I clearly remember Charlie Lutes, President of the Spiritual Regeneration Movement or TM Movement as it became known, at one of his Los Angeles lectures, stating that there are three basic ideological stances towards The Truth. The first one is that the person is not at all interested in the truth - and will only defer to it as a last resort. The second stance is that The Truth is a good friend or acquaintance, whom you occasionally seek advice from; and the third one is that The Truth matters the most and is the supreme criterion in all endeavors.
Then there's the much bolder, newer fourth stance that has taken America by storm or blitzkrieg even in the 21st century: The Truth is as malleable as Playdough and you can shape it, deny it, and assiduously avoid it at all costs. If necessary, maintain a poker face and employ a steady stream of sophistry and demagoguery. Pernicious lies are doubled down on. Why? Because the media and others will be 'polite,' and in addition to this, the American Public has developed 'intellectual immunity,' and has a near fatal allergic reaction to The Truth as we feel dizzy, and nauseous. Most of us can't handle the truth as the media has been co-opted by the CIA (see Carl Bernstein's book, THE CIA and THE MEDIA) and our arguments have been severely limited in their premises and frames of references to such an extent - that we are not even having the debates that we need to have as a nation.
Doubled over, lying on the floor, The Politic Body has trouble breathing without an Epi Pen being driven by a medic into one of our thighs.
A Republic, however, historically cannot survive without The Truth and with constituents who are more than willing to sacrifice it and their own character for political and/or economic power.
Considering that America is only 248 years old, and as someone who has taught world history at the university level, I can say with much certainty that America, the Republic is a very superficial non-philosophical society, intent only on production and consumption, and our $22 Trillion GNP. Most of us should realize that we have had a 30-year perceptual lag in addressing The Greenhouse Effect as a populace. Realizing this profound egregiousness, which has led us to The Sixth Extinction, we should be asking ourselves what truths are we missing now? What
are we failing to respond to and if we were to plan for the worst case scenario, what would that look like?
Lastly, how many hundreds of millions will inevitably die - even more importantly, if we analyze the Republican and Democratic platforms?
Perhaps, our many important questions for presidential candidates, if we viewed the Brett Baier-Kamal Harris interview fiasco, aren't even
being legitimately asked.
If we look at the statistics, much evidentiary proof, and the latest science, we are missing these very hard truths that politicians and business people, and the media in general need to adamantly and immediately report: 1) The Greenhouse Effect is a guarantee and it will last ten thousand to four hundred thousand years with CO2 reaching the tipping point of 500 p.p.m. soon; 2) We should come to a new consensus now that the only thing that will save us is: Geo Engineering and we presently lack the technology to effectively do this: 3) This century will see, at least, 1 billion deaths, and as result, we should measure in real time The Greenhouse Effect as relatively simple mathematical equations that the common layperson can understand. The most important criterion is that the four engines of the Greenhouse Effect happen to be the Chinese and American economies, and the European and Indian economies. We should add/subtract to this basic changing figure with everyone trying to brainstorm carbon reductions and captured emissions; 4) By 2050, according to the UN's own report, 1 billion to 200 million people will be migrating across the world due to climate change; 5) China, America, Western Europe and India should develop highly effective and exportable modules for political stabilization, the economy and a shifting of jobs, training, worldwide internet education, and the creation of housing and other 'livingry' through 3D-printing, etc.; 6) A Science and Art of Human Development, an interdisciplinary approach combining bio technology, neurology, nanotechnology, quantum computing, psychiatry, and other advancements, so that people can live 150-200 years and can begin tapping into more than the proverbial 5% of the brain, finally, activating the innate genius of man; 7) Create a central location so that the entire world and its people, school children, and college students can be creative and problem-solve our world and national crises in real time; and yes, we should list the forecasted number of casualties of our short-sighted views with intentions of immediate reduction.
Why?
Won't these 'facts' create social instability?
Yes, they will. But after we get over it, we could go about creating a much more human-centric society and move towards a Star Trek-like existence in the 22nd century instead of the various dystopian forms of government that will inevitably lead to a Bastille Day.
Right now, most of us are playing an entrenched game called: The Greatest Charades as we view our problems as technological challenges instead of as a classic case of arrested development and a myriad number of character flaws.
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