The Fallout, 1

Economic inequality is a major contributing cause to collective trauma. This, I'm afraid, has almost always been with us, or, since a lot of us stopped being hunter-gatherers. I am not glorifying primitive life, by the way, Gentle Reader, neither am I a fan of the Paleo diet. Hunter-gatherer societies may exert a certain quaint charm and magnetism to us over-civilized dolts, but really, give me flush toilets, toilet paper, long lifespans and reduced infant mortality, any old day. On the other hand, we have the ravages of social hierarchy and classism and casteism to contend with and the kind of arrogance and snobbery that comes with that kind of thinking still wreaks its damage. It's really a choice between Kim Kardashian and Jane Goodall. In all fairness, I know next to nothing about the former, and there is absolutely nothing that I have heard about that shallow and unpleasant woman that would appeal to me. But Jane Goodall? Now there is someone worth knowing! But even Jane Goodall has done rather well in life and has likely always been generously remunerated for her pains taken with wild chimpanzees. (she doesn't appear to have much to say about bonobos, unfortunately.) So, it isn't just all about social class. It's all about money. I just listened to a brief video of Ms. Goodall, who mentions that the chimps war over territory, but humans make war about money. And this is always what divides us. Hegemonies of greed and avarice, the reluctance, the downright refusal to share the wealth. And people suffer. Millions and millions suffer needlessly and enormously because of this greed. Those of us who get shut out get judged and blamed by the ones who make it, and it is small wonder that you have so many desperately poor on our streets suffering from addictions. This is how many of us cope with being shut out, not belonging, not being wanted. I have managed to stay free from addictions, myself, but I suppose that my intense spiritual and religious life, to many, would appear as a kind of addiction. I cannot think of how else I could cope. But at least I also have my health, unlike many who suffer around me. This selfish and miserly attitude towards resources has created so many problems and now we have this crisis of homelessness that is not about to go away. It's even harder than getting rid of bedbugs! Except you don't exterminate people for being homeless, though I suspect there are a few rich bastards around that wish this could happen. What is particularly galling is there are enough people around stupid and selfish enough to go on electing conservative governments that enact such policies as help widen the gap and plunge even more hapless folk into misery. If you lived in Ontario during the nineties under Mike Harris' Progressive Conservative government, or here in BC under Gordon Campbell's Liberals in the early two thousand, then you will know exactly what I am getting at. under both governments, the homeless populations in each province swelled exponentially. You cannot legislate compassion, but compassion is what we need if we are to recover as a society.