This article hypothesizes and shows that current modern society is on a growing, unstoppable, self-destructive spiral that destroys society and the planet. Focus on growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness and pride are at the core of the problem.
Short treatise on why the people of this planet are bent on destroying it and are not be able to save it.
Hypothesis:
- Current societal organizational systems are destroying society and threaten medium-term human survival on this planet
- Current societal organizational systems are so entrenched, that they cannot be prevented from destroying society, human survival, and the planet
What are these societal organizational systems?
The societal organizational systems are the entities that give a certain order to our society. These systems principally govern the way all individuals interact with each other.
Examples of these systems are the government system, the economic system, the business system, the financial system, the technological system, the educational system, the belief system.
Each of these systems can take any type of form or method: There are many different methods of government, various economic, business and financial models, types of educational systems, many religions.
Every individual person's norms and values are shaped by the method that these systems operate in and the individual is subject to. People subject to the methods of different systems generally hold differing sets of norms and values.
To the outside, the various implementation methods utilized by societal systems may appear very different, such as the democratic government system appears to be very different from the dictatorial government system, or the communist economic system appears to be very different from the capitalist economic system. But going to the heart of the matter, each of these competing systems is based on the same basic premises. The same can be said for every single different implementation of the world's current societal systems.
It's these shared basic premises that are at the core of the problem. Only a change of these basic premises would make progress, that is a true turn-around possible.
What are theese shared basic premises?
- Government systems: the concept of nations, models of national management, government forms such as democracies, oligopolies, dictatorships, each follows the same goals: growth, power, material wealth and national pride
- Economic systems: the concepts of managing economic resources, models such as capitalism, market economies and communism each follow the same goals: growth, power, material wealth, economic pride
- Belief systems: religions follow the same goals: growth, power, self-righteousness, and religious pride
- Interest groups: political parties and special interests follow the same goals: growth, power, material wealth, self-righteousness, personal pride
- Media: societal information systems, tv, cable, internet, newspapers, magazines, news and opinion providers follow the same goals: growth, power, material wealth, self-righteousness, personal pride
The societal systems, whatever their different implementation methods and internal ideologies, and where-ever they are, all operate on the same set of premises: growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness, and pride.
Where is the damage?
Apparently all societal systems attach a positive value to increasing their basic premises: more growth, more power, more self-righteousness and more pride. The value of greed is part and parcel.
Internally, within given societal organizational systems, there are many variations, differences of implementation and effectiveness: Countries lose or gain resources. The poor or the rich get poorer or richer. Earth was created over a few billion years or it took only a week. Politicians and political parties follow the money, special interests, or the actual issues. The media tells either facts, opinions or lies as facts. The educational system may or may not actually educate according to actual facts and critical thinking.
These internal variations are not really the point. The damage is done by the ingrained premises of increasing growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness and pride. The damage is to individuals, society and to global resources and environment.
In other words, what any of them actually do or stand for is not the point and it may not even matter. Their basic premises of growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness, and pride are sufficient to destroy society and the planet.
Why is it a problem now?
Societal systems and their implementation methods have always been around and always had the same principles of increasing growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness and pride. This has not changed. But the times have changed.
In current times, strong global interconnection and population growth are scaling the problem up exponentially.
Earlier these issues remained on local levels. Now they are critical on global level. World population has tripled. The world has become interconnected. More and more is consumed. Natural resources are dwindling. Humankind is changing the planet's ecological system.
The space that societal systems operate in is getting more constricted. Competing societal systems must become more competitive to sustain growth and wealth. While principally striving for higher growth, more power, more wealth, higher self-righteousness, and more pride, the higher competition between the various implementation methods makes all societal systems even more determined, more aggressive and more abusive in following through on their goals.
Point 1: Societal systems' growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness and pride are gained at the expense of individuals, society as a whole, and the planet's resources.
Point 2: Societal systems' focus on growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness and pride is accelerating.
Note the term accelerating. Not simply growing.
Together: Prevailing societal organizational systems are ensuring that the well-being of individuals, society and the planet continue to deteriorate rapidly.
This deterioration cannot be stopped and it ends in destruction.
Why can't it be stopped?
Above we saw that the basic premises and goals of societal organizational systems are growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness and pride. These goals are now threatening human survival and this planet.
The societal systems are built on these basic premises and goals. They do not function without them. There is no mechanism to change them on system level. These goals are also shared by and ingrained in a very large number of individuals. There is no mechanism to change these goals on individual level.
For those individuals who are spontaneously willing to forgo these goals, there is no effective societal organizational system that will effectively compete with the entrenched destructive systems. Such individuals have no organized peer structure. They remain single individuals, unable to form counteracting societal organizational systems.
As long as people are destructive to society and nature, and just continue on because its legal and everyone else is doing the same thing, society and the planet will not survive.
If it could be stopped, how?
The societal implosion might be stopped by a broad change in individual and organizational norms and values that combines no growth, no profit, no material gain and focuses on respect for all individuals, society and nature, with truth, honesty and integrity. And that, ladies and gentlemen, sad as it is, is not achievable.
The moment anyone seriously starts advocating anything similar to the first part, no growth, no profit, no material gain he or she is likely to be marginalised, branded an extremist and excommunicated from established society.
The second part respect for all individuals, society and nature, with truth, honesty and integrity may be easier to achieve. Yet the individual is mostly overridden by concepts of growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness and pride on system level, as prioritised by business systems, financial systems, economic systems and national systems. An individual who vies for positive norms, values and actions, simply does not get a chance.
Individuals can scarcely make changes on their own, since current society is too interconnected. For example, if you individually opted out of the concepts of "growth" and "more, more, more", you are likely to lose your job! You'd probably become unemployed or would need to leave the city altogether and live quietly up-country, raise live-stock and do some farming. (On a side note that's probably not a bad idea).
Earlier my article ended here.
Maybe I've seen to many happy-end films, maybe my own conclusion - that I still stand by - is depressing. If there's an "out" where could it be?
Some potentials for change?
The individual, the family, the small business. There are other potential basic systems that could be mentioned. They didn't seem worth-wile.
The individual
Finally, it must be the individual and a very large number of organized individuals to affect change in any way.
The individual is both unknowing subject and eager participant. Current societal organisational systems see the individual as the feeding ground to achieve growth: national, economic and business systems coerce individuals into continuous cycles of material accumulation. Economic, financial and business systems maintain standard calculations on how much to invest into not just spending but continuously increasing consumer spending, so that the system can continue to grow.
At the same time, individuals are co-opted into the destructive system to make it work. The individuals who operate destructive systems view and treat the consuming individuals as gullible cash cows. The system rewards specifically to those individuals who extract the most resources from consuming individuals with highest consumer wealth, thus ensuring further system growth. As a matter of necessity, these individuals may be said to reflect the systems' goals of growth, power, wealth, self-righteousness, and pride - generally coupled with norms and values reflecting dishonesty, greed and disrespect for humanity and nature.
However, individuals can affect change if they dare. And work together with like-minded individuals.
The family
It's apparent that the family is probably the closest long-term bond between individuals. This increases trust, responsibility and integrity between family members.
The family as a group is still governed by individuals, so the above "individual" principles apply. So, families are either fully incorporated into prevailing societal systems, or may have doubts about them.
Families can affect change if they dare. Each family is already a group. Families are accustomed to living in communities where a degree of collaboration on common issues is prevalent. Families are likely to be able to work together well with like-minded families, create cohesion among like-minded families and convince other families to participate.
The small business
Depending on location in the world, about 76-95% of businesses are small businesses. A very large number of small businesses are family businesses. (Citation needed, but these are facts.) For the purpose of this hypothesis, it is ok to state that families steer the bulk of all small businesses. This is a lot of power.
Small business does not necessarily geared to continuous growth, or increasing power and wealth. Small business is often intended to sustain a certain income level for families and individuals. Small business is not inherently and not necessarily growth or greed oriented. Families and individuals operating small businesses are more likely to be in a good position to effect change within their system - their customers and small to medium scale suppliers - and thus influence societal system change. Small businesses can affect change if they dare.
On the downside, small businesses tend to be somewhat individualistic which appears to make small business less likely to work together with other like-minded businesses. It would be difficult (but not impossible) for small businesses to form a societal organizational system that fosters positive change.
If there is any way out, its by way of "small business". Small businesses are an extremely underrated power because they operate on grass-roots level and don't make the limelight. Their weakness is that they are not organized as a societal system.
If Small Business can be organized as a societal force that follows the principles needed to save society and the planet, it can be an unstoppable force.
Related
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Rewarding antisocial, greedy and unethical behavior over its positive antonym values structurally ingrains negative destructive behaviour and creates a vicious circle that is virtually unbreakable. It perpetuates the proliferation of individuals with negative behaviour and the growth of the societal organizational systems that reward it.
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