and just basically get along. But a lot of them don’t and more often than not they are the ones they get the power and that scares me more than I can say. The leaders and the mob that follows them every time, is what makes this world a dangerous place. It’s the drop-outs, the free-thinkers, the anarchists, the ones that turn left when everybody turns right, that form the best hope for us all. Maybe that is why I like this place so much. A lot of those people seem to have gathered here and that makes me feel secure somehow.

I guess you could say I’ve lost the faith where it comes to world politics and the motives of political leaders or idealistic terrorists or extremists. I’ve not lost faith in mankind, but I do think we’re awfully ill-equipped to manage ourselves in large numbers. Maybe we’re not doing too badly all in all, but there is too much hurt and too much sorrow and I don’t think the sacrifices people make when they wage war or just try to make it from day to day leads to real improvement.

Thus ends my rambling. I hope I made some sense. I never really meant to say it, and it didn’t come out the way I wanted it too, so I should probably brood on it a little more, but I don’t wanna. All I wanted to do was explain why I will not enter the discussion you are having, although you have my respect.