I remember when I first heard about the supposed Mayan prediction that the world was going to end in 2012. Not only did I think it was nonsense then, but shortly after I heard from a Mayan researcher that a more accurate translation is “rebirth” and it was simply the start of a new cycle. What I got from that was basically the Mayan’s way of saying ‘ok, time to re-start the calendar.’
But looking at what’s been happening in around me recently and around the world, I’m starting to think maybe I was wrong. Maybe simply because people believe that the world is going to end, their actions lead to the world ending. It is like being able to look into the future, and doing something to avoid that outcome, but what you do attempting to prevent it is what ends up causing it. I call that a time-loop because it probably wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t seen into the future. But anyway, I digress.
The unfortunate earthquake in Japan that crippled the near ancient Fukushima plant set back nuclear power at least a decade. Nuclear power is an excellent source of energy and people’s unease and lack of understanding about it has held back progress in it for decades. It has the potential to provide us with the more stable supply of electricity during the periods when volatile sources of renewable energy aren’t able to keep up. Nuclear power is a future we should have embraced a long time ago, and if it hadn’t been held back, and Fukushima was retired as it should have been, a nuclear disaster could have been averted.
But the world is also changing fast politically. The Middle East rose up and demanded attention, and this time we were fully supportive of it. People took to the streets to throw out decade-old regimes and demand fair and open elections. We saw a lot of pain, and a lot of suffering, but also some great triumphs. I think this is likely to spread more across the Middle East, as it is in fact doing. And the regimes that have seen what happened in North Africa and fearing the same are attempting to quell any rebellion quickly, will soon be over powered by the people and progress will be made.
What’s I think is interesting to note is that in the West we’re seeing what I consider to be an opposite trend. People seem to want to revert to more nationalist and conservative movements. Canada a country famous for it’s liberalism has just elected a majority conservative government. The US, not known for it’s liberalism in general and having a very closed two party system has a liberal as President, yet its legislative branch is controlled by conservatives. The UK who after over a decade of a Left-wing Labour government threw them out because of their poor handling of the financial crisis and lack of strong leadership, elected a curious coalition. The Conservative-Lib-Dem coalition, a necessary and unavoidable result of the elections went in with a lot to lose and not much to gain. The coalition was the only way to prevent a Hung-Parliament led by the Conservative Party, and the Lib-Dems went in with the aim of minimising the effect of having a Conservative government. I think the Lib-Dems did an excellent job with what they had. Yet the country has turned against them, they have become the evil ones in government, the scapegoat of all of the UKs problems. I believe I recall reading that this has happened to the Lib-Dems before, and it killed the party much like it’s going to do now. I’m confident that it will resurface, but will it be in ten or twenty years? I don’t know. The Scottish Nationalist Party has just won a majority in Scotland, further highlighting the trend towards the conservative and nationalist views in the West.
I know it won’t be that bad, but I do worry about the future, particularly in Europe and the West, because this trend towards conservative, nationalist and federalist governments will foster division and dislike between peoples and it will push everyone apart in a world of globalisation where everyone is meant to be getting closer.
I worry.
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