The New Dark Ages

I tend to be a Debbie Downer. I can't help it. My family will be talking about snowfall for skiing, and the first thing out of my mouth is, "Did you know that climate change is now so bad, they have tropical diseases in Italy?"

Wah, waaaah...

Climate change, the war, pretty much all of the Bush administration's rule -- these are thing things I think about when I'm bored on the subway. That's not intelligence, that's masochism.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Thursday added yet another item on my list of things to be depressed about. The comedian Bill Hicks had a "bit" (as much as someone like Bill Hicks had "bits") about the phenomenon of men of genius being shot down in their prime, while mediocrity not only thrives, but flourishes. ("Martin Luther King: Assassinated... Reagan: Wounded.") Bhutto might not have had genius, but she was more than just one woman, she was the hope of a free Pakistan.

It's bad. Everything everywhere seems bad. Not as bad as Walk Hard, but pretty bad. As 2008 comes barreling down up on us, and 2007 seems like one more feverish year of violence, beauty, and confusion, I try not to be a Debbie Downer, but...

Wah Waaaaaah....

I can't help but feel like we're headed into another year of the New Dark Ages. War, famine, pestilence and plague, you name it, we've got it. The "word of God" is held above the word of reason, public literacy and education rates are abysmal. New Orleans.

New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans.

And yet. And yet.

I used to comfort myself that if we were in the New Dark Ages now, then by the time I'm graying, I could count living in a New Renaissance -- that American culture would flourish, that the arts and sciences would have a resurgence that would put us back at the foreground of human poetry. That we would bounce back from these eight years and revolutionize our participation in Global policy, that we would, dare I say it, evolve our ideas, our identity, and push forward into a new era of American Democracy.

But why should I have to wait until then? Why should any of us wait until then? Because of President Bush? If we wait for people like him to be gone so we can make a difference, we'll be about as effective as the Democrats in Congress.

What can't happen in the new year? What can't we accomplish?

My resolution this year is to stop being a Debbie Downer -- to stop day dreaming on the subway and find clear, simple ways I can offer up something other than blogs, to help to make a difference.

What do you want to happen in the New Year? How do you want to make a difference?

Comments

[curiousasheck]

I think I'll start by deleting my copy of John Mayer's Waiting On The World To Change. Then I am going to assume lotus posture for 12 days repeating the mantra . . . "There is no such thing as something for nothing"

"There is no such thing as something for nothing"
"There is no such thing as something for nothing"
"There is no such thing as something for nothing"
"There is no such thing as something for nothing"
"There is no such thing as something for nothing"

[felixrandom]

rap is proof the nazis won, the renaissance is over and it's time to submit to your husband. the empire's down the tubes and the born again stalinistas have hired retarded amoebas to see to the extinction of the middle class.

so when you wake up in the morning and find yourself surrounded by subversives they'll all be disguised as neighbors going to work. but don't worry the FBI is hiring informants asap

[lamarguerite]

In 2008, I will just continue to blog away, and work on new green ventures, and do my little bit to get Obama elected.

Follow my heart, and use my talents. That's all I can do.

http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com

[bavaria]

Lets please march
on every Capital of every State of the Union
on the first Satuday of every month
margo

[bavaria]

How about marching every first Saturday of the month
on the Capital of every State of the Union
Get the word out and Do IT.
margo

[realpolitic]

The New Dark Ages- George Bush.

[T.Roll]

Yes, yes, liberals. There is no hope, there is no future. Everyday is a nightmare. I know. You see a rainbow and you want to paint it black. Here's an idea. Stop associating with other liberals. Avoid all things liberal or progressive. They're bad for you. Bad for your mental health. They will suck any joy or happiness from your soul. They will only make you feel miserable or guilty. This is no way to go through life.

[Coyote2]

Ms. Hanks
Even as we may need stock promoters lobbyists and alcohol wholesalers, we need our prophets. We need our Jonah our Jeremiah and our Jesus. If fate has foisted Jonah upon you, who are you to refuse your muse?

Where a new dark age may indeed close this century, before we get there we need a certain process to take place. First there needs be the “eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage” as if everything is coming up roses. Then there needs be the speaking from the prophets of doom; the Jeremiah and the Jonah. Then there follows either radical change as humanity swings away from her prophesied fate, or the fulfillment of the prophesies themselves.

We are at the Jonah stage of fate. It is your duty to fate to speak. The entire world recognizes the precarious stature of humanity in the face of Climate Change. America does not. The entire world recognizes the emergence of Energy Scarcity; not America. We are still in the “eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage” stage, blissfully ignorant to the gathering storms whilst consuming our way to the typical fat ugly American.

You “can't help but feel like we're headed into another New Dark Ages of war, famine, pestilence and plague,” because that is so. The good times are over and the time for sackcloth and ashes begins. But in America, there will be no repentance without Jonah; and if your voice ceases, America is lost.

Wah Waaaaaah..­..

So weep for us. Weep so that our country may yet turn from her awful fate.

[rini]

I hate to say it, but if you aren't a pessimist.­.. and scared to death about our future,

then you are not paying attention.

[Jane22]

WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO TAKE IT TO THE STREETS DAILY. NON-VIOLENT REVOLUTION IN HUGE NUMBERS THEY CANNOT IGNORE.

[Mack20]

Ms. Hanks, when a negative thought enters your mind, try thinking about unicorns and butterflies. And remember, half-full is always better than half-empty. Thinking positive is more of a habit than anything else. Notice I didn’t mention that other thought process.

[milo9]

"The New Dark Ages" an apt metaphor for the age of bleak vistas. "The New Dark Ages" a phrase that is resonating in the ether. "The New Dark Ages" a current song by Bad Religion.

http://www.last.fm/music/Bad+Religion/_/New+Dark+Ages

[Beleck3]

what is most frightening to me is i don't understand how people can continue to want to believe in the "truths" Bush et al has continued to spew. their "truths" are horrible for everyone not willing to suspend reality.

i've heard this called "Faith based reality" vs. "Fact based reality." the choice to accept what you want to believe vs the reality of the facts of the situation. i mean the faith in wanting facts to follow faith rather than accepting the facts found in reality and believing accordingly. Absolutely astounding and totally frightening!!!

that we as a groundswell have to alert and continue to fight the doublespeak/lies that have gone on so successfully unchallenged for so long. what can we do as truth tellers do to keep the momentum going, the return to "fact based reality", no matter what?

that is the ultimate goal we must entertain as we watch the lies and destruction of the Looters and their like.

the willingness to be led like sheep always astounds me. what can we do, how can we act concretely in definite steps on all levels, along with the obvious?

these steps of action are vital in putting one foot forward ahead of the next. the Republicans have been doing this for 20 -30 some odd years with very successful results for them and to the horror of the rest of us.

[Marlowe22]

I write letters. I vote for democrats, liberals and/or progressives whenever I can. I talk to family members and friends about politics and what they need to do to make a change. I count the days until the election (388 days of the Bush Administration left).

All of it to no avail. One voice, one vote is not enough. What else can one person do?

[madnana]

Life has always been like this. In my own life I have carried the fear of "The Bomb" (very skeptical about the safety of magic desks and the "chipmunk position"), Vietnam, more fear when I became a mother and the new bomb scare was Mutually Assured Destruction. Couldn't swim in swimming pools when I was little because of polio. Schools were segregated in St. Louis the year I started first grade. I have lost count of the friends I lost to AIDs. Yet we keep having children (despite my terror of global warming) and I wonder if I am selfish to treasure my grandchildren so when their future is so bleak. I have decided to create my own world where every day I think about the preciousness of life and do my best to treat my fellow sojourners with compassion and joy. When I was an attorney, I engaged in the futile act of jousting at windmills. Some of them fell over. Had to be enough. I never pass up a comment about a racist, sexist, or homophobic remark made to me, especially since I have racially mixed grandchildren. Most of all, I make it clear I care. If the world is always going to be like this (I thought my world ended when John Kennedy was assassinated) then all we can change is ourselves and treat the world as if it is a loved cancer patient making every day count.