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What has changed?

A powerful song written 43 years ago. Four decades, and still..... nothing has changed.

[media=https://youtu.be/3a1hvwLJ9Jk]

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”

– Aldous Huxley, (1894-1963) philosopher and writer


By failing to comprehend the relationship of the past with the present, we run the risk of repeating history. Ignorance is bliss, some say, it can also be fatal.


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@LilMissAnonyMOUSE thank you for Best Comment
@BlueGreenGrey You're welcome😊

I agree, child mortality has decreased, and HIV, while unfortunately still around, now allows a longer life expectancy with its required medication. However, I think poverty is increasing as the cost of living has skyrocketed, compounded by the global crisis of the last few years because many businesses closed, people lost jobs, and therefore, with no income, many have lost their homes. A friend of mine who lives in New York recently went to L.A for a vacation, and she told me she was appalled at the number of homeless people living on sidewalks and under bridges, in extreme contrast to the multi-million dollar palatial homes not too far away. This is also happening in other countries where poverty is rising and where also, the use of drugs as a means to palliate depression eventually spirals into addiction, making it hard for many to escape the deep hole they find themselves in. Add social rejection and lack of treatment, crimes increase and so a vicious cycle is created.

This song impacted me when I heard it years ago and it still does today. If I were to make a new video of it, some images could be easily replaced with current personalities and situations/conflicts. One example is the case of the Colombian political hopeful who was gunned down 2 days ago by a 15-year-old boy; a child with a gun and a mind with a distorted view of reality. Or of the shooting in an Austrian school this morning by what they think is a student, claiming the lives of 8 people. Drugs, guns and the influence of twisted ideologies are ticking time bombs waiting to explode. Sadly, news likes these becomes something that no longer shock some people, desensitized by many others that have happened in the last 3 decades.

It is indeed in our hands to change things but only through joining hands can this be possible...not through riots or killings, but applying the power of the masses, called ''People's Power''. It's not that we refuse to do so, it's because they are erasing from our minds the rights we have. We should never forget that the will of the people is sovereign over a minority of tyrants. Popular Sovereignty is defined as follows, ''Popular sovereignty is government based on consent of the people. The government’s source of authority is the people, and its power is not legitimate if it disregards the will of the people. A government established by free choice of the people is expected to serve the people, who have sovereignty, or supreme power.'' That's how things should be, instead of being controlled and manipulated by powerful and corrupt individuals to serve their personal agendas.

Yes, the only relation the fascists had and have with Aldous Huxley's writings is in direct relation to his writing the book'' Brave New World'', a cautionary tale that warns people of the dangerous consequence of a totalitarian power that controls people using their argument of stability and national security, promising a utopian world( their kind) and where they exploit the power of science and technology to establish its supremacy over its citizens. This is the ideology of fascism. ...world dominance, something Huxley was warning us about.

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”

This Huxley quote I had selected, much like art, can be interpreted in different ways; to fascists, it is convenient to forget the past, deliberately misconstruing Huxley's words to brainwash us to focus on the future instead, with their promise of peace, advancement, prosperity and happiness through a ''well-controlled'' environment. Huxley, on the other hand, wrote his book to warn us that it is NOT science and technology that are the culprit or manipulates the citizens, but the World State that uses them to establish their ideology of totalitarianism in all aspects of people's lives... but people, with this irrational human condition we have of being easily impressed by progress and the promise of making things easier for us, tend to believe the intentions are benevolent. I interpret what he said in the quote as: The most important lesson that history has taught us is that we have not learned the lessons of history.....lessons that are so important to learn because by not acknowledging the past, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Some would say Huxley's words could be a variation of what philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) said, ''History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.”, also attributed to theologian Søren Kierkegaard. In essence, history is a good source of lessons and information that need to be learned to not trip over the same stone twice.

Thanks to you as well for sharing your thoughts about it. I appreciate it when a post is not only read but when people share their impressions and ideas, a real interaction between members that makes one feel that posting is worth the effort and worthwhile☺
@LilMissAnonyMOUSE indeed, maintaining any progress made is a constant responsibility, any given trend toward progress such as decreasing poverty can easily be fragile and vulnerable to reversal, as sadly without any quantum leaps in human evolution, competing forces like greed are ever-present and never ceasing to apply pressure to return to the very past from which the greedy did not learn.

Your posting is very much worth the effort my dear friend 🤗

Somehow I've never heard this before.

What in particular sparked you to post this? There's a lot of tragedy right now. I can't keep up.
@SinlessOnslaught

Exactly that. ...a lot of tragedy happening and they're all over the news and you know that tomorrow when you watch the news again, it's going to be pretty much the same and that the only thing that's positive is the weather forecast. I wondered about the causes and if they could all have been prevented,the wars, all kinds of violence and I realized, yes...if only we know how to remove hate, envy and greed in the hearts of humans. It is hard to keep up. It's an angry world we live in; it has been for decades now, with hardly anything changing. All we can do is hope that things will get better.
SparkleLeaf · 51-55, T
[media=https://youtu.be/0Z26XJbnpeA]


This was written 70 years ago
@SparkleLeaf Imparting a bit of history through music and masking through humor the concept of the probable demise of mankind by our own hands.

Thank you for sharing😊
@therighttothink50 Huxley saw it coming. It is a horrifying possibility.....but then isn't that what some people's reality is at the present ? Humans have become destructive and weak and something has got to give. If we do not change things for the better, the annihilation of mankind and all living beings on this earth shall come to pass. We need to awaken before it's too late .
therighttothink50 · 56-60, M
@therighttothink50 In my humble opinion, Win, we can, without bloodshed. We should have progressed from the primitive cavemen days or the dark ages medeival battle mindset,centuries have passed and yet we haven't. We are still ignorant of the maximum potential our human minds are capable of reaching, resorting instead to the lowest and vilest of human behavior . Orwell and Huxley's fears were legitimate and I agree with both of them. There can't be too much or too little, but a middle ground. Freedom is when we are free of oppressors and able to live in harmony with one another.
NinaTina · 26-30, F
[media=https://youtu.be/ztZI2aLQ9Sw]
@NinaTina Indeed,'' War is good for absolutely NOTHING''. The singer says too that there is a better way. That way is PEACE. War yields no benefits, but to those who start wars for the sole reason of greed, believe the opposite....that peace yields no benefit, the objective is to profit by force, as most wars in history have proven to be for this reason alone.

Unfortunately, the singer and others who dare speak the truth are silenced while tyrannical evildoers have free rein to say and do as they please, at the cost of many innocent lives.

Thank you for sharing this😊
therighttothink50 · 56-60, M
@therighttothink50 During the medieval period here in Europe, settlements were burned, people killed and women raped by invaders who wanted their lands, gain dominion over the people and steal whatever they wanted due to greed, to extend their territories and gain absolute power. That is still happening today in some parts of the world. I am anti-war but honest enough to admit I shall take up arms to defend my family if it is ever put at any risk of death, but only then.

The valiant men and women who died (and die) in wars should be commended for their bravery. I wonder too how many had no choice (whether they believe in that war or not). Sadly, they are not the only victims, the parents, wives and children are victims too, lives destroyed by wars because humans prefer to fight than settle their differences by using their intelligence to communicate and reach an agreement in a pacific way.

I don't agree with the last one. I believe God has nothing to do with the undertaking man takes upon himself when in war. This is my personal belief, God is a creator of all beautiful and positive things and evil is the destroyer of all things, a universe ruled by 2 opposing powerful forces. I am open enough to consider the possibility that they are limited to just that, one can only create and the other to only destroy. Yet humans easily condemn the creator for not stopping the destroyer...what if he can't? Does that make him any less of a creator of beautiful and positive things, such as life, the earth, the aimals, air, water, love , peace? Why don't people curse the evil destroyer ? They would easily mock a God who creates than mock a destroyer that kills, starts wars, fights,make humans mad with lust, fury and greed and envy. Why isn't that dark force cursed and condemned the way the God of believers is ? Proof, they say, without one, they can't believe. The faithless are blind, for proof is everywhere, if they only care to see. War is created by evil and we should be strong enough as the special beings that we are to not fall in its trap.

 
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