Power and control

Some of the lyrics from the song Människobarn (Human Child) by Dina Ögon keep running through my head, especially in these weird politically-charged times:

What, what, what is it that you care about?

What is it that you care about?

What is it that you care about

When love and freedom turn into power and control?

Why is it that so many people, mostly men, care only about power and control? When you look at world leaders generally, most of them are men. In fact, about 85% of the world's countries are run by men according to online sources. I've got to wonder why. In any case, these lyrics don't specifically mention men, but in my experience it's mostly men who want power and control. It could be in the personal sphere, where they wish to dominate the women and children with whom they live. It could be in the political arena, where power and control give them the freedom to do what they want when they want and how they want. If you take a look at our political leaders, so many of them do just that. They answer to no one, and when they answer to no one, that's when the trouble starts. Many politicians may start out with noble motives and intentions, but so many of them end up corrupted by power. It's not for nothing that the old adage 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' came about to explain how power impacts people. I am not against all aspects of power and control; after all, one needs some amount of power in order to effect change in society. But we are at an extreme at present, where leaders of presumed democracies are allying themselves with dictators and wanna-be dictators. They want to have the unlimited power and control that these dictators have. 

Back in 2016, when Jean and I visited FDR's library/museum in Hyde Park, NY, we ran into an elderly couple who were visiting at the same time as we were. We got to talking about how interesting the library was, and then our conversation turned to politics. At that point (summertime), it was clear that Donald Trump would be the Republican candidate for president. I remember very well what they said to us. 'We have lost our way' (the country has lost its way). They could not envision a country run by Trump, and they were quite nervous about it. That was ten years ago. No one in their right mind could have envisioned what has come to pass in the USA. No one. The president, his staff, his advisers and his followers are invested in the idea that they should have complete power and control. They may not say it outright, but it's what they stand for. Is the USA still a democracy? I hope so, but it doesn't behave like one anymore. This is the new (normalized) order in the political sphere. Europe be damned, other countries who don't like this new development, be damned. The USA will determine the world order, no one else is really invited to the table to discuss the future possibilities. The USA will determine how they think that peace should be achieved, and as far as I can see, it is via war, never a good basis for peace. 

In the personal sphere, women's rights are under attack. It's an insidious attack, backed by conservative religious people (again, mostly men who behave abhorrently) who call themselves Christians (I call them Pharisees) who would like nothing better than that women should 'know' their place and leave the important stuff to men. Women should stay home and have babies. Women should not compete with men in the workplace. Women should subjugate themselves to their husbands/partners, even though there is no good reason for them to do so. This is not the 1950s, where women returned to the home front after serving their nation by working in factories or as nurses and doctors during WWII. Any normal-functioning human being understands that women are not inferior in any way to men. They are their peers, intellectually and otherwise. They may not be as physically strong as men, but they are psychologically stronger in so many ways. But as usual, women's strengths are downplayed in the media and on social media. 

Men are/will be responsible for ruining the world, and if there is another atomic bomb occurrence, it will be the result of male decisions. Power and control. As I have said before, if Jesus Christ came back to this world in the flesh, such men would crucify him all over again. God forbid they should let a man who stands for peace, love and free will to dictate how the rest of us should live. And yet most normal people I know do not behave like the men who only want power and control. Most normal ordinary people want peace and love and free will in their lives. 

You know you are in the presence of men who want to dominate when the talk is only of money, status, prestige, competition, having control, women as 'trophies', and how others should live. Preferably how the women in their lives and women generally should live. How nervous they become when they don't have that control, when women don't abide by 'their' rules. When you look at the number of spouses who are abused or killed, it's mostly women who are abused/killed and the men who are the abusers/killers. Crime shows overwhelmingly depict men as serial killers, as killers generally, and abusers. This is sadly backed up by real statistics. According to the FBI and online sources, the vast majority of killers are male, globally and in the USA, accounting for circa 88% to 90% of all homicides. 

Many of the rights that women enjoy have been fought for during the past century. Let us not return to a time when women were men's property, when they had to 'ask permission' to do what men take for granted that they can do, when they have to turn over their paychecks to their husbands, or when they are not able to work at all. No society is served by denying one gender their basic rights as human beings. We can see the effects of that way of thinking on a global basis. I will never travel to countries where women are legally denied the rights that men enjoy. I will never spend my hard-earned money in such countries. They won't miss me, and I won't miss them. I avoid men who want to dominate others like the plague, and will continue to do so. The word that comes to mind to describe them is 'yuck'. I don't want yuck in my life. 

Of course, there are women who support dominating men, e.g. some women in the media. They are the enablers of the toxic patriarchy. They enable such men in the hope that some of the money and prestige will rub off on them. They are the trophy women in these men's lives. Or the trophy dollies who work the news shows circuit, who make good money as long as they follow the premises laid down by men. Such news shows have to rake in the male viewers and keep them happy with the women's coiffed perfect hair and perfectly made-up faces, tight skirts and heels. These women survive in a men's world as long as they say and do what the men who own the news stations want them to say and do. When there is no longer any use for them, they get fired. These types of women who work for the current administration also end up in the same place--fired. Because the ultimate goal is to rid politics of women, I'm convinced of that. Again, women should know their place, and never ever challenge the male powers that be. Women who buy into this bullshit already know the outcome. They know that they have no real power or control. Supporting a toxic patriarchy is not the way to go in 2026. Such is the stuff that stupidity is made of. 

Reflections on the great divide

This is not going to be a political post, even though the title may sound like one. Rather, it is a post about my reflections on the great divide between humanity and nature and how that came to be. I've been thinking about this since I watched My Octopus Teacher last night on Netflix. 

We learned from when we were very young that humanity has been given dominion over the animal kingdom. The Bible states (in Genesis 1:26) that God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' The question is of course what was originally meant by dominion, and what it means in our modern age.

I think that up through the centuries we have managed to twist the word dominion into domination, which has many more negative connotations. That is a reflection on how the word 'dominate' has been used. If mankind dominates, then what is dominated is subject to the whims and mercy of the dominator. Domination can imply cruelty in order to keep what is dominated in line. It most definitely implies the exercise of power over what is dominated, in this case, the creatures of the earth. It does not necessarily imply respect or kindness. I cannot think of one instance where I have heard the word domination and thought about the implications of domination as positive. I prefer the word dominion, because it implies a world where mankind reigns together with nature, in partnership. I think of the word realm, where mankind and animals can exist side by side. Humans can be the stewards of this realm; the role of a steward is to supervise or to take care of. I like that idea very much because the implications of stewardship are not negative, at least not at first glance. 

But how did we get to the great divide between humanity and the animal kingdom? Is that the result of mankind's fall from grace? If we accept the idea that humans were originally formed in the image and likeness of God, then they were free from sin. They lived happily and blissfully in paradise, which was a garden, the Garden of Eden. What did they need for survival? Probably very little. Did they know death? Probably not. But then something happened to change that. Their life in the Garden went from sinless to blemished. If there were animals and birds and sea life in that garden, and apparently there were according to Genesis, then the perfect relationship with them as companions and as possible providers of some types of food (milk, honey) was also changed, for the worse. Rather than existing side by side in a harmonious relationship, discord set in. I doubt that it was ever the divine intention that mankind should dominate the animal kingdom, should abuse animals, should exert power over them in a cruel way. That is not the way of God. And yet every day, that abuse of power happens somewhere in the world. We treat animals and birds better than we did a century ago, at least in terms of being less 'cruel' where meat production is concerned, but we still have a long way to go, and the question really becomes how to live our lives without being cruel to any other living creature. Of course we must then face the reality of meat consumption and how to tackle that. We overfish the oceans, we imprison fish in circular tanks in the name of fish farming and tell ourselves that they are thriving, we squeeze chickens into cramped quarters (likewise hens for their eggs) and tell ourselves that they don't know any better anyway, we pump livestock (and fish) full of antibiotics and tell ourselves that we're doing it to protect them and us. Someone came up with these ideas and introduced them into meat production and fish farming. The intentions might have originally been good, but at this point it's hard to know for sure. Additionally, we are destroying the habitats for many animals, birds, insects and sea life through deforestation, pollution, and other practices. 

I don't pretend to have any answers. We must simply try to do better each day, each week, each month, each year. But when I watch films like My Octopus Teacher, I realize that I have been given a glimpse of how conditions might have been before mankind's fall from grace, how it all might have been had mankind maintained its peaceful co-existence with animals and birds and sea life. The fact that the octopus trusted the human who visited her each day, and even showed him (unsolicited) affection, has no precedent in my world at least. We are talking about an aquatic creature that had probably never seen a human before. It made the decision to establish physical contact with the man. It trusted him and did so for the year that he visited her. That is probably what paradise would have been like; additionally there would have been no sickness or death. I like to think so at least. If there is a heaven, I can imagine that all of the animals, birds, insects, sea life--all the creatures that we have loved, crossed paths with or had some kind of relationship with (e.g. bees and birds in a garden) are there to greet us and to accompany us as companions in our new life. In fact, if I think about what heaven might actually be, it is a garden, always a garden, filled with flowers, fruit, vegetables, birds, bees, insects and animals of all kinds. But there would have to be a place for octopuses too, after having seen My Octopus Teacher.