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Gwynne Dyer makes me think a lot
Book Review
By Derryll White
Dyer, Gwynne (2018). Growing Pains – The future of democracy (and work).
Gwynne Dyer always leaves me with more questions than answers. He mentions that soldiers are now running Thailand and yet the young people I know consider it THE place to go. He points out that wealth discrepancies in Canada mirror those of France and other democratic European countries, and yet I have seen the rise of the Ford family to power in Ontario and Jason Kenney, leader of the United Conservative Party in Alberta elected Premier of that province. What is that all about?” That is why I read Dyer – he makes me think, a lot.
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Excerpts from the book:
STABILITY – The real worries have more to do with the long-term integrity of the system, for many people saw a pattern in Trump’s rise that reminded them of the last time populism and ultra-nationalism overwhelmed democratic politics and the rule of law in some Western democracies. This is not to say that Donald Trump is a fascist – that would require more abstract thinking and self-discipline than he seems capable of – but, despite all his tweets and other 21st-century political techniques, there is a strong whiff of the 1930s about him.
DEBT – As the bill comes due for the two-century boom in human population and consumption triggered by the Industrial Revolution, we are moving into a future that will be a lot more difficult and dangerous than the present or the recent past. Climate change, mass migration, ocean acidification, global food shortages: we will face multiple converging crises at the same time, and the last thing we need in charge of dealing with them is simple-minded, short-sighted, and incompetent populist governments.
CIVILIZATION – The price our ancestors paid for civilization was ten thousand years of tyranny, oppression and slavery – but it is quite clean that these institutions were always at odds with core human values.
HISTORY – I believe that human history is best seen as an experiment to determine whether a species that evolved to live in quite small groups (almost always less than one hundred people) can successfully live in societies many millions strong.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
