by Tom Kando
We are drowning in politics, in elections, in agendas. The public is incessantly being told what we should worry about. The powerful (and often corrupt) power structure is supported by the media, it brainwashes the populace, tells us what the most important problems are, and how we should devote our energy and our resources. Over the past century or so, Americans have by and large been told to be AFRAID; to protect themselves against, and to fear, the following things:
Communism in the past, Muslim
terrorism now.
Crime, always.
Alcohol in the past, drugs now.
Various countries: Russia in the
past, China, Iran and Arab
countries now.
Nuclear Armageddon.
Foreigners and immigrants.
Racial miscegenation.
Sex.
Epidemics: AIDS in the
past, Ebola now.
The government.
Government surveillance (NSA,
CIA, FBI, etc.).
Wall Street.
Global Warming.
We have been told daily that
these are some of the things which threaten us. The message is clear: Be
afraid!
Also, the things which we must
fear are always prioritized. We are told
which problems are the most important ones, and which ones are less important.
How high or low someone ranks a problem
depends on their politics and their
position in the social structure: Conservative or progressive? Republican or Democratic? Rich or poor? Black or white? Etc.
So here is MY ranking of some of
today’s major social problems. I score these
issues on a ten-point scale, and I rank them from what I consider to be
the most important to what I consider to be NOT important:
Most to Least Important
Problems for Americans to Worry About
|
Score
|
The environment: Global
Warming
|
10
|
The environment: Protect and
preserve the water supply, including the aquifers. Start desalinization
|
10
|
Growing income inequality
|
9.5
|
Increase the minimum wage
|
9.5
|
Universal health care.
Preserve Obamacare
|
9
|
Increase voter participation;
fight Republican poll tax
|
9
|
Racism
|
8.5
|
Violence against women and
children
|
8.5
|
Reproductive rights and
abortion
|
8.5
|
Rebuild our decrepit
infrastructure, including roads, bridges and railroads
|
8
|
Unjust and discriminatory
criminal justice system, which locks up too
many blacks, Hispanics and
poor whites
|
8
|
Improve American education,
especially high schools in the sciences,
foreign languages and
knowledge of the international world
|
8
|
Immigration reform: Allow
"dreamers" to stay
|
8
|
The economy, including more
jobs and better paying jobs
|
7
|
Police brutality and police
killing too many citizens
|
7
|
Develop public transportation/mass
transit
|
7
|
Ebola
|
7
|
Balance the trade deficit
("current accounts")
|
6
|
Relationship with China
|
6
|
Improve our food. Make it
healthier, tastier, more chemical-free and more
environmentally responsible
|
6
|
The federal deficit
|
5
|
Orwellian Big Brother-type
government surveillance (NSA, FBI, CIA)
|
5
|
The killing of Michael Brown
in Ferguson, MO
|
4
|
Gay marriage
|
4
|
Terrorism
|
4
|
LGBT rights
|
3
|
Animal rights
|
2.5
|
Close off the southern border
so as to prevent illegals from entering
|
2
|
ISIS
|
2
|
Ukraine
|
1
|
Benghazi
|
0
|
Here are some more candidates
to add to the list of worries - ad
absurdum:
You score them!
Supermarkets and other
brick-and-mortar stores going out of
business and being replaced by online shopping (E.g Amazon replacing Borders).
Machines, robots, iPhones and electronic technology taking over and
replacing genuine human interaction.
The decline of the humanities in
college and elsewhere.
The decline of art, museums,
symphony orchestras, classical music and
classical culture.
Greed - money and profit
becoming the be-all and end-all.
The decline of US international
prestige.
Soon the US will no longer be
the Number One country.
The US may fail to garner the most Olympic medals, or win
other international contests.
The US could be colonized by China (the yellow peril).
The decline of religion.
The decline of atheism.
A huge asteroid could hit and devastate the earth.
© Tom Kando 2014
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© Tom Kando 2014
8 comments:
A grade 10 for:
"Greed - money and profit becoming the be-all and end-all."
This is the fundamental number one problem that causes all other problems.
Hi Tom:
Your list is very specific, but it doesn't mention the most important thing that we need to worry about: the way we feed ourselves. Our farm practices are one of the major sources of pollution, global warming and loss of habitat. It is also a major source of health related problems.
So, if you include that in the list, it creates a shift in the order of importance of the other problems: health care, water, land and air quality etc.
On the other hand, if you shift the order of importance of some of the items on your list, like 'animal rights', it automatically will change the problems that you HAVE to include in the list.
If human rights had not been on people's radar, slavery would never have been considered a 'problem'. In other words, it works in both directions. Order of importance affects the list and the list affects the order of importance.
But I think I understand your point: problems that fill the front pages, come last on your list.
Hey Tom, this was really thought-provoking, and humorous at the same time. Your last entry, the asteroid, would at least have the advantage of solving all of the other problems at the same time!
Good list. I would put education higher
Thanks for your comments, and your good points.
Note that I do list “food,” to which item I give an “importance” score of 6.
If rational fear is the test, these 2 items should get top media priority. They are more likely to kill us than other items on your list.
Number 1: Road accidents. Crazy speeds, bad roads, distracted drivers, drugged & drunk drivers, bikers (motorized and non) breaking traffic laws, lack of infrastructure for them, e.g. lane space.
Number 2: Mfg'd sugar. Food companies hide behind euphemisms, often using several different kinds of sugar ingredients in the same food. Sugar poisons our systems by clogging our blood capillaries. Our bodies didn't evolve with mfg/saturated sugar. Usage continues to sky-rocket. E.g. wen I was a child we never put sugar in bread dough unless it was for sweet rolls. Now it is almost impossible to buy bread without one or more forms of added sugar. Ditto in almost all mfg and frozen foods. Why? Sweet sells. The horrors of sugar-related deaths -- amputations, kidney failure etc -- should be a media priority, like the horrors of smoking related deaths.
To Naida,
those are important issues indeed.They are both mentioned on my list.
-----A huge asteroid could hit and devastate the earth.
I vote for the asteroid. We don’t have to be responsible for that one. Let’s take the easy way out. (smile)
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