The shape of things to come - 305.5

While I was writing my last post, an unauthorized charge was being placed on Maria’s debit card, sending her into the read and ringing up $70.00 in bank fees. It looks like she had gotten them all successfully removed now, but then her car was rear-ended, and some trashy ex-friends of hers started another round of harassment. Add it to our litany of woes. Perhaps that makes this a good time for me to predict a dystopian future.

In December I went ahead and predicted the future a little bit, and now I am basically adding to that. There are trends that I see that are disturbing, and if things are heading that way, well, it’s something to be aware of.

First of all, I don’t see much coming in the way of economic improvement for the next three years. Some will argue over whether that is because the government is not doing enough, or because everything they are doing is wrong. Realistically, I think anyone would have a difficult time cleaning up after this mess. I personally am confident that additional tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations are not the answer, just as I am sure that additional deregulation is not the answer, but again, fixing this is going to be really hard.

Unfortunately, economic hard times lead to despair, and we are seeing a lot of that. I remember watching one news feature about the economy, and strongly feeling the impression that people were going to take their lives over this, then I remembered that at least one person already had (a financial advisor who had lost everyone’s money and felt bad about it). What I did not foresee was how brutal it would be, with so many suicides turning to mass murder first. We already had a growing suicide rate for our returning soldiers, and coming back to find poverty and no job prospects is not going to help. Expect depression, desperation, and rage to be common.

The other thing I have noticed is that the typical bugs are lasting longer. Diseases that you might normally shake in three days are lasting five weeks. This isn’t even an issue with the bugs becoming more resistant to drugs, because these are things like colds that you don’t normally medicate, but I have seen it with myself, family members, friends, and even reading about people I do not know in other parts of the country.

Maybe it is that we are becoming unhealthier. There is already the obesity epidemic and the increase of diabetes, which does not do your immune system any favors. In addition, the average diet is becoming more over-processed, and even some people who were making an effort to be active may be losing the battle, now (either through having to work extra hours or from sheer depression). Also, a lot of it may be stress. Who is not more stressed now than last year? And that does no favors for the immune system either.

Expect to see growing crime—not just violent crimes stemming from the rage and despair (in an environment where alcohol continues to post strong sales)—but also more theft. So much of where the world is now is the result of greed, and from people who stole and cheated big, but there are still a lot of little cheats, and they will be getting grabbier, from ocean piracy to check fraud. This may be somewhat driven by economic necessity, but also we seem to be getting more permissive as a society.
This may not seem like the most pertinent indicator, but marijuana use is becoming really prominent in recently released movies, and it’s being treated as very routine, without their being concerns for it being illegal or killing brain cells. Add sexting, and other trends, and, okay, some people will argue that the moral core has been missing for quite a while, but I think it’s getting worse, and so people and the things that they do will be getting worse.

Weather will continue to be more extreme, and more unpredictable. The last season was really rough on local farmers, and we need to care about them, because the other thing that will happen is fuel costs are going to rise and it will affect everything, including food. When you have cheap fuel, you can get cheap food from all over the world, and the transportation is minimal. That’s not going to last.

Anyway, those are the lowlights. Every now and then I will read something and have a thought, like I think Macao will be swallowed up by the sea, and I’m really curious about the direction that the Catholic Church is taking, what with Pope Benedict restoring indulgences, and pardoning Holocaust-deniers, so I think lots of interesting things will happen, but these are the main trends. Yes, I am sure there will be more natural disasters, but in ways those will almost be a relief from the squalor of regular daily life.

From the December post, I was predicting big calamities around 2012, and then a grace period. Maybe those calamities will shake us out of the economic meltdown much like World War II ended the Great Depression. If there is a need for new construction and repair, and we can work together, you can have a mini-Golden Age before the corruption starts again. Or maybe Christ will just return, and fix things that way. Even if I have a certain amount of pessimism for the moment, my overall belief is that all will be well. Nonetheless, this moment can be very hard. Next time I will write about getting through.

http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2008/12/proposed-timeline-for-apocalypse-3185.html