[thenightwriterblog] The Night Writer: The Childishness of Men

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Posted by The Night Writer:
The Childishness of Men
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1169162022.shtml


   St. Paul at Fraters Libertas had a [1]thought-provoking review of the
   movie "Children of Men" yesterday. Some of those thoughts were
   responded to by Doug at [2]Bogus Gold. Both people got something
   different out of the movie and both posts are well worth reading.
   I haven't seen the movie myself yet, but when I first read St. Paul's
   reaction I moved the film onto my Netflix queue (it has not been
   released as on DVD yet). The story is set in the future and the
   premise is that for some unknown reason humans had become sterile some
   18 years earlier. When a pregnant woman is discovered a desperate,
   secret mission is arranged to escort her through a violent, dystopic
   land to an island sanctuary where the hope for the future could be
   nurtured and raised. While I agree with Doug and St. Paul's takes on
   the film, my imagination was turned more to thoughts of what life in
   such a society and world would be like.
   From time to time my pastor has said that God hasn't given up on
   mankind because He keeps sending babies. We all have ingrained in us a
   sense that time is going to continue and the future is ever before us
   and babies are a normal and accepted part of our existence and an
   intrinsic part of our frame of reference. Even though some individuals
   can fall into hopelessness, and certain segments of society can become
   nihilistic, the babies keep coming and -- though it isn't always
   obvious -- the whole world is shaped by that awareness. What if,
   however, there were suddenly no more babies for anyone regardless of
   who you were, where you lived and how much money you made? How would
   our attitudes and cultures change?
   Without the hope of children, what would happen to our notions of
   marriage, family stability and long-term relationships? What would we,
   as individuals and as societies, invest in? What would happen to
   schools and universities, real estate prices, farming, social networks
   and infrastructure as the population steadily ages and diminishes?
   What, despite Nancy Pelosi's recent opportunistic and
   deep-as-a-dog-dish twaddle, would happen to our governments if
   everyone knew human existence was going to end within the next 75
   years? What would our priorities become? How depressing would this be
   if you were 50 years old -- or if you were 18?
   It's a pretty grim scenario and fortunately not a real one at this
   time, though the reproduction rate of much of the West is below the
   two children per couple replacement rate (which suggests that in terms
   of world domination the main difference between a radical Islamist and
   a moderate one simply may be a degree of patience) and business
   leaders are already having serious concerns about how they will
   replace their aging workforce over the next 20 years (a real problem
   that sheds some light on certain attitudes toward open immigration).
   But what if zero -- strike that, negative -- population growth was the
   reality? The cultural changes would be dramatic and many would say
   even horrific -- yet many of our actions individually and politically
   already suggest that we act as if there is no future. Many of us give
   up our rights and opportunities for self-determination in favor of
   selfish pursuits, trusting that future generations or the nanny state
   will bail us out. We max out our credit cards while our elected
   officials, regardless of party, spend more and more without even
   trying to seriously address the long-term needs of present generations
   (e.g. social security reform) while officially sanctioning the killing
   of future generations.
   It's not a new phenomenon; human history is a series of selfish,
   short-term decisions and actions miraculously overshadowed and
   overcome by the succession of generations who in turn got to make
   their own mistakes -- whether you think it all happened by chance or
   by divine direction. What if it all was cut off at the spigot?
   How much of what we do today suggests that we think there really is no
   tomorrow?

References

   1. http://www.fraterslibertas.com/2007_01_01_archive.html#116905355737697364
   2. http://bogusgold.com/posts/1169072277.shtml