What matters?

[darkness0within]

I look around and see a shattered society, and watch the spectre of anarchy slowly rising from the shadows.

Who's to blame? as people point fingers.

This latest unrest is a symptom of a much greater problem in society for sure. But looting and tearing down statues(More about this later) by the minority is not the answer. That makes them no better than those that came before them that wished to destroy that which they did not agree with. It's easy to make judgements with their 21st century eyes on the past. Yes. There were many things that we deem to be totally wrong. Myself included. But you can't change the past. You can only bring light into the darkness of the past.

In my opinion it would have been better to put plaques on the statues giving the information about their slave trading past. By removing them all that's going to happen is they will be forgotten, and that precious past people want to be known will die in time.

What matters more? A single venting of emotion that will fade? Or a permanent reminder to the world of what has happened in the past?

[darkness0within]

The world is a crazy place. It always has been though.

One persons angel is another's demon, dependent on which side of the fence you are. Uncle Joe, aka Joseph Stalin for instance. there are still some who worship him and his ideals. while most others see the truth.

The slave trade was, and is an abomination to society. I make no excuses for this. But we can't turn back time. All we can do is recognise what has happened in the past. inform and enlighten society. But even today the trade still continues. A smaller scale, and in a different way. But it is still around today. That is something people can do something about.

In a different vain there are numerous places round the world where local tribes are being forced off their land due to logging / mining / farming. The mind-set of taking advantage of indigenes tribes lives on. This has been going on since the dawn of man in one way or another.

As I've said, society hides unpalatable truths.

[darkness0within]

Having watched the David Attenborough documentary Extinction last night I would like to write a few lines.

First. I do recommend that people watch this when possible to do so. It makes for uncomfortable watching in places, but sometimes the truth of things is uncomfortable.

I'm not going to go through all the things shown on the documentary here, but just focus on one or two points.

At the beginning of the program it shows the last two white rhino of their particular species. A mother and daughter. Once they have died they will be gone forever. Now I'm sure there will be those who will quickly point out that we could harvest their DNA to clone them, or Eggs harvested to be implanted into another type of rhino to keep the species alive. Or even say perhaps "who cares?"

Well, it is possible to extract DNA, also it is possible to harvest eggs, and you would have to do both probably as there are no male white rhino of this species. So yes, it could be possible to clone these rhinos, and maybe in time build up their numbers. But their gene pool will be degraded to a point that if one is susceptible to disease, they all would be and quickly be decimated by it. The Australian koala is a case in point. They were hunted so much that their gene pool has been degraded because of interbreeding in areas. They are all related more closely than they should be. And this creates congenital issues. The point is you have to have a diverse gene pool so that if a disease strikes there should be some of that species that can survive it.

The fact that in some countries people still believe that this or that part of an animal can do this or that makes me feel we are still living in the dark ages. And more. They are fuelling the extinction of species in many ways. And for what? And what happens when that they desire has gone forever? Will they move on to another 'natural remedy' and bring that to extinction too?

Destruction of habitat is going on at a pace that cannot be sustained. In the near future a point will be reached where there will be no turning back. So many species will be gone forever and we will be to blame. in whole, or in part.

Our constant squabbles over unimportant things, and our constant disregard for our world will only come into focus it seems to me when we are on the brink of extinction ourselves. By then it will be too late.