What’s the world coming to?

Enough about coffee, more serious matters now engage me! Was listening to a conversation at my hairdresser’s –  the theme had moved to the state of British society these days. Heard about a man on the Underground who tasered a guy trying to rob him! My (British) hairdresser said that sort of thing was why they moved to NZ – not only only the robbery and assaults scenario, but that it’s become a society where people feel the need to, and do, carry weapons for self-defence.  I had images from Bladerunner in my head – we are now in the dystopian future! Doesn’t matter that the UK is thousands of kilometres away – we’re such a small global community really, that we have to be concerned, and there’s plenty else in NZ to concern us anyway.  Is the global Dystopia inevitable? I think we’re well on the way, and there’s much that contributes. This ties in to other stuff I’ve been thinking about – religion, increasing inequality, greed, great wealth, social justice and injustice. (In a Dystopia “social justice” would be an foreign concept).

Since I burst into online print recently about matters Christian (NZ Herald, Opinion, July sometime), I’ve been thinking more about Christianity, and religion generally. I’m not religious, and feel concerned about the numbers of people who still buy into the supernatural aspects of the Christian story (and other religions). But I did get to wondering if  concern for the welfare of others, which has been an element of human life in various forms over many centuries, exists because religions taught us to care.   Unsure whether or not religions other than Christianity do  teach social justice, I Googled Judaism and Islam, and, from a cursory glance, Wiki told me that they do. Would we have concern for our fellows and try to assist the less-fortunate even if religions never existed?  In my own values system is included the concept that societies should take care of their members in need. And beyond that:  free health-care and education for all; decent pay for all work; accessible, decent low-cost housing, as well as reasonably-priced basic amenities such as food, power, water. I may not be religious, but I have grown up in a society permeated by Christian thinking and practice.  I don’t really have a take on whether or not the concept and practice of social justice would have arisen in human societies if religions had never existed. There are probably scholars who have looked into this, and I’d like to know the conclusions they may have reached.

But in this time of increasing inequality of wealth it seems that social justice – all those things listed above, and more – is a diminishing thing, at least in the societies of the western world. Is this related to the diminishing influence of Christianity? I’d like to think not.  However they originated, there does exist a scale of values held by non-religious as well as religious citizens, including care and concern for your fellows. But what has happened to the practice of these social justice values across societies, as reflected in the laws and practices of governments?  It’s obvious that “social justice” has become far less valued in recent years by those in power, and the wealthy (who include the aforementioned, of course).

An article enitiled “The Age of Inequality” in the 28 July edition of New Scientist magazine, includes the following observations about the rich living different lives from the rest of us – different neighbourhoods, schools etc. When they “pay directly for necessary services in their lives, they become less willing to spend tax money on everyone else, which begins to erode public services and creates a hierarchy of quality”……  “a service for the poor is a poor service”.  (p45)  As another writer, John Lanchester notes in his book “Whoops!”  “The rich are always listened to more than the poor” (p13). Lanchester provides a very interesting discourse about why and how the rich grew (obscenely) richer in the last couple or three decades, and why at the same time such concepts as “equality” and “fairness” started losing ground.

To round off, I return to my starting place – dystopia now? Values, equality/inequality, wealth, greed etc? It’s all connected, I believe.  I spotted a book called something like “Why Equality is Better for All of Us”. Decided not to buy it, bogged down with other reading at the mo, but I bet it’s thesis goes something along the lines of …… “access to life’s necessities, plus a little extra, keeps everybody happy, you get less crime, fewer problems, etc etc.”  In other words, nobody foments revolution -“Eat the rich!”- when they’re basically doing okay.

That leads me to thinking about why we aren’t having a revolution about all the increasing inequality and it’s dire outcomes for large sections of societies. I have lots of thoughts about it – but they’re for another day, another blog.