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Musings Report 2020-16 4-18-20 Are Consumerism and Centralization Global Plagues?
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Are Consumerism and Centralization Global Plagues?
Two weeks ago I posted this article from Scientific American in "From Left Field." It's well worth a careful read. How Disaster Aid Ravaged an Island People.
In summary: after the 2004 tsunami inundated the Nicobar Islands, a remote and "primitive" (i.e. undeveloped) chain of small islands in the Bay of Bengal, a tsunami of material/financial aid inundated the islanders, who were removed from their devastated home islands by the Indian government.
The flood of consumerist goods and the loss of their self-sufficient lifestyle destroyed their way of life, their health and their culture.
The authors of the study implicitly point to two primary causes of the disaster:
1. The tsunami of consumerist goods--radios, motorbikes, TVs, mobile phones, etc.--"infected" the people of Nicobar--now isolated and treated poorly by the residents of the foreign islands they were relocated to--with consumerist desires which they have no means to afford on their own, as they had no "money economy" prior to the 2004 disaster.
2. The central authorities in India and their NGO (non-governmental organization) "do-gooder" counterparts completely ignored what the Nicobar Islanders actually needed--modest aid to get their local economy and society back on its feet--and imposed an absurd and cruelly destructive "developmental aid" on the islanders because the centralized authorities' "experts" knew best.
The "developmental experts" moved the islanders to commercialized islands with completely alien values, and then stretched out the relocation for 8 long years.
Isolated in squalid refugee camps, the globalized, consumerist locals looked down on the "primitive" Nicobar refugees. Stripped of their livelihood and forced to live on unfamiliar (and unhealthy) donated food, the Nicobar people were soon obese and prone to metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
Meanwhile, the developmental "experts" were building completely inappropriate concrete bunker "houses" on the highest parts of each of the Nicobar islands, and refusing to allow displaced islanders to return to low-elevation islands due to the potential risk of another tsunami inundation.
The islanders' own homes had been built with local woods, elevated off the ground and close to the shore where the economic activity / food harvesting occurred.
In other words, virtually nothing the "generous" "experts" did was appropriate, sustainable, helpful, healthy or sensitive to the actual needs of the Nicobar people and culture.
(Interestingly, some of the islanders defied authorities and constructed canoes to return to the islands the authorities had deemed uninhabitable.)
It's difficult not to read this tragedy and come away with the sense that, regardless of the well-meaning intentions of the "experts" and central authorities, consumerism and centralized control are both immensely destructive plagues.
Thanks to consumerism and centralized control, the world is now dependent on permanent increases in debt and the consumption the new debt buys. As I explained in last week's Musings, If debt declines, so will consumption, and both the financial system and the economy collapse.
Though this endless expansion of consumption is destroying the planet, the centralized authorities and "experts" are issuing orders to maintain the status quo at all costs, lest they lose control.
As for the seamless transition to a "green" future that will fuel the endless expansion of consumption, please read this report: The Limits of Clean Energy: If the world isn’t careful, renewable energy could become as destructive as fossil fuels.
The "transition" is physically impossible, but nobody dares to say this.
If we consider the Nicobar Islanders' tragic experience as a microcosm of the global economy, how can we not conclude that consumerism and centralized authority are destructive, unsustainable global plagues?
Highlights of the Blog
While the Top 10% and the Fed Cheer Stocks Rebounding, the Bottom 60% Lose their Livelihoods and Lives 4/17/20
Overcapacity / Oversupply Everywhere: Massive Deflation Ahead 4/16/20
Can "Sickcare" Survive the Pandemic? 4/14/20
Best Thing That Happened To Me This Week
Managed to finally make some modest progress on my next book.
From Left Field
This Pandemic Will Lead to Social Revolutions-- yes....
A New Statistic Reveals Why America’s COVID-19 Numbers Are Flat -- the increase in the number of tests is still lower than the increase in infections...
There’s Been a Spike in People Dying at Home in Several Cities. That Suggests Coronavirus Deaths Are Higher Than Reported. -- don't ask, don't tell...
Antibody study suggests Covid-19 could be far more prevalent in the Bay Area than official numbers suggest
The Pandemic Won’t Make China the World’s Leader
Collapse: The Coronavirus is not a Cause, it is a Trigger
Coronavirus: Why aren't the Italians singing anymore?
Wanted urgently: People who know a half century-old computer language so states can process unemployment claims -- COBOL never dies...
How Coronavirus Almost Brought Down the Global Financial System--duh...
Coronavirus: low antibody levels raise questions about reinfection risk -- but wait, we wuz promised "herd immunity" would solve everything...
The Not-So-Great Reason Divorce Rates Are Declining: What’s changed isn’t marriage, but the types of people who are likeliest to get married. -- marriage is now just another luxury...
Sheep dog working from home during lockdown (via Atreya S.)
"Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it. Success is shy--it won't come out while you're watching." Tennessee Williams
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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