north america's problem

we sit here and think, boy we’re the shit. everyone wants to be here, to speak English among us, to worship our capitalist system of economic gain and build themselves a dreamhome that finds itself way out in the boonies as far into the country away from the economic powerhouse as possible. why think this? because we fail to see the rest of the world, the way the rest of the people on this planet live and inhabit their villages, their streets, their cafes.

we sit here and think, my goodness, we have it so good. we have power, water, running air conditioning in our cars, houses, offices, malls… and we know it’s an endless supply of it all as long as we keep the economic engines running. we have limited problems with the benefits we receive from our work. we like the high wages so that we can buy big screen tvs. we like to shop and decorate our homes and pretend they have gained value. we like to renovate and redo and buy more crap because, well, that’s our favourite hobby. we like to be entertained, but not by participating in the entertainment… we like others to do it for us. it’s why we’re shy about our bodies when we shouldn’t be and too open about them in the reverse situation.

we like to waltz around the world as if we own it. we like to worship our own culture, and our ethnocentrism proclaims to everyone our democracies work the best, our athlets outperform others, our cities are designed the most efficiently, and our economy churns out job after job for everyone who needs one. and those here who don’t fall in line will certainly be dealt with more efficiently than in other places. if they are lazy, we’ll make sure they feel the pain of poverty. if they are criminal, we’ll make sure they feel the pain of their violence. we refuse to forgive and forget because you know what, we’ve earned it.

there is no absolute problem with all of this. it’s simply the way colonialism, our culture of dominance and entitlement, has allowed us to progress. but the thing is, my friends, is that the rest of the world is gradually waking up. and some of us here in north america are doing the same. there’s been thousands of years of human civilization and suddenly we’re scared because we just realized we may not be the most powerful anymore. and we’re hurt by the possibility of losing this power. and we’re frightened by difference because we’ve pretty much eliminated all difference. sure, we proclaim our freedoms to be such individualistic humans. but I’m talking DIFFERENCE – as in trying to make a better system for all, instead of falling into the norm of INDIFFERENCE – allowing the marginalized to suffer. that’s not a system of individualism, that’s a system of collective indifference to suffering.

And now, here we are, sitting and gloating about the world, and we’re about to get smacked. smacked in the sense that we’ll lose this power, gradually, through the institutions that, while fatally flawed, will still empower others to grow. and we’ll lose it through the unintended consequences of our arrogance, whether that be our “friends” turning on our military might, or our colleagues in developing nations learning that they can develop better, quicker, faster than we have.

North America’s problem is simple. we pretend we live on an island. but this island has tunnels and veins and lifesupport connections to every other place on this planet. and sooner or later, our island will be sunk.