People seek to understand things in the simplest possible terms. Ideology, party loyalty, personal habits of thought and such things as enculturation make things simpler for us day by day by eliminating the excessive decision-making that might otherwise be required. My country, my team, my ideology, my culture, right or wrong (or not). It's easier to think in shorthand. “It's just that simple!” (Please let it be that simple...because it's usually not.)
We all strive to process the world in a way that eases the level of difficulty. Some things we don't want to be bothered with. A person who desperately needs one thing often has little time for other things. We see what we want to see. We pave the way ahead with delusions, both self and other-selected. Striving to make simple the horribly complicated is a perfectly natural drive. It's how we manage. The problem comes when we confuse our simplified short-hand version of reality for reality itself. The practice of Zen is all about this problematic duality.
I've noticed in the conservative mind, that every question has one answer and one answer only. Once you have that singular answer, there is never again any reason to revisit the question. You already have the answer. It's simple. There will be no further cogitation. Some people like to avoid heavy lifting, deep thought or subtlety. There's nothing wrong with that but they need to factor it into their equations. Republicans often remind me of people who like to think small and talk big. They get in a lot of trouble that way, but in the present environment they are rarely fazed by the criticism of sane people. They enjoy the odd and hopefully transient indemnity of the truly fucking crazy. They are often paid millions to go on the national tv.
Some defend the Status Quo, as loathsome as it is, because the alternative could be worse. Please don't do that. Don't fear change. There's nothing we need more. Whatever we do, we're taking our chances in a scary unpredictable world. Everything is a risk. Why not just do the right thing and hope for the best? We could hardly do worse.
As complicated as the world is, it's not hard to see what needs to happen from a global view. A new way of living for starters. One that is sustainable, eco-friendly and benign. One that doesn't pollute or depend on the devastation of the rain-forests, the atmosphere and the landscape - or the pillaging of one's neighbors. One that provides for the needs of humanity, eases suffering and sustains the earth, wind and water.
Our present scorched earth policy regarding planetary rape and human exploitation must end. Somebody must come to the rescue of the earth and its inhabitants. If humanity is worth saving, we need to act like it and step up to all the ecological, humanitarian and existential challenges we face as a species. We need to focus on these matters with the intensity of a thousand splendid suns. This is so much more important than going to the moon ever was, or another bogus war will ever be. We've got to get focused on the right things, and soon. We can't keep doing what we're doing. It can't keep being about the Benjamins and the Bombs. We've got to make it about something else. The survival of the human race works for me.
Renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, preservation of resources, permaculture, agroecology, preserving potable water, getting food, water and medicines to people who need them - all of these things are vital to our future. None of them have received the attention they deserve and, in the absence of any real democracy or any real peace, they won't. The Oligarchs are in our way. They are hell bent on frittering away the future and they don't mind making humanity the losers in their game. They are the only real power left, and they've made it clear that they could not give a flip about humanity. If they have their way, nothing truly important will receive adequate attention and it will become increasingly dangerous to be a dissident, a proponent of peace, or a pro-humanity, pro-earth, anti-global warming or human rights activist. Look what they're doing to our heroic eco-activists, to whom we all owe such a great debt of gratitude. In fact, this is happening as we speak. People who care about the earth are being labeled terrorists. That's alarming. Or is it just me?
UPDATE: courtesy of Cassiodorus. A big shout out to Green Is The New Red