Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,
Eating his Christmas Pie.
He stuck in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum.
And, said,"What a great boy am I"!
In English history, nursery rhymes such as this were used to attack
the prevailing autocratic powers. They provided a camouflage for the
aggrieved dissenters. Such "ditties", however, may just as well be applied
to situations in today's societies. With respect to "Little Jack Horner",
the same pride and arrogance seems to envelope those whose good fortune,
or self-serving actions has resulted in wealth and power, much as the
English kings and nobility possessed the sense of "divine right". This is
all too apparent at the moment as the prevailing Republican philosophy
tends to view the poor, and the dispossessed as simply the deserving
victims of their own choice.
The rationalizations put forth to justify unjust actions often taken
to gain or maintain advantages sit at the core of the struggle for human
survival. Rationalization, of course, is a way of hiding from the truth.
It is an effort to believe what we prefer to believe rather than actuality.
whether it be "Born-againers" finding Jesus, Republicans feeling wealth is
destiny, Astrologists seeking truth and power in the stars, we sabotage
the possibility to understand one another.
It should be obvious that if we are to have a populace capable of
coping with the task of human survival in the nuclear age, quality
education, care, and nurturing of our youths has to be our first priority.
Lack of proper funding has largely reduced our schools to mere containment
centers, while most adults remain immersed in escapist activities costing
many times the price of adequate schools.
The ever-burgeoning crime problem, as with the assembly line analogy
in education, might be compared to a dam springing leaks while the people
search for more buckets to catch the water, rather than going for more
cement to seal the leaks. In other words, instead of dealing with the
source, and providing more resources and aid to schools, and families, we
rush to expand our police forces and prisons.
The crime problem, which seems to occupy brunt of our social concerns,
and assuredly forms the cornerstone of most political campaigns in
America today, could be but a minor concern if our priority was to provide
quality education, health care, housing, food, and transportation to all
our citizens. This provision could be accomplished with the allocation of
less than 10% of our total resources, energies, dollars or whichever way
you would like to count it. It shouldn't take a ten-year government survey
to establish this. Just go to any city or town, and count the buildings
space and employees given to banks, insurance companies, real estate
offices, law firms etc. Then check the bars, the sports stadiums and
fields, entertainment centers, and fashion shops. Compare the
preponderance of private vehicles spewing fumes over the availability of
public transportation. Note the number of fast-food establishments and
gourmet restaurants catering to our temptations as contrasted to
restaurants featuring healthy meals. Excessive paper-shuffling, and
rampant escapism! Is it truly in our best interest to devote such an
inordinate share of our energies and resources to this?
Much has been said about the war on drugs. Yet when shall we realize
that simple addiction is the real problem? Drugs are only the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to addictions in our society! It's truly the many
addictions which consume the brunt of our time and energy, leaving precious
little of that time for the study of human values, essential needs and
understanding. There's no end to the overindulging in anything Madison
Ave. (The Advertising Industry) wants to sell. Materialism takes a
thousand forms. Rampaging market competition compels us to over-satisfy
each and every manufactured taste from cigarettes to cars to sports events
to rock music, fashions of all sorts etc. The cigarette industry goes so
far as to argue before Congress that any effort to diminish its prominence
is almost anti-American because it could result in loss of jobs and harm
the economy. Little emphasis is left or found for developing and nurturing
the type of pleasures or satisfactions which derive from activities
particularly beneficial to one's fellow human beings.
In California in the June Primary Election of 1994, with one-third of
the eligible voters participating, two-thirds of those voting turned down
crucially needed school bonds on the ballot. What this means is that
only one of nine citizens actually cared what happens to our children and
our schools. Eight out of nine didn't care! These are the same people
that the polls indicate consider the crime problem to be our major concern.
And the politicians are stumbling over each other attempting to come up
with proposals for more police, prisons, death penalties, and longer jail
sentences.
When are we honestly going to ask ourselves: How did we get this way?
We are not, as any typical candidate for public office will assure us, a
great nation, a great people! We are, in essence ,a narrow-minded
populace sorely in need of new values, and knowledge necessary for survival
in the 21st Century.
Another area in the field of sociology must inevitably be addressed.
That is the growing specter of overpopulation. It poses a menacing threat
to our collective future on this earth. Apparently overpopulation is not
quite the problem in wealthier countries as it is in the impoverished.
That alone should give us a clue as to why it's important to establish some
measure of economic parity world-wide before it's too late!
In the mid-ninties the O.J.Simpson affair rocked America. An
examination of that episode affords us an insight into sociological forces
at large in our society. A synopsis of the affair follows at this point.
Following O.J. we'll move into the area of religion, which isa key
factor in the effort to alter any system of values in a society. We'll
examine the effects of religious institutions on our lives.
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