Cartoon 780: Shifting Sand

Today we marvel looking back at the Islamic world. It went from having a decided “leg up” on Europe for centuries and atrophied. What lesson might we learn? Evidently not much.

We are putting our heads in the sand and ignoring that we have reached a plateau. The influence of religion in a society is counter productive to a societies expanding progress beyond a certain point. Once religion is embraced as the guiding light of politics, it becomes the opiate to control and manipulate. Devastation follows because of the trade offs by politicians. The politicians must have the appearance of adhering to ideology. That adherence has a cascading effect throughout society. Things that truly belong in the faith realm are conferred status as natural law. Religious canon is implicitly executed throughout society.

Such a seeming subtle thing blossoms to skew research, development, justice and education. We can clearly witness the result by historically looking at the Islamic world. America is on the same path. Already there is no board educated populous to replace the demise of the baby boomers. Education is also taking on a female gender focus. Males in America, as in other Diaspora societies, are falling further behind. It might be most manifest among minorities right now, but it is spreading. A male backlash will occur sequestering the female in society.

There are clear signs when a society and culture is in trouble. The first is seeking to return to an earlier time in which things were believed to be better. It is often coupled with the belief in a rebirth of pass glory. There are two problems. The first problem is that things at an earlier point in time were never as rosy as they believe. The other problem is that the factors that contributed to that time are either now changed or gone. It is a bit like trying to resurrect the dead.

Religion is the key that unlocks the trap door to the fall. It creates the zombies that are oblivious to what the politicians are really doing while cloaked in holiness. They are the willing martyrs on the altar of greed and power.

The sand is shifting. As America and the West atrophies, the impetus will most likely shift to Asia.