It's a different kind of stress, I guess. Before the stress was whether or not you could get enough to eat, or the labor was hard/tiring. Now I think more people are stressed because they worry about whether their job is going to be obsolete in five years (older folks), or whether or not society will still be functioning by the time they start thinking about staring a family (younger folks). It's just the general stresses of life.
I'm glad that people are leaving poverty, but that introduces other issues that aren't being discussed as widely and as seriously as they should be; such as - to what standard of living are they hoping to attain? What standard of living are current "first world" nations expecting to stay at?
I hear a lot of arguments that say people in countries like the US or Europe would be unwilling to give up what they have and lead a less...saturated life. I don't really agree with that. I know that many people of the younger generations didn't really grow up knowing the same excesses of their parents; I don't think any of them really expect that. I know many young people don't expect to be in a unionized job when they finish schooling, as a major difference between the generations.
There should be more of a dialogue about what people in the West are willing to give up to avoid the wars and destruction that I think would come from them abjectly holding onto many of the things they honestly don't need anymore. In talking about the US; do we really need these massive houses (for those who have not been foreclosed upon)? Two cars per family? Five supermarkets within ten minutes walking distance from each other, all stocked with enough food each to feed an entire village in Africa for three weeks?
There seems to be this notion, at least in Washington and other capitals, that there would be rioting in the streets or terrible consequences if people in the West have to start cutting back. I think in reality it's more like people would complain, but get used to it, and indeed, maybe even enjoy a life less consumed by mindless consumption of junk and spending of currency. It's not like video games will stop being made, or no new episodes of your favorite TV shows will be created. We will still have many of the comforts of modern life; just maybe not as on-demand as we would like. People would have to plan more and maybe stock up food during the growing seasons. It's not that big of a deal; we've done it for thousands of years. The idea that you can get fresh apples in January is a relatively new one. Local cuisines and life will come back, as people adapt to the changing situation.
To bring this around to the topic of peace; without compromise, on both sides, it won't really happen. The US and other first world countries still have the power to enforce their will upon others, but the longer they keep it up, the more drastic the fall will be. The longer we put off making changes, the worse it will be for us when we eventually have to make them. I hope that we do not go to war, indeed, I don't even think another major world war will happen, to be honest; the world just does not have the resources nor I think the will for it anymore. What I am hoping to avoid is further bloodshed on both sides, that comes from the many small conflicts that leaders of nations so inevitably involve their lands in to protect what they think is "right" for them.
So I guess the big question is, what do we do with this new world that we have inherited? I would also like to bring back the idea of bringing these discussions into the real world; rather than keeping these very real, very well-thought-out posts by all of us involved as just some sort of placebo or echo chamber, why are we not acting on these things? Spreading these discussions to our friends, family, and anyone who will listen?
I chuckle with amusement at those meme images "the internet is here", but really...I chuckle only at the content, not so much the message. Like I said; individual communities given physical shape, or perhaps taking the internet as a whole and coordinating between different websites. Many of the old ways of doing things aren't working at best, or are causing more problems at worst. I have always thought that if the world needs something different, then it would have to change the way it changes things.
