What are you going to do at the End of the World?

What are you going to do at the End of the World?

GREECE that ancient land of wonder, fountainhead of democracy and ancient glory is today going through a period of chaos, civil strife and agony.

But sympathising and agonising with the Greeks is one thing, but understanding and the reality of how we as societies are little removed from anarchy is another.

When Greece's economy took a plunge, murders and disease rates soared.

 

 

Suicide and murder rates rose from 2007 to 2009, and unusual outbreaks of malaria, West Nile virus and HIV have all taken their toll. The decline in health came as the once robust economy collapsed into recession following the economic crisis of 2007, with unemployment rising from 7.2 per cent in 2008 to 22.6 per cent in early 2012.

Greece took out billions in loans to stave off financial collapse and implemented austerity measures including a major downsizing of the Health Ministry, where spending fell nearly 24 per cent from 2009 to 2011.

For patients, the cuts meant many previously free services now cost them money, and preventive programs were halted.

Among the general population of 11 million people, suicide rates have risen 16 per cent and murders nearly 26 per cent from 2007 to 2009. Meanwhile, deaths from infectious disease increased 13 per cent in those two years.

Among men under 65, who were more likely to face unemployment, the numbers were higher - a 23 per cent higher suicide rate, a 25 per cent rise in murder rate and a 27.6 per cent rise in deaths from infectious diseases. When programs like needle-exchanges for drug users and condoms for at-risk groups were slashed, the disease rates have ballooned.

You only have to look at Syria and much of Africa to see what happens when order and just society is replaced with chaos and disorder. Chaos      

 

 It is a wonder that there is not total chaos and anarchy in the world, if order, morality, and law breaks down then there is total chaos and men do behave (and women) in the brutal barbarity reminiscent of our evolutionary past. Read any account of war or civil strife and you will see this.

In the 1980s war in Uganda it has been reported that up to seventy percent of women in some areas were raped. In the 1971 war in Bangladesh over 250,000 women were raped resulting in over 25, 000 pregnancies. In the 1990s war in the former Yugoslavia over ninety percent of the casualties were civilians. Every war where there is a breakdown in order innocent people mostly women and children are harmed.

 In order for a society to function, there has to be a certain level of trust.  Each day when we leave our homes, we take for granted that most people are not going to attack us for no reason, that there will only be isolated incidents of theft in our community and that rioting and violence are not going to erupt in the streets.   Whether we realize it or not, we depend on the fact that the vast majority of the people around us are going to act in a civilized manner.  There are many that believe that the declining economy is causing a lot of the chaos that we are now witnessing, but perhaps what is going on is that these challenging economic times are simply revealing the character that has been there all along.  For decades, a "false prosperity" fuelled by unprecedented amounts of debt has sustained Europe and America.  But if that prosperity crumbles, what happens to our values?

 In the human fossil and archaeological record there is no good evidence of intense aggression and warfare until very recently, and it is associated with the advent of permanent settlements, agriculture, and social stratification. Increased social inequality and more complex political and economic systems seem to correlate with more types of aggression and violence in human societies. Interestingly, these scenarios also coincide with larger and more complex peaceful relationships amongst and between peoples.

Humans can, and do, engage in a wide variety of aggression. However, aggression is not our primary go to behaviour as successful organisms. There is insufficient evidence to argue that we have evolved a suite of specifically aggressive behaviours to succeed in the world. In fact, it is largely our abilities to get along and to negotiate complex social problems, with and without aggression, that make humans one of the most successful species on this planet.

 

Societies and civilisations that have collapsed or disappeared: (Not in order)

Greek, Minoan, Hindus, roman, Persian, Assyrian, Macedonian, Roman, Mongolian, Hittite, Babylonian, Mayan, Toltec, Mayan, Aztec, Zulu, British Empire, USSR, Easter Island……

What would you do if our society collapsed?

The following links give some ideas.

How to Survive a Breakdown of the Social Order

Top 10 ways to prepare for the total breakdown of society without looking like a (complete) lunatic

But really are you up to it?

Most societies slowly degenerate like the Roman, British and Russian Empires, some have degenerated because of climatic or unsustainable factors like the Hindus and Mayan empires.  Some have collapsed violently: Third Reich, Napoleon French Empire, and Persian Empire being overcome by enemies.

Whichever way it happens it is inevitable, because the only thing permanent is change.

As I have mentioned before (Diary of a Suspended Driver) “What was that Easter Islander thinking as he cut down the last tree on Easter Island all those years ago”?

“I’ll have to prepare for the end of civilisation now”!

Or what did that Mohawk say as his village was wiped out by Small Pox?

Well the whites are here now better adapt!

What is the Australian in his Mc Mansion saying?

Climate change is here, better cut down on fossil fuels and consumables!

Watch a U Tube on the end of the world.

End of the world movies. (Since 2010)

4:44 Last Day on Earth

 Arctic Blast

 The Book of Eli

 The Darkest Hour

 Daybreakers

 The Divide

 Legion

 Maximum Shame

 Melancholia

 Resident Evil: Afterlife

 Resident Evil: Retribution

 Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

 Skyline

 Stake Land

 This Is the End

 Vanishing on 7th Street

 Warm Bodies

 Battle: Los Angeles

 Hell

What are you saying, doing?

Have a nice end of the World!