Falling down

 "The future has arrived.  It's just not evenly distributed yet." - William Gibson, Science Fiction Author - December 2003.

 I'm going to paraphrase William Gibson, and I suspect that he might very well be OK with this. 

"The collapse has arrived.  It's just not evenly distributed yet." 

In spite of what readers might perceive, I love my fellow human beings... We are sheep - stupid.  Easily swayed and mislead by those in power - to buy ridiculous stuff and believe ridiculous things.  But when the dust settles, we are still one family - undeservedly, we are all still the redeemed children of God.  This is why it's so discouraging to see us blaming one another for the circumstances that some of us find ourselves trapped in.  If you have ever been around sheep, you understand human nature.  This is us!

This is not to say that our behavior is above criticism - far from it.  Healthy criticism and solid leadership should encourage people to change for the better.

 I read an article recently that brought home how far we've fallen as a society.   Please read this article.  Please!  It's here.  Now... think about where you live, and whether this might be near you (it is). "Collapse is just a series of ordinary days in between extraordinary bullshit, with most of it happening to someone else. That's all it is."

Now, watch this video, as a Los Angeles local matter-of-factly describes conditions in Skid Row, noting several times "how much better" it currently is than it used to be.  I was struck by the juxtaposition of expensive vehicles parked next to dome tents and homeless people. 

This sort of thing isn't exclusive to Skid Row, as readers are well aware.

I'm old enough to remember a time when people didn't live and die in the streets - and how abnormal this situation is.  Back in those days, the US *also* had crime, poverty, drugs, alcohol, and mental illness - and yet society somehow was able to handle those issues without creating in-your-face third-world conditions. 

These scenes are stuff that that you would expect to see in some of the poorest countries in the world - yet they are right here in the 'wealthiest country in the world'...  How then should we define "wealthiest"?  'Wealthy' in what way, exactly?  In the ability to visit a doctor, obtain mental healthcare, find housing, get a quality job, be free from crime?

 This troubling explosion of social illness is a *recent* thing - and we ignore that.  We also blame the *victims* who are deeply submerged in it, while forgetting that things have not always been this way.  What changed?  Once upon a time, these (deplorable) people might have been employed.  Possibly in places like these:

An intentionally abandoned steel mill in Pittsburgh

An office complex or factory (location unknown)

A textile and clothing factory (location unknown)

A massive textile mill in Minneapolis - textiles now are done elsewhere - so the jobs are now elsewhere.

You can find places like these, and many more, at Abandoned America, if you have the stomach to see how much our country and livelihoods have deteriorated in the past decades.  A part-time job at the window of Del Taco cannot replace these jobs - If you think so, you are part of the problem.  The high-water mark for the US happened long ago when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

Furthermore:  In the past, when people were mentally ill, they might have been inpatients (or out-patients) at a state-run hospital.  The psychiatric treatment may have been medieval at times, but in those days at least someone would have provided these people with shelter - or they would have somehow held on to a middle-class job.  

Government and business have intentionally sent tens of millions of jobs overseas, and this is just one of the results - but hey, a few well-connected people got wealthier, so it's all good!