Trying to determine what is happening with the world is occupying my thoughts and study a lot. The various topics of my study continue to add to the data I can bring to the determination. There is still too much missing. For example, the extent of control being exerted is unknown. I have ideas, but no concrete means to verify or disprove them.
I write here some ideas that seem to warrant consideration. There are global trends now. It was only about a hundred years ago that air travel came to mankind after the arguable ten thousand years of history. The globe rather suddenly became something that could support global trends fostered by personal contact with people. It was not relatively earlier that radio and wire communications had set into motion the trend that air travel augmented. Then came the internet.
Internet services known as “social media sites” have made it easy to unify the people around the world in loosely organized trends. So, now we have radio technology and science brining us radio, television, portable telephones, internet, and social media sites. Facebook boasts more than two billion users worldwide. Others have similar numbers, and many have smaller numbers, but added together trending is now something that makes it possible for mankind to act more-or-less in concert around the globe. Can you imagine how this appeals to people? Sure, you can. Now, imagine how it would appeal to the people who live at the “top.”
It seems logical that there are some who are acting to guide the trends of the world. Maybe they are not well organized and exercise to guide only parts of the many aspects of modern life. Or, maybe there are more general trends that are being guided. All things must be considered. I tend to lean toward a global and general guidance. If that is what is happening, we can try to detect what the guidance is trying to accomplish.
Consider the new ability of mankind to fly. It started in small enclaves and individuals. Then it became a trend that swept the globe. The same is true of most innovation and inventions. Religion is another valid observation of global trending. Mankind is working together whether realized or not, whether intentional or not. If the collaboration of mankind is being steered or guided, we can only hope those who are doing it have the general welfare as the objective. This seems unlikely given the extent and strength of greed, competition, and fear mankind demonstrates. Add to that the class consciousness that has dominated human culture. There are people who never doubt that labor is beneath them. They believe as sincerely as you believe you are reading this that they are superior to most people. It is a condition. Some are so overwhelmed by it they have been known to think of themselves a gods and divinely appointed in many variations of the condition. To assume that such individuals and groups of such individuals are not at least attempting to utilize global collaboration for their own purposes is illogical. To understand what we are able to see for ourselves, we must consider as many possibilities as possible. Try them all and see.
The long and horrible history of war tells me that man has been organized into factions we think of as empires, nations, and other such labels headed by some individual or group who contest among themselves. It also appears that those who head the nations have been able to convince others to participate in the contests. This is going on now in many areas. It might be that the latest global trending potential is being used to relieve mankind of such conflicts and contests. If so, how? Can it be by eliminating the others? That would be consistent with history and human psychology. An ultimate “victor” might end the conflicts, but maybe not. A victor provides a focus for rebellion. It would just be directed at one point instead of having many contests directed at many points. If that scenario is being pursued, the general welfare stands to suffer. So, let’s look at the alternative, or one of them at least.
Suppose there is a benevolent person who can exercise enough power to guide the course of human events, to borrow a phrase. Or a group of such people who can. Would that explain what we are seeing? If so, it would have to be done with the old axiom of leadership that we have all at least heard of which says that a great leader must be able to sacrifice others for the greater good. It is often referred to as “making the hard decisions.” That would give us a partial explanation for what is going on globally. But it does not reveal the purpose or purposes the events are designed to accomplish. It neither explains the complex intricacies of modern times or the trending concepts that are getting a lot of “airtime.”
Malthusian concepts, class consciousness, wealth distribution, and countless other factors of life make the possibility of benevolent guidance unlikely. Not impossible, though. There is no rational means to discount the possibility. Intuition can discount is quickly. It is probably optimism that causes me to even consider benevolent guidance by human beings. History gives such optimism a ridiculousness characteristic. That would leave us to examine that some horrible people might be exercising the power that is being created by the collaboration of the global population that has recently become possible relative to human history.
Given my study of human history, human nature, psychology, and activities, it seems likely that there are people who are wielding the power who are not benevolent or even kind. We can hope someone such as Jesus would come to take the power and use it benevolently. God is a potential benevolent wielder of the power. The possibilities are endless, but the facts are set. The power is real and the global character of it is new relative to history. That mankind has suddenly produced some incredibly brilliant, capable, willing, and benevolent people who have managed despite all obstacles to acquire the power of the people in such a short period of history seems unlikely. Possible, yes. Unlikely, too. Hope is still possible. So, we can hope, but we had better see as clearly, deeply, and broadly as possible. I don’t know that is going on. I can speculate. That’s all. I am doing it a lot, and not just for fun. I worry for Life.
Earth is a place where Life exists. It is in a precarious situation because humans have developed global trends augmented by fantastic destructive powers. Does it seem strange to you as it does to me that wars have been the motivation for so much of human innovation, invention, and discovery? Be that as it may, the destructive power of man is at an all-time high. That being the “designed” destructive power. Bombs and other types of destructive power are only additions to the other destructive power of the people. Destruction caused by the pursuit of happiness is nothing to take lightly. Wow! The mere thought amazes me. Then there are many other destructive forces and means. They all combine to produce potential cataclysmic possibilities. But they do not constitute the total destructive power that threatens the Live of Earth. They are worrisome enough, but we cannot ignore natural destruction.
I don’t need to elaborate. The destructive power of the universe is known well enough to negate the need to elaborate. All in all, the world, this globe, faces immense destructive forces that can extinguish all Life. Perhaps that can explain what is going on in the global trends we are experiencing. It would not even require a benevolent guidance or an evil one, for the survival instinct, desire, and intention compel the people who can wield power to act benevolently as a side-effect of self-preservation. A comet set to impact the planet causing an extinction event would either unite the people who wield power or not. Maybe they would simply organize an effort to save themselves, perhaps with some others. This scenario explains a lot of what we are seeing, but not enough. A known cataclysmic event would prevent all the construction of multi-million-dollar projects, even multi-billion-dollar projects that I see going on everywhere here in Austin, Texas, though it might not. Likelihoods! So, what is it? I don’t know. I am trying to figure it out. I hope you will help.
My best guess right now is that there are people who are able to exert some power over the globe by influencing large numbers of people and by utilizing the power that has been cunningly converted to a monetary system. These people are not likely to be able to unite with others like them. That would make the situation the one that has always been, the powerful contending with one another, be it individuals or groups. Organizations of man have become something new and unpredictable; I refer to corporations and similar types. Governments are not new, but they have new powers due to human innovation, discovery, and invention. There is ample proof that they sometimes and to various degrees combine in common purposes. There is a global trend that is arranging the interests of the conglomerates.
Religions have organized humans for a long time. It is still part of life. There are two large groups currently acting. Of course, there are many small ones. Christianity and Islamism are composed of the most people. Hindu and Buddhist people together compose near equal numbers. Atheism is growing. The actions of the Christian and Muslim population and their organizations are the causes and sources of a large percentage of the things happening world-wide. This is likely a determining factor in the direction of the use of power.
Another large factor is what we label economic systems. Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism have been playing a deciding and very influential part in the course of human activities. Global trends are well documented and studied as they relate to those three “isms.” Observation reveals a trend toward homogenization of all three. Recent developments in established communist nations such as the USSR and China are good example of mellowing lines of distinction between all three. Current socialist trends in the US government are mixing up capitalism and socialism. There are elements involved in the three that might explain the global trends and status. We might be able to understand and even predict trends in light of them.
To begin, consider the tenants of Capitalism. It has been toward freedom to operate business as one sees fit. History contains information about capitalist’s willingness, even their requirement, of government intervention, assistance, in the conduction of business and business interests. Mercantilism was a big factor in the industrial development of nations and the world. So, government is clearly useful to capitalists. But Communism as defined and proposed by Carl Marx and others put the “means of production” into the hands of the government. In other words, the government owned and operated the businesses. Communist China requires that all businesses to be part of the Communist Party. This is a simplification, but the fact that the government is conducting business is the fact that I want to add to the analysis of global trends. If the communists are beginning to operate like capitalists, the powerful capitalist might see it as a desirable development. This quote from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) brings this point to bear: “In a speech last month, Ye Qing, Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, called for building a ‘modern private enterprise system with Chinese characteristics.’ According to Ye, this would include giving a company’s internal Party group control over the human resources decisions of the enterprise and allowing it to carry out company audits, including monitoring internal behavior.” This appears to me to be part of what appears to be the homogenization of the three isms that have dominated the world for a long time. I think the capitalists are liking the trend. Apple and Google presence, even moves, to China lend this credibility. We may be witnessing and being subjected to the construction a new global system just as we have been subjected to the three isms for so long. I refuse to characterize such a system. I simply don’t know enough. I do know something about religion and have thoughts about how they are playing a part in this possible new system that is evolving from the homogenization of the tree isms.
Christianity is experiencing heavy losses and enduring heavy bombardment of human opinion. For thousands of years, it has been telling the people that the rich cannot get to heaven and the charity and love are the important parts of human conduct. Christianity was useful in capitalist evolution. The complexity of Christianity need not be added to this analysis for the concern is for global trends. The global trend for Christianity is complex and real. So is that of Islamism.
Coming about a half century after Jesus, Mohammad founded Islam. It is a global religion just as is Christianity. Like Christianity, it hopes for global dominance. There are many Islamists who are dedicated to converting man to Islam by any means necessary. Jihadist are utilizing all means at their disposal. With their views toward Judaism, a huge and horrible conflict exists with Islam on one side and Judaeo/Christians on the other. There is a global trend that comes into play in the conflict. Demographics.
Reproduction is essential to the perpetration of mankind. Despite the LGBT trend, the human race can vanish by not replacing the dead. The demographic that tells us how humans are doing so is what needs to be added to the analysis here being conducted. There are a lot of statistics available. Consult them. You will see that the various nations are not reproducing the dead very well. Declining populations are resulting. There is a global trend here, but let’s consider the populations of the Christian and Muslim religions.
According to sources, the Christian population is declining while the Muslim population is growing. While Christianity promotes kindness and charity, some devout Muslims promote brutality and destruction. Of course, Christianity has a history that includes similar actions. The USA tries to protect freedom of religion. Muslims try to eliminate other religions and seek to make all mankind Muslims. This is another oversimplification. With many nations already being conducted by Islamic tenants, it is clear that freedom of religion is not being practiced. Those nations include Saudi Arabia.
The 9-11 hijackers were reported to have been Saudi Arabians. Since the boom in the oil industry, huge amounts of many have been going into the Saudi accounts. Arguably, a lot of that money has been invested in spreading Islam around the world. While the USA and other nations practice tolerance and diversity, Muslim mosques have been installed around the world. If you don’t know what Sharia Law is, you had better learn about it. In democratic societies the majority is supposed to determine the course of the nation. If the majority become Muslim, they could legally become Muslim nations that do not allow any other religion or religious observation. Consider the details of the Muslim conquest of Egypt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_Egypt
Military invasion has slowly been replaced by slow infiltration and conversion. It makes more sense. The death and destruction of invasion has been replaced by legal pursuits and demographic changes. Majority rule is an open door through which change can be legally established. The immigration statistics of the world these days trend toward such establishment.
So, we are seeing the division of the world’s people into two large religions. With secularism taking more and more people from the Christian population and the growing Muslim population, the Judaeo/Christian and Muslim contention for the hearts of the people is important. It is particularly important for the democratic societies to realize that the Muslim trend is growing. If it takes enough control, the capitalists adopting some communists and the communists adopting some capitalism may be facing their greatest threat. Reports say the China is cracking down on Islam. Is this because Islam threatens the Communist Party? Does it threaten capitalism?
Many factors must be considered if one is to gain some understanding of global trends. A human can consider only a small portion of them at one time. So, understanding what is happening globally is unlikely. It is unlikely even for global leaders. They are not super people. They just have organization that compensates for the human limitations. It may not be possible at this time to detect a global direction. There seems to be some global trending or direction, but there are many different trends contesting for global dominance. As far as I can tell, the monetary system may be the ultimate global trend control.
The world’s monetary system is mostly the same. There are many forms of currency, but it must be that there is no place left where money in some form is not used. If it is that global, control of the money may be the objective of powerful people. People who have lots of money have shaped the paths of history. They have secured for themselves, their descendants, and those they choose fortunes that are as old as civilization. They are what have become known as “old money people.” If there is some global controlling of global trends, the old money people would be likely controllers. What do they think of the growing Islamic population? That is the question this article was written to ask.
We may be seeing efforts being exerted to counter a growing Islamist threat. The old monster, communism, seems to have lost its appeal as a fear factor. In fact, some communist mechanism might be prized by the old money people and capitalists. But would they still be capitalists? Interesting semantics. It seems clear that suicidal Muslims are not going to bought off with money. Such commitment to a religion could be the greatest threat to the monetary system it has ever faced. Reaction to it explains a lot of what we can see.
I don’t know what is happening. That I know. I simply contemplate it and theorize. I may never know, or I may figure it all out. Not that there is anything that can come of it if I do. Who knows? Maybe realization by one has some unrecognizable influence on the universe. It seems to human nature to desire personal autonomy. There is also a trend away from autonomy that we see in group behavior. People are a mixed-up jumble of many things. There are so many people now living in civilizations divided into various sections global trends may still be just as mixed-up. There have been plenty of examples of people who want to guide the global population. I doubt such people have disappeared. If there is an effort underway to acquire global guidance of the human population, we had better hope the person or persons who get it are benevolent. We had better hope their efforts to get it don’t destroy all life and end the world for all of us.
