Rioting for Peace

It seems the entire world is angry.

• Greeks protest government spending cutbacks aimed at saving the country; the masses would have their nation fail rather than pay more taxes.

• Tunisians, Egyptians,  Libyans, Syrians, Jordanians, Bahrainians, Iranians, Yeminis, Israelis, and Palestinians protest the authorities who are suffocating their liberty; most are likely to emerge as an intolerant Islamic society; the US backs the democratic movements, neatly snipping off Uncle Sam's nose to spite his face.

• Chileans riot in the streets because of perceived economic unfairness; never mind that their nation has done more during the last 30 than any other South American country to move from underdeveloped to modern.

• Americans guzzle their ideological tea or rumble through Wall Street protesting the institutions of (1) national government and (2) big business; never mind that it is the government that keeps them free and the corporations that keep them wealthy.

My personal view is that modern media, and especially the internet, are rather like the coal shoveler on an old steam engine, jamming shovel after shovel of angst into the hoppers of indignation.

Even on the floor of the US Senate and House we see a kind of venom that is best left with gangsters and malcontents. The personalization of debate ("President Obama is a force of destruction") supplants discussion of issues. It is as if the juvenile chat community has moved lock, stock and barrel into the public service arena. Or else people have lost the ability to be analytical, diplomatic and factually or intellectually forceful. Too much TV watching, I'm sure. Turns the brain to mush.

Two Pit Bulls

We are emotional beings and we are rational beings. Some cultures such as Asian and Middle Eastern lands are tilted toward emotional reactions to problems. Western Europe and America tilt more toward introspection and analysis. The Philippines dances around.

None is capable of coming to grips with the seeds of unrest that are spreading like a flesh eating virus across the blue orb.

I'm not sure where we are headed. Perhaps into collapse of the Western economic model and the rise of China as the dominant economic power in the world. Failing free markets are likely to open the doors to China's saving purchase of their failing institutions.

I can imagine the scenario. Greece continues to struggle. China buys Greek bonds and failing European banks. Greece fails. China demands restitution from the EU. China owns Greece. China owns banks. China requires that Mandarin be the official language of Greece. China buys Italy. China buys Germany. China flips off the United States and moves aggressively into resource rich South America.

"Oh, you say they are already there?"

Oops. My bad.

When God gave out heroes, America thought he said Neros and asked for  300 million fiddles.

I will go onto Amazon.com later today, not to buy a Kindle Fire, but to buy "Mandarin for Dummies".