HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
June 12, 2003 With the Y2K virus being just a memory, it is now time to start digging up all of the experts to see if they can predict what bad thing will happen next. For those of you who were living in a cave, Y2K was supposed to bring about the end of the technology age with all of our computers crashing, the stock market freezing, and other signs of the Apocalypse like the return of Garry Coleman to television. None of these came true. Garry Coleman did appear in a Kid Rock video, but the other three horsemen of the Apocalypse never showed. I recently had the opportunity to read an article by Deena Beasley on Yahoo called British Scientist Puts Offs For Apocalypse at 50-50. She offered a book report by a scientist named Dr. Martin Reese who claims that the world has only a 50-50 chance of making it. He estimated that this was an increase from 20% chance of disaster a hundred years ago. Oh, man. It is time to panic. I wonder where I put the plastic wrap, duck tape and bottled water? Granted, I do not have a PhD in anything (except for hard living, baby) but I find this to be a warning sign of something. I think this is a warning sign of a slow news day mixed with the meanderings of the British Astronomer Royal whose publisher told to write anything interesting. Besides doom and gloom always sells books. If he were an American the democrats would probably love to run him for office. If I had to predict any gloom for the future it would be that the European Union will crash send the world into an economic deflation. If I had to predict anything positive for the future it would be that the European Union is a huge success and the whole world will benefit from their unified economy. I guess that puts success right where the good doctor predicted. As a therapist, I am always puzzled why disaster is predicted for the future. Of course some bad things will happen. People are going to die… somewhere. There will also be scientific breakthroughs that end up being more of a nuisance than any real benefit to mankind. In some perverse way I think people like thinking that the end is near and they don't want to worry about growing old. But why is it that we are not as interested in the great advances that are coming? There will be a cure for Aids. Many forms of cancer will be preventable. Wireless internet is just a matter of time. There will be alternative fuels. And Gary Coleman really is due for a comeback. All of these are great things. One of my biggest gripes in politics is that the Democrats always predict horrible things are going to happen to our children and our parents. And the Republicans are the cause of it. I understand why they do this. If you can inspire a panic you can get votes. All you have to do is look like you have the solution. I suspect that the other reason for their increasingly negative view of the future is because they are lacking a platform, and a leader for that matter. Why is this distasteful to me? Well, because I don’t see how it can work. In racing, and in motorcycle safety courses, they teach object fixation. Basically, it has a real Zen quality. You don’t look at where you are going, but where you want to go. If a NASCAR driver looks at the curve ahead of him he will drive into it. Splat at 175 mile per hour. But if he looks where the curve ends he will drive out of the curve. In psychology we have a very similar system. It is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. A client will say that can’t try some new activity because they will fail at it. In a short time they build up so much anxiety that the do fail, not on their own merits, but because they were so obsessed with failing that they are not paying attention to doing the activity. If you aim at doom and gloom what do you think you will get? Exactly what you set your sights on. Imagine a politician sitting down and saying, "You know... things are pretty good. I can't really give you a problem that I'm the only person who can fix. But I would like your vote because I think it would be a really neat job with some great perks." I don't know if he would get my vote, but it would be a very amusing campaign. To improve the future so that it will be a place where we want to live and grow old we need to stop looking directly at the curve ahead of us, and start looking where we want to go next. So there may really be some dangers out there, there always have been, but we need to proceed like our success is a given. Besides, is there really any alternative? ------------ About the author: Edward Lyell is politically active in New Mexico and has been a small business owner and currently works as professional counselor. Once a great Democrat, he became another one of the disenfranchised during the Clinton presidency. He categorizes himself as a firm believer in Objectivism, free trade, and the Constitution. Email Edward Lyell: Edsterl@aol.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
