Broken Cogs

There are gaps in the cogwheels of Our engine of Progress.

We know this. We can even identify the main ones: education, business development, subsumed economy, brain drain and a few more. But the fundamental broken tooth in Our cogwheel is lack of belief. We don't think We can do it Ourselves.

Lacking this belief, this sense of confidence in Ourselves, We are like a bird with a broken wing. Aside from the mixed metaphors, the perception has evidence to support it: Listen to Our "leaders" so-called solutions and note how many depend on outside forces to make Us change.

Once you glom the tendency to passivity disguised as "solving," you quickly get fed up with the whole process. The consistent underlying or even overt tone, whiny and puling, of "We can't do it Ourselves" is a constant refrain that, in another metaphor, are drops of dirty water eroding Our stones. It has been going on for decades, has increased in the last several years and it simply has to stop.

On a figurative level, I'd appoint a "Whine Police" to vet every public utterance of a political, industrial, commercial or social "leader" so that these instances of "can't-do" get excised before they can pollute Our air. On a practical level, I suggest We start asking "Why not?" every time We meet this foolishness. Not "Why?", because even idiots can make up reasons, but "Why not?", because idiots can't argue that angle without exposing how shallow and useless their stance is.

To benefit Us all, the ideal "Why not?" questioners should be the media, but they fail Us at three levels: (1) Too dumb to really know what's going on; (2) Too scared to stand out for taking a position, even when doing so is the only valid option and (3) Too smug to to see how incompetent they really are.

The secondary questioners should be Our teachers, to lead the coming generations into a better future. But they fail Us at two levels: (1) Dumb as the media; (2) Too lazy to make the effort.

So it boils down to Us, as it almost always does, and We are failing Ourselves at only one level: We don't care. We only pretend We do. We let the media be dumb and cowardly, We let Our teachers be lazy and stupid, because in the end, We can't bring Ourselves to care. Like toddlers in a nursery, so long as there's food, drink, toys and a blankie, We don't care. 

But toddlers have one advantage over Us: They believe they can do anything. Until their teachers, the media--and We--tell them, over and over and over again, that they can't.

The Jenius Has Spoken.