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What Imperial March?

September 20, 2016 ~ Filed Under: Dude Testaments

By Rev. Colin Flahive

Bad NewsEach time I open my laptop in the morning and click on Google News, Huffington Post, Fox News or any other media source, my internal music catalogue summons John Williams’ Imperial March to play in sync with each morbid headline. “Active Shooter.” “Drone Strike.” “Terrorist Plot.” “Mass Shooting.” These phrases are all such a part of the headline lexicon now that I can’t help but think Darth Vader is laughing at us from his grave.

I scramble from news source to news source hoping to find something that doesn’t make me want to shit my pants before even having my first morning coffee. But is the world really such a dangerous place? Have we really screwed things up that bad?

NO.

damn kidsWe humans have always been pretty lousy at running this planet. But hindsight tends to be a bit more rosy and full of sunshine than the present and we can’t help but think that everything was better way back when. Pandemics of generational discrimination spread like cranky wildfire. Symptoms may include longing for times past and the shaking of clenched fists while complaining about those “damn kids these days and their crappy music.”

NOT REALLY.

We just have so much more access to information (and disinformation) these days. We demand entertainment and media outlets respond with every fucked up story that they can get their hands on. You can’t really blame them, because it’s us who are so obsessed with the worst of society. The best is far too boring. If every household was equipped with a live streaming camera feed for everyone to watch, we’d all be glued to the most dysfunctional families. Flower vases getting tossed across the room will get more viewers than sensible conversations around the dinner table.

OH FUCK.

Imperial MarchYes, grab a quick cocktail, take a deep breath and go on and shit your pants. The world is on fire and it’s time to stock up on creamed corn and build that underground cellar that you’ve had on your to-do list for the last decade.

I tend to shy away from the “Oh Fuck” option, not because I’m an optimist or anything, it just kind of seems like a waste of time and I really hate digging. Moreover, it’s total bullshit. Humans have never had it so good. Just about every generation before us had it harder than we do.

There is no denying the fact that ISIS is fucking scary. But they’ve got us scared so shitless that there is nothing left to deposit in our communal pants.

Methinks we need a bit of historical context.

Let’s examine the American Civil War for starters. More American soldiers died in this war than all other wars combined. Somewhere between 600,000 and 800,000 soldiers died over the course of this war. That comes down to about one soldier dying about every three minutes for four years straight. (Uncle Sam is wagging a long frostbitten finger in our faces while calling us “whiny fuckers.”)

How about World War II? Poland alone lost about 6 million people, 17 percent of their population. Russian and Ukrainian deaths topped more than 20 million meaning that about one out of every eight people in those countries died due to the war. Some historians put the total war-related death count as high as 80 million. Over the course of the six year war that comes to one death every two or three seconds.

Old AgePrior to Columbus, the population of natives in the Americas was anywhere from 20 to 100 million people as there are not enough records for accurate estimates. What is known is that disease wiped out about 90 percent of those populations.

Deaths from the Black Death in the 14th Century might have numbered as high as 200 million.

I’m not trying to bum you out but context is the only way to show how lucky we all are. Even though we currently live in a constant state of panic and paranoia, life is pretty damn chill for the majority of humans right now relative to those who came before us.

“What about violence in the Middle East or North and West Africa?” you ask.

“What about endemic racism, discrimination and bigotry?” you protest.

“What about the return of fascism, demagoguery and despots?” you scream.

Well yeah, that shit all sucks. It really really sucks. We should probably do something about it. But none of that changes the fact that human life right now on our planet is on average safer and healthier than at any other time in human history.

keep calmSo sure, it’s entertaining to get all riled up about the Trumpocalypse and the Brexitastrophy. And yeah, it feels like we’ve taken some sort of wrong turn down a dark, scary alley possibly filled with racist, homophobic, totalitarian jihadists. But considering that only a few years ago one in four Americans thought Obama was the actual antichrist, is it possible that we are hyping things up a bit more for entertainment’s sake?

There is no question that we should be better humans than we are. But we are still just people, flawed like any species. We’re really not much more than apes with Twitter accounts and fancy haircuts. And I suppose we should at least be proud that we’ve evolved to a point where we can hurl harsh tweets at each other instead of feces every time we get angry.

“But wait, what about the environment?” you might ask.

Okay, sure, let’s talk about that… even if it’s not nearly as entertaining as all that other shit.

DoomedSo the climate is changing, and with every passing day we add a little more CO2 to the air to warm things up a bit. And yeah, our natural resources are running out and our water supplies are dwindling. Sure, we’ve left behind more waste and pollution than future generations will ever be able to deal with and sea levels are rising to a point where mass migration might prove to be one of humanity’s greatest social challenges.

When it comes to the environment… um, hmm, well, er, I guess… yeah, good luck with all that. I’m not sure that shitting your pants will actually help anything, but maybe we can convert all of our pants into some sort of eco-friendly biofuel.

Rev. Colin Flahive is the author of Great Leaps and When the Cuckoo Calls, both available for download on Amazon.

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Comments

  1. Rev. C Brown says

    September 20, 2016 at 12:48 pm

    Look, dude, technically those ISIS guys aren’t jihadists. Jihadist implies Islam, and all the real Muslims want to stay as far away from that shit as they can. It’s a deliberate misinterpretation of a small aspect of their beliefs. I’m not trying to scam anyone here, that’s just how I see it.

  2. Phelps says

    September 20, 2016 at 9:44 pm

    This election is easy for me. Trump is Walter, and Hillary is the Big Lebowski.

    I’ll take the guy who is loud and violent but is on my side over the rich fraud who sets up a charity to embezzle from little needy orphans.

  3. The Venerable Bill says

    September 21, 2016 at 2:38 am

    For a brief period from the late ’70s to 2001, most of the world felt pretty safe – yes there were a few local fuck-ups, Sri Lanka, the Russians in Afghanistan, freedom movements in Central and South America, The Balkans and so on but these didn’t really affect how we felt – they were a long way away. In the 1950s and 60s, kids felt secure – if you were naughty a cop might clip you round the ear but he wouldn’t shoot a full clip into you. Hell if you were British (I am) the world was incredibly safe (apart from Northern Ireland and the odd bombing campaign by the IRA)………..So actually, in reality, not much has changed apart from 24 hour news and the aftermath of the Blair / Bush fuck-up in Iraq.

  4. Josh says

    September 27, 2016 at 11:36 pm

    Phelps, you just won the Internet with that comment and gave me the only decent argument I’ve heard for voting for Trump. Thank you. I really really hate Hilary Clinton.

  5. Shades says

    October 3, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    Why take the left nut or the right nut when you can have the Johnson?

    Johnson/Weld 2016 baby!

  6. Father Leviathon says

    December 3, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    If Trump is Walter and Hillary is the Big Lebowski, then the Dude is most obviously Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately, that rug got pissed on by some angry nihilists (the DNC) and now we getting cremation ashes thrown in our face. Thanks a lot, Walter.

  7. Phelps says

    December 3, 2016 at 10:55 pm

    Bernie is more like Bunny. It seemed like he was involved, but he was really just an excuse for the Big Clintowski to embezzle even more money. Jill Stein seems to be taking on the role of the Nihilists with the recount.

    Let’s face it, America is the Dude.

  8. dreali says

    December 28, 2016 at 11:51 am

    First thing I’ve read this week that had a calming effect on me thanks.

  9. Rev. Favor says

    February 6, 2017 at 8:17 pm

    I feel we have rolled out of the speeding car…(America), and the Uzi is the media and rounds are flying everywhere. The chill is real but people are scared and don’t know how to chill man.

  10. Joseph D. Smith says

    February 12, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    It’s all in the perspective, man. Change that and you will learn to love the world again.

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