Originally posted by Mike Kremer:
I'ts my considered belief that physical walls and barriers will increase, as time go's on,....even that it may well become the accepted norm in the near future.
It is paradoxical that the world becomes smaller and the global village gets bigger and yet divisions increase.
Many aspects of life are becoming increasingly polarized. In Western countries the gap between rich and poor is growing exponentially. In many areas we now have walled estates (common in places like Hollywood, but springing up everywhere) where the well-off live in sheltered, gated areas that the average Joe cannot access. The logical extension is huge self-contained apartment blocks where people have all the amenities they need, like Malls and grassy roof park areas, and never need to set foot outside to tangle with the 'undesirables'.
We now have many distinct ethnic communities within the UK, showing that at least for us, Multi-Culturalism has failed. There are places now where I would be unwelcome in my country of birth and this demonstrates the growing fragmentation and division.
We have diametrically opposed causes which in large part define many people's lives and mean that there is enmity and no common dialogue between groups. Things like feminism, pro choice & pro life, animal rights & pro hunting, environmental campaigners & big business. These things increasingly define and divide people.
The strange thing though is that politics appears to be bucking the trend. In the UK all parties have moved towards the centre and we no longer have left and right wing. There is so little to choose between the main parties that people are reduced to personality politics - we vote in the leader we like the most and not the one who?s policies we most agree with because their manifestos are virtually identical.
The strange thing about the Mexican/American wall is that it is proposed by people who promote the unrestrained Free Market and believe that if left to itself the market will effectively self organise, and yet don't see the inconsistency of putting protectionist barriers and artificial structures in place to prevent the market from doing exactly that. Blacknad.
