Relative

Everytime I think about the state of the world, I think we're fucked. Can't help it. It's the way my mind works. I don't think the human race are evil, I just think we're stupid. I read the headlines and a picture of doomsday is painted in my mind.
For example, the headlines on Yahoo right now are:

• Annan Warns of Civil War as Iraq bombs kill scores.
• UN Commander says troops won't disarm Hezbollah.
• Lawyers go to Court for Guantanamo Detainee.
  
• Violence Erupts at Protests in Hungary.
• Stubborn California Wildfire Doubles in Size.

Ignoring, for a second, any issue of press bias, political motivation, corporate agenda, financial interest or any other form of partisan journalism, lets just look at the headlines. It doesn't paint a pretty picture. Foreign wars, religious ideologies, errosion of civil liberties, political strife and natural disasters... and thats just an example.

(What I actually find most terrifying is that I have to suggest a waivering of thoughts about "press bias, political motivation, corporate agenda, financial interest or any other form of partisan journalism" before even talking about this, but thats another subject).

And lest we forget the stories that largely go unreported; the AIDS crisis in Africa, the grossly disproportional profits of Western corporations, the global threat of climate change. There is no mistaking that this is a fragile time for civilisation. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only person who thinks we're fucked... I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who longs for the return of reason and charity to this world... I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who thinks we're fucked.

But are we fucked? This is the first time of global crisis that I have lived through, the first period of civil and political unrest that I've experienced. The world is changing, and not in our favour (be that as either a western civilisation, or as a global populace), and although I have read about such times before, I've never lived through one. That also means I have no frame of reference.

Did it feel this dramatic during the Cuban Missile Crisis? The world truly teeted on the edge of destruction for a few days... or did it? I don't know, I wasn't there, and how do I know that history hasn't exaggerated it? How do I know that the arms race really was that threatening? Should I believe that documentary instead, the one that explained the arms race was just a construct designed to financially cripple an otherwise defunct communist system? I don't know. I wasn't there.

I only have history to use as a reference, and history has taught me that most modern day conflicts are politically motivated and are instigated and controlled by Western governments. Usually in the pursuit of oil. And we always win.

So what's up with the world? Are we really fucked? Are we really going to destroy ourselves this time? Is the earth going to do it for us instead? Have we cried wolf for the last time? Or is this just another period in human history where it's all suggested and implied, and in 20 years we'll look back and laugh? I don't know anymore.

The more I learn, the more I discover it's all a lie... but the more I see, the more I believe it's true. Is this time period just the same as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Arms Race and just another example of our willingness to cocktease the idea of destruction, or is it the real deal?

Either way, I can't shake the feeling that we're being fucked with...