Maybe it's just me, I'm not sure. Am I the one that isn't thinking straight or has the world gone insane?
Say what you like about the Cold War, it had it's uses and we benefited from most of them. War, whether it be a physical or ethereal one, sparks creativity and technological advancement. Without war, we seem to stagnate.
An example. Prior to the first World War, aircraft were either balloons or wood and fabric contraptions that had a habit of succumbing to gravity - at high speeds - resulting in an unfortunate death. Some 30 years later and two World Wars, we had advanced onto jet turbines and liquid fueled rockets! Fast forward over sixty years and we are still using the same technology albeit more refined! The only supersonic passenger plane that was in service during the 1970s is no more and us mere mortals can no longer travel faster than sound.
The Cold War encouraged more development, especially in Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). The offshoot from this was the Space Race in which the USA and the Soviet Union competed against each other in a game of oneupmanship. This resulted in man landing on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, however, man hasn't been back to the moon, in fact, man hasn't even left earth orbit. The development of the Space Shuttle hinted at the possibility of space travel, but ended up being scrapped as of this year. We are now going back to the old rockets.
There have been other leaps in technology. Computing, photography, biology to name a few, but the basis of their advancement was based in conflict. Fighting each other appears to give greater momentum to the development of more technologically advanced equipment. Once the threat is reduced, the momentum slows and in some cases, we seem to take a step backwards.
Not only is the lack of threat slowing progress, the new rules and restrictions placed upon us by people who have nothing better to do have reduced the speed of progress to a snails pace. Health and Safety has to be one of the most ridiculous creations that mankind has come up with. How on earth were they approved to begin with is beyond me. These rules which restrict us are rigorously enforced when appropriate and then thrown away when not. They may have been created with good intentions but they have become a cancer that eats away at advancement and productivity.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has become a much more dangerous place. The deluded and naive leaders of the world believed that a new era of peace and whatever had come. In fact, the complete opposite has happened. It is more dangerous now than it ever was in the 1960s. This century, although only just begun, has seen death and destruction which is beginning to rival that of the previous century and we haven't had any world wars! It's like a madness has overcome people and they are fighting for no apparent reason.
As I type this, people are dying all over the globe and the vaunted United Nations does nothing to alleviate it apart from spouting more rhetoric than a right wing rally. This impotent collection of politicians watch as hundreds of people die and do nothing. Why? What does it take before they do something? Or is the fact that a country has to have oil or some other natural resource before they even consider intervention. The atrocities in North Africa and Sub Sahara have all but been ignored. They obviously weren't important enough for the UN. Enough said.
The majority of people live in a cocoon. Most of the younger generation have no understanding about the turmoil in the world. Most don't care. Why should they? It doesn't affect them. Until it spreads and then suddenly there is astonishment and cries of 'why did this happen' and 'where was the government'. All the while, those that were watching the unrest, procrastinate and wonder what should be done.
The human race had better wake up. This global insanity has to stop. But it won't. No matter what is said, done, written or broadcasted, nothing is going to change. Not until the next big war. And that's the point to this article. It's only in war that the human race shows it's greatest compassion and it's greatest evil. It's madness but unfortunately true. I dread to think what the next world war would be like and whether there would be any survivors? It appears that all paths lead to our future extinction at our own hands. Yes, it's an extreme view, but remove all the inconsequential noise and look hard at what is happening.
Look harder and you may begin to understand what I mean.
Horrible, isn't it?
Say what you like about the Cold War, it had it's uses and we benefited from most of them. War, whether it be a physical or ethereal one, sparks creativity and technological advancement. Without war, we seem to stagnate.
An example. Prior to the first World War, aircraft were either balloons or wood and fabric contraptions that had a habit of succumbing to gravity - at high speeds - resulting in an unfortunate death. Some 30 years later and two World Wars, we had advanced onto jet turbines and liquid fueled rockets! Fast forward over sixty years and we are still using the same technology albeit more refined! The only supersonic passenger plane that was in service during the 1970s is no more and us mere mortals can no longer travel faster than sound.
The Cold War encouraged more development, especially in Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). The offshoot from this was the Space Race in which the USA and the Soviet Union competed against each other in a game of oneupmanship. This resulted in man landing on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, however, man hasn't been back to the moon, in fact, man hasn't even left earth orbit. The development of the Space Shuttle hinted at the possibility of space travel, but ended up being scrapped as of this year. We are now going back to the old rockets.
There have been other leaps in technology. Computing, photography, biology to name a few, but the basis of their advancement was based in conflict. Fighting each other appears to give greater momentum to the development of more technologically advanced equipment. Once the threat is reduced, the momentum slows and in some cases, we seem to take a step backwards.
Not only is the lack of threat slowing progress, the new rules and restrictions placed upon us by people who have nothing better to do have reduced the speed of progress to a snails pace. Health and Safety has to be one of the most ridiculous creations that mankind has come up with. How on earth were they approved to begin with is beyond me. These rules which restrict us are rigorously enforced when appropriate and then thrown away when not. They may have been created with good intentions but they have become a cancer that eats away at advancement and productivity.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has become a much more dangerous place. The deluded and naive leaders of the world believed that a new era of peace and whatever had come. In fact, the complete opposite has happened. It is more dangerous now than it ever was in the 1960s. This century, although only just begun, has seen death and destruction which is beginning to rival that of the previous century and we haven't had any world wars! It's like a madness has overcome people and they are fighting for no apparent reason.
As I type this, people are dying all over the globe and the vaunted United Nations does nothing to alleviate it apart from spouting more rhetoric than a right wing rally. This impotent collection of politicians watch as hundreds of people die and do nothing. Why? What does it take before they do something? Or is the fact that a country has to have oil or some other natural resource before they even consider intervention. The atrocities in North Africa and Sub Sahara have all but been ignored. They obviously weren't important enough for the UN. Enough said.
The majority of people live in a cocoon. Most of the younger generation have no understanding about the turmoil in the world. Most don't care. Why should they? It doesn't affect them. Until it spreads and then suddenly there is astonishment and cries of 'why did this happen' and 'where was the government'. All the while, those that were watching the unrest, procrastinate and wonder what should be done.
The human race had better wake up. This global insanity has to stop. But it won't. No matter what is said, done, written or broadcasted, nothing is going to change. Not until the next big war. And that's the point to this article. It's only in war that the human race shows it's greatest compassion and it's greatest evil. It's madness but unfortunately true. I dread to think what the next world war would be like and whether there would be any survivors? It appears that all paths lead to our future extinction at our own hands. Yes, it's an extreme view, but remove all the inconsequential noise and look hard at what is happening.
Look harder and you may begin to understand what I mean.
Horrible, isn't it?
