Who has a sense of optimism about this? I wonder how long this truce will last. Another hotspot which hopefully will be extinguished soon? There are too many hotspots around the world.
More good news…keep it up!
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I fully understand where you are coming from in this thread Bonzocat. Both Lula and Frederiksen (Danish left) won on Sunday - on the other hand it looks as if Israel is now heading down a very dark tunnel. We are exposed to more bad news through modern media, so it can seem that the world is falling apart, but of course what reliance on news media misses is precisely the perspective of history.
The long-run pattern of events is by no means all bad. Although careful analysis reveals that in general the development of capitalism, and especially its slavery and colonialism phase, destroyed many people’s lives, and degraded perfectly sustainable societies into chaos, it also motivated opposing forces, the forces of our real, shared humanity, and these have gradually driven progress: ending slavery, organising in trade unions, extending the franchise, entrenching human rights, introducing free state education, universal state-funded health care, minimum wages, gay marriage, etc, etc - progressive steps that are very hard to reverse, because most people value them highly.
Yes, I understand the bigger picture - Victorian slums & living in Victorian poverty no longer exists, or if it does exist marginally, there is welfare at hand. And so on. But it’s not universal worldwide.
One way to avoid what we see through the magnifying glass of the media is not to look, but can’t do that. And it’s depressing to see only what glares at us in the headlines.
Probably best to deal with it by deliberately looking for good news. And sometimes good news makes the headlines – as with the Amazon Forest, and that’s a big one for me. Justice has been served , in two ways, the Amazon, hopefully, is saved, and a ‘thug’, my word, has been beaten back.
I always enjoy that film ‘The Winslow Boy’ when it periodically comes round.
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@Bonzocat , this is a lovely thread to catch. I am as one with you on the current state of the world and fears for the future. I also do see mankind becoming nastier, perhaps due to fear of losing out but the result is aggressively negative behaviour all the same.
My way of coping is to find joy in the little things wherever I can.
I have learnt to laugh when all the leaves of autumn blow in through the front door. Gives the stone floor a rather medieval carpet.
The loose village dog whose elderly owner died always gets a treat from me. He cannot bark but dies a sort of crocodile snap with his mouth when he’s excited. Like no hand clapping.
My two dogs, in every way, every day.
I am focussing hard in these things now because my beautiful 26 year old godson, on his way to Salisbury House on Sunday to help with some legal pro-bono briefs was hit broadside on his bicycle at a traffic junction. St Mary’s waited for his mother to fly in from Geneva before declaring her only child brain dead. There really are not adequate words to show how deep and great is this loss. The police will prosecute the London driver, angry at recent protest action delays, who killed our boy.
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There are no words, Susannah.
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Oh no Susannah, all my condolences.
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I am so sorry Susannah. Events like this create such an emptiness, and this is only the beginning.
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Oh that is just horrific 
I’m so sorry for your and your families loss xx
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So sorry to hear this Susannah.
Just the other night my daughter and I watched a documentary on negative attitudes to cycling by UK motorists, especially in London - ranging from carelessness to aggression. My daughter, who cycles every day in Strasbourg, said at the end she wouldn’t dare do it in the UK.
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It is appalling, my first cycling as transport was the year I lived in Denmark. It was VERY clear the priority: 1. Bikes 2. Pedestrians 3. Cars!!!
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Very sorry to hear the tragic news Susannah
Thoughts are with you and your family
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Sorry Geof, under the circumstances I do not think this is the time or place right now to continue this topic.
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Thank you everyone for your kindness. Such a beautiful boy full of promise without a mean bone in his body. I know my uncle in Heaven will take care of him now. Thank you again for your heartfelt sympathies. I know you well understand
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I’ve started reading a book called Human Kind - a Hopeful History. Was struck by this…
Bregman Rutger. Humankind. Bloomsbury Publishing.
It is not a radical idea that most people, deep down, are pretty decent.
Imagine an airplane makes an emergency landing and breaks into three parts. As the cabin fills with smoke, everybody inside realizes: We’ve got to get out of here. What happens?
•On Planet A, the passengers turn to each other to ask if they’re okay. Those needing assistance are helped out of the plane first. People are willing to give their lives, even for perfect strangers.
•On Planet B, everyone’s left to fend for themselves. Panic breaks out. There’s lots of pushing and shoving. Children, the elderly, and people with disabilities get trampled underfoot.
Now the question: Which planet do we live on?
“I would estimate about 97 per cent of people think we live on Planet B," says **Professor Postmes.
“The truth is, in almost every case, we live on Planet A.”
**Tom Postmes, professor of social psychology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Edit – just added…
Catastrophes bring out the best in people. I know of no other sociological finding that’s backed by so much solid evidence that’s so blithely ignored. The picture we’re fed by the media is consistently the opposite of what happens when disaster strikes.
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A little young to be pushed out to sea in a boat…
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There is no ‘topic’ Corona - just sympathetic understanding.
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I love Rutger Bregman - I highly recommend one of his previous books - Utopia for Realists.
I’ll put Human Kind on my Xmas list !
I’d say Bregman’s strong point is his absolute insistence on working from historical evidence…
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You are more well-read than I am, but I would recommend Human Kind - a Hopeful History, even though I have not yet finished reading it! It has surprising revelations, for me at least. I say no more than that.
I’ll put Utopia for Realists on my list!
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I ask myself why is the world in the way it is, full of manmade strife, (it is isn’t it ?), and I look for answers and read recommended books by authors who have researched exhaustedly and have thought long and hard about these things.
Then I come across reviews of these books by people who appear to be rational well-read people raising disagreements about what is propounded in those books.
And the authors may well disagree with each other as well.
So how do we poor mortals deal with this?
Maybe it’s back to asking ‘what is the answer to life, the universe and everything’, and we all know the answer to that, it’s 42.
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