Terry Bell from South Africa: Facing the real state of nations
THIS week will bring
us another State of the Nation address and, like its predecessors, it will
probably be best remembered for the fashion parade on Parliament’s red carpet. But there will also be
the usual post speech analysis of what will probably be seen as both a populist
and denialist Sona, peppered perhaps with a few dubious claims about unity and
progress.
We should expect
nothing more. After all, we live in a time of uncertainty; a time of
“alternative facts” were truth has become nothing more than a factor in verbal
spin. This is also a time when the poison of nationalism seeps into every fibre
of the social fabric, starting to rot what it cannot calcify.
But this is a global
phenomenon as demagogues and ambitious populists jockey for power with
politicians desperate to cling on to challenged authority; when most corporate
media acts largely as a channel for a torrent of mis-, dis-, and often
corrupted information, presented in the most titillating and entertaining
fashion.
No wonder so many people are confused, frustrated and pathologically angry; why so many choose to seek refuge in sullen apathy that all too often hovers on the brink of destructive nihilism. And when blind rage erupts, it is little wonder that schools, clinics, libraries - anything vaguely representing authority - goes up in smoke. All of this is evidence of a systemic problem, of an economic system gone haywire because of technological advances trapped within a social and political system of elite control that cannot cope. The only way to maintain the present system is to bring the planet to the brink of destruction while causing the most horrendous suffering for most of humanity.
This is a dystopian
vision, and it is one that has been warned about for many years. But it will
not be dealt with in Parliament this week. Nor at any political rally in the
name of 'the people'. Yet the reality, especially in South Africa, with our
massive social and economic inequalities and frightening joblessness, is
staring us in the face. If we want to look for
warnings of what might lie in store, we can go back to 1949 and the stark -
and, at the time, ignored - picture painted by the father of cybernetics,
Norbert Wiener. Or we can look to literature, to the 1932 classic by Aldous
Huxley, Brave New World, and the incredibly perceptive short story, The Machine
Stops, by E. M. Forster, published in 1909. And, of course, there are the the
projections made in 1848 by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.
These are a few of the
sources that deal with ideas related to technological developments and the
possible consequences of their application; they are what every individual, let
alone politicians claiming to address the state of their nations, should be
addressing. But, as in Forster’s story, we are encouraged not to think, at
least not too deeply or critically. And a media maelstrom increasingly dulls
our senses and provides predigested thinking that we are expected only to
consume.
Needed: accurate
information and clear analysis: In these
circumstances, those with the mandate to be the eyes and ears of populations at
large - journalists - have a particular responsibility to cut through this mass
of obfuscation and political filth to expose underlying realities: verifiable
facts that should present a picture as close to truth as possible. Only with
such accurate information and clear analysis of possible consequences, can
people make informed decisions about what should be done and about the way
forward.
The early computer
company giant IBM once proudly boasted a one-word slogan: THINK. And that is
what we should all do - and be encouraged to do. But our thinking should be
without preconditioning, fear or favour, based only on the premises that all
human life has equal value and that the planet that is our home must be treated
with respect and utmost care. Only then will it be possible to truly grasp what
is the real state of any nation. And we should not look
to politicians to provide any answers. For the most part, they have a vested
interest in a status quo that is increasingly enriching the few while most of humanity
faces the prospect of redundancy. Together, people everywhere need to
understand the systemic disaster we face and act to avert it. If we
don’t, the future for generations to come is almost too horrible to
contemplate.
Terry Bell is a Fin24 columnist and veteran
labour analyst. Follow him on twitter @telbelsa.
http://www.fin24.com/Opinion/facing-the-real-state-of-nations-20170207see also
