Hope and Indetermination

Despite my grim and often contrary perception of others, I for some reason find myself with an undying optimism for tomorrow. Maybe I've relinquished myself further than others and therfore can apologize for more than others allow themselves, understanding that the horrific and traumatic are aspects of life which are fairly necessary, and in simplest gratitude I think I could be okay with the idea that the human race continues on only (granted the example survives for further generations).

My brother came to visit a couple of weeks ago and it was interesting how our perspectives differed. He's much less likely to be critical of isolated incidents as I am, but he conversely doesn't share my (perhaps bizarre or misplaced) optimism. He's much more critical of the poor educational system we find ourselves with and doesn't agree at all with my ideas on God's death in the first world. I, in juxtaposition, am constantly chomping at the bit for things to complain about and confounded by the amount of shepherding done by society, but somehow this negativity doesn't crush my overarching perspective on things and strangely detached optimism for a humanity I'm disgusted by on a personal level.

I still believe that history serves as a compass which is generally helpful in our decision making process, and I think that besides this all society needs is to slowly be deconstructed. People still hold onto the stigmas of the past (racism, sexism, etc etc etc) in a world where those things are less and less helpful. In an honest capitalist sensibility, segregating the marketplace is in almost all ways detrimental, and I think its the perpetuation of this global market which does allow for a lot of added equality, because all people at the top want as many people as possible giving them money.

Problems arise on a personal level and in terms of employment. Where we want to appeal to a certain segment of society in one sense, we concurrently draw them back through an exploitation of labor. This is why the free market in itself doesn't work. We need people watching out for the commonwealth, because the aristocratic will always be trying to appeal to the broadest spectrum possible but rarely recognize that their pursuit of this damages those directly beneath them through unfair wages, unfair treatment of ethnicities and unfair hiring and promotional practices. Throughout history, this has been a balancing act.

Now we find ourselves on a global scale, a place where prejudices and bigotry are (as best as we can enact it) left to cower in the shadows. This is a work in progress. My argument is that things have never been so good for so many people at any point in the past, but that's no reason to soften our resolve or believe that this is as good as it gets. When the largest amount of people work together, the largest amount of people prosper. Capitalism, even in its flaws, accomplishes this appeal to commonality and fraternity better than anything before it at least. Monarchies, Oligarchies (even though this is still us in some senses), Communism, etc never provided the prosperity we now find ourselves with. This is why I can't just look at society and view us as fucked. The contented who suffer and the stubborn have always existed, but they've also always been forced to flex. The point we find ourselves at is no different, albeit frustrating. Universal freedom wrought in a common understanding of one's best interest on a grand scale works much better than a theistic mandate. I think that eventually the idea that what works best doesn't need to step on one's personal beliefs can gain traction, its just the subject is particularly hot and contentious right now. Feelings will settle and things will continue to move forward. More on this later.