Duty Now For The Future (part one)

Welcome to the start of the 21st century.

Oh, I know the calendar says it started January 1st, 2001 (and if you’re one of those who think it began January 1, 2000, go to your room and think about what you’ve done).

But as has been pointed out by David Brin, centuries in the human sociological sense start after that.  Brin’s contention is that the 14th year after the start of the calendar century is when the real new century kicks into gear but again, that’s putting a clock-like timetable on very messy and imprecise human affairs.

But he’s right insofar as some major cultural break needs to occur -- and it doesn’t have to be a bad one; a treaty to put an end to nearly incessant war is just as effective.

Now, a lot of people thought 9/11 was out cultural break, but as traumatic as it was for Americans in general and New Yorkers in particular, it really didn’t impact the rest of the world that much.

Oh, they felt a certain amount of shock, to be sure, and the pity and generosity and goodwill expressed were sincere, but there was also a tinge of “Welcome to the party, yanks.”

See, they had been facing terrorism of various stripes for quite some time, and they saw the US as unduly fortunate to have sidestepped their misfortunes.

9/11 put an end to that, and for a brief while 90% of the planet were our friends (the remaining 10% were cackling with glee, but that’s a different topic).

Then we went and screwed it all up.

We screwed it all up because we had an ineffectual president and corrupt sociopathic thugs who saw the attack as a means to extend their power both as a party and as individuals.

So we launched into a series of pointless, futile wars and we just made a royal mess of it, but hey, so long as the plutocrats got to profit off it, who cares?

Well, I care.

Full disclosure:
I voted conservative for most of the 80s and 90s.  However, when it came out GWBush authorized torture in direct violation of the US constitution and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (not to mention the Geneva Convention), and that the GOP and most conservative pundits were okay with this, I didn’t have to leave the party; the party had already left me.

I’m a progressive now because they are the only people currently trying to ensure liberty and justice for all.

But back to our original thesis:
Despite the trauma of 9/11 and the seemingly endless wars that followed, the country really didn’t change -- not then, even though the seeds of change were sown.

For one thing, 9/11 obsessed America far more than it did the rest of the world.  The real cultural change, the big cultural change would have to involve the entire planet.

Attempts by progressives to steer America into post-1945 20th century values were sporadic and vehemently opposed by the 1% that dominated both parties, but especially the GOP.

They lashed back at efforts to bring America up to speed for the 20th century in 2009, pushing instead for a literal return to pre-1860 American values and politics.

(For those of you saying, “Buzz exaggerates -- we abolished slavery” WTF do you think our current for-profit prison system is except a way to subject literally millions of people into forced labor?)

This backlash actively sought to overturn everything accomplished by President Barak Obama.  Unfortunately for everyone, the coronavirus has some other ideas and now, like it or not, the entire planet is being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

So what’s the major cultural difference this time?

Well, for one, we’re getting hammered into us but good that we are all one people on one planet.  As cool as space exploration is, we ain’t emigrating to the stars.  We can’t pretend that what happens on the other side of the planet to people we don’t know won’t affect us.  We are all locked down in a common experience and it ain’t gonna spare us because we’re rich or good looking or smart.

We can’t even take solace in it affecting more of the stupid people than us because the ones mocking precautions now and going out and eating at McDonalds or partying in Florida or &#@%ing licking airline toilet seats are going to spread it to us because they are stupid and they are going to show up at their jobs as cashiers and stock clerks in grocery and drug stores.

Google “Typhoid Mary” and see what I’m talking about.

This is an equal opportunity disease and it’s going to take a lot of us.

Let me give you some perspective:
World War Two took eight years to kill 3% of the world’s population; the coronavirus unchecked could easily kill 1% in three years.

But the good news is it probably won’t because there are a lot of smart people working long and hard around the world (although not necessarily in the US of A) to find effective vaccines and counter-measures to ensure as many of us as possible survive it, and strict social distancing and quarantining when there are enough test kits to do the job will drastically slow the spread of the disease.

So with any luck, we won’t see 1% casualties in the whole world population, and we may hold the fatalities down below that number by slowing the spread thus not over taxing the medical system until a vaccine is developed.

But it’s going to mean changes.  Lots and lots of changes…

© Buzz Dixon