Monday, August 8, 2022

08/08/2022

A paradise Built in Hell

― Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster

“The possibility of paradise hovers on the cusp of coming into being, so much so that it takes powerful forces to keep such a paradise at bay. If paradise now arises in hell, it's because in the suspension of the usual order and the failure of most systems, we are free to live and act another way.”

“This is a paradise of rising to the occasion that points out by contrast how the rest of the time most of us fall down from the heights of possibility, down into diminished selves and dismal societies. Many now do not even hope for a better society, but they recognize it when they encounter it, and that discovery shines out even through the namelessness of their experience. Others recognize it, grasp it, and make something of it, and long-term social and political transformations, both good and bad, arise from the wreckage. The door to this ear's potential paradises is in hell.”

Two quotes on the net from the book I am listening to at the moment.  Perhaps you could say at this late stage in my life I am mulling over the society I live in and what is wrong with it.  And my musings won't please some, so please don't read.

I find the above an extraordinary statement, the way of looking at something from a different angle.  Solnit takes disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and the dreadful collapsing of the towers of offices on September 11th 2001 and looks at the stories of courage and remarkable kindness that people show at the time of great disaster. 
 
Not all run away, they unselfishly help each other to escape, they give their lives so that others might live.  Strong empathy told in a story of a man plummetting to earth from one of the towers, as the storyteller said I held his hand in my mind on that long fall.

One of the other facets of disaster, and here we are talking of American history, is that governments nearly always call out the army to stop the looters and the media will make a great play of this.  But it is in the aftermath that organisations and just ordinary people who help in whatever way they can.  They organise themselves not because of government but because there is a job needing to be done.

So all the talk about society falling into chaos and confusion is not necessary truthful.  The Conservative have sold us better and more police officers in their bids for supremacy - Crime does not Pay.

We are at the moment, world wide, under going unprecedented weather patterns, we expect our firefighters, army and police to bring order to a flooding, or fires, so unexpectedly starting up in fields and in London. But it is the neighbourliness that helps in the long run, kindness is a trait of humankind.

So room for optimism?  I think so, someone was complaining that there was no positive news, I tend to disagree there.  There are people out there finding solutions for carbon capture, capturing the natural elements for energy.  Young students creating plastic barriers that catch that horrendous amount of plastic we have dumped in the sea.  
even on the domestic side, people are talking about heating churches and community halls to keep people warm.  They shouldn't be doing that of course.  If we had had governments ready to tackle the housing crisis and the proper insulation of our old houses, we would not be in such a predicament today.

The price of houses are a scandal at the moment, and the hogging of second homes as well to make a profit from a young person who will never be able to afford a home.  In a decent society poverty should not be on the agenda, but it is.  

9 comments:

  1. One of Cameron's pet notions was The Big Society. Where did it go under May and Johnson? Perhaps it was all just BS in the first place.

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    1. Who created Lalaland in the beginning I wonder, they are all guilty of talking the talk and not getting anywhere. Until the day when unselfish people stand for government we will get this horror show repeated. No one but no one though could be as bad as Johnson who blithely lied his way through his tenure.

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  2. The farmer and I stood hand in hand on the swept, cleaned and sanitised site of 9/,11 before it was all rebuilt. At the time I felt it was all like sweeping it under the carpet.

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    1. It was a moment of great event in everyone's life at the time. The terrible coverage echoing in the mind today, as it did on the day as it was rewound again and again on TV. I think I would have wept if I had stood there but then senseless killing goes on everywhere in the world.

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  3. Liz Truss wants to cut national insurance contributions to "let people keep more of their own money".
    As Paul Lewis points out, under her proposals someone on the National Living Wage keeps £74.44 more of their own money (£1.43 a week). MPs keep £894.68 more of their own money (£17.21 a week).

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    1. I find politicians that say "let people keep more of their money" rather irritating, as we all know full well that none of them have the slightest intention of genuinely cutting the bloated monstrosity that is the Civil Service/public sector down to size, so that the tax burden could genuinely be slashed. Considering that the UK allegedly ran an empire on a Foreign Office of just a few thousand, one really has to wonder just what purpose most of these people serve?

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    2. Paul Lewis seems to be one of the champions on the side of the people, as is of course Gordon Brown. I have just read a sickening long list of all the profits, not only utility companies but others as well. The CEO's don't come out too bad also. Though Simon Jenkins this mornings said "Where are all the economists?"

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  4. I worked in a call center when 9/11 happened. As awful as it was, there was so much kindness. Two months after that I got a call. Even then you could hear the sirens. A man was calling from a restaurant at ground zero. The restaurant simply remained open to keep people fed. The meals were paid for entirely by donations from around the country. In turn, a group of first responders noticed a homeless person inadequately clothed. A collection was taken up by grateful, exhausted first responders and one called to place the order. A coat, boots, gloves, warm socks etc. The package was being delivered to the owner of the restaurant who would bring the package to the restaurant. Such a beautiful thing...and 21 years later, look at us.

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  5. That is exactly what Rebecca Solnit is talking about Debby, the kindness of people. The voluntary service to the community. The fact of the matter is that people come together in a cohesive whole and do not need the government to talk of chaos and panic and send in the army, as they did maybe at Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

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