I like to start local when chatting about the world and its issues, because these issues can somewhat be similar to other people's problems in other developed cities.
Hang on, weren't we going to talk about fixing the world?
Yes and no. Let's start small. You can't jump straight into world peace and making everyone eat mung beans. Instead, we need to begin with the small stuff so that people are happy in their own little world. Once this takes place, those people want to go out and make others happy and be able to live in a world like theirs.
Do you believe me? I'll explain briefly now, but then we really should start talking, at least before the life-blood flows out of this blog.
If back in tribe times (I know there are still people living in tribes etc. now) all you had was a little shelter, a mate, maybe children, and a way to go and hunt/gather your food, you would not really want for anything else... unless of course another tribe was nearby, then you would trade and even fight for dominance. Very primal sort of thing. Let's pretend it's a tribe that is at least a week's walk away from another. That's forever away, and rarely would they come across another person. But when someone did walk by the tribe, they would most likely be welcomed and offered food (some of you are saying, no, they would be eaten). Doubtful. The idea is that once you have everything (basically) that you want, you don't need anything that anyone else has - you don't envy. Envy is the whole rich and poor thing. It's the essence behind the human culture that we want the same as others, or better than others. Competition, dominance, rivalry. It's what pushes us with work, money, home, car, a mate, etc.
So what happens when a developed city begins to have basically everything they want and become content. From then they don't mind donating money, they don't mind helping others, they don't mind adding to the community. This, instead of hoarding what they have and shooting anyone that arrives on their porch. Or at their tribal boundary fence, or their city gates, or whatever it is that a peoples do when they begin to overpopulate but don't have enough food, shelter, etc.
Yes, things would change if food suddenly ran out. Or water ran out. Forget money, once there is a break down of civilisation, then it's every monkey for themselves!
Moving on, to one small thing that I have noticed that needs to be changed. If you have ever been to Melbourne, Australia, and traveled by public transport, you will probably have really liked the public transport system. The only thing you may not have thought was great about it was the ticket inspectors that board the vehicle and approach you like you area criminal. This is how it is done.
1) The ticket inspectors board the train (train for example).
2) They then walk through the carriage (car) and tell people to have their tickets ready.
3) It is not just one person, but commonly 4-5 ticket inspector people and they say, have your tickets ready, in a very intimidating way. When they do this, try and picture, Nazi Germany, or another country where you had to have your papers on you or you would be hauled away. Now saying this my sound as if I am over exaggerating. However, it is not my exaggeration. This was said by a 70 year old woman as she watched it happen on a train one day, and whispered to me: Oh my, they're like the Gestapo!
4) After the lead person gets far enough down the train carriage, he/she stops (I'll use he to make this less clunky). He then turns and begins checking people's tickets.
5) Two people at the back guard the doors, and another one or two check the tickets coming from the other direction. It's very controlled, and it's very intimidating. You really do think you have committed some sort of crime before you have actually done so.
6) If they find someone who has an invalid ticket, or had a foot on a seat, then at least three of the guards will stop checking tickets and go and stand around the "offender" to make sure she (I'll use she for the customer to use both genders in this story) does not try and escape. This also while the other guards stand near the door to make sure that running is not an option. And to ward off help from others that may think this is too oppressive for a simple train traveler.
7) Because there are now 2-3 people standing over this"offender", and 2 more guarding the doors near her, it is hard to see the person past the soldiers... I mean, ticket inspectors. But I'm sure there are no smiles. I can see at least one of the guards... I mean ticket inspectors, face, and they have a face of such disrespect, like the "offender" is less of a human being than them.
8) As if a great weight is lifted, the team of thugs... I mean, ticket inspectors, leave the train carriage and move onto the next one. Everyone almost sighs with relief now that they have left and the oppression is over... at least until next time. And it happens about 80% of the time I travel on public transport in Melbourne.
You may say, fear enough. That person broke the law, so they should be fined, punished, intimidated, or whatever. Okay, but let me stress two points:
1) Everyone else should not feel like a criminal just because there are a few people that either forgot their ticket, or had no intention of ever getting one.
2) When you think of public transport, do you think of rich people? Do you think they have all the money in the world? Do you think of them as people that don't have to worry about what they are going to spend their money on today, this week, this month? No, they are the ones that are commonly on lower wages. They are the ones that are trying to save as much money as possible. Yes, it does mean they might be more likely to not buy a ticket, but they are also in a position that may make it hard for them to do so. I would say it was fair enough if they were all high income earners, but realistically, public transport people are no higher than average income earners, and often lower. Much lower. Don't punish the poor, that's not they way civilised developed nations work! Grr! Annoying. My view is that public transport should be free anyway. There are many reasons, including, reducing pollution, building less freeways, helping to minimise global warming. All the things that the government taxes us for to reduce, when really, more free public transport would do it in a passive and more ethical way. I know I'm getting off the track here, but just one more thing first. A government may spend millions of dollars on massive freeways and working out ways to make people reduce their air pollution, doing studies on car driving habits, and generally wasting money. What about if they spent that money on free and better public transport? It would reduce the amount of people on the roads, and allow the people that need to be on the road, to get into and out of town quicker!
No way, I want my freeway, you say. Yes, but we and most other cities already have their freeways. We don't generally need any more. 20 years ago it was quick to get into town, yes? We didn't need more freeways then, did we? No, there were less people on the roads then, right? So, that means we need less people on the roads now, right? And how do we get people off the roads? No, we can't kill them or have another war to reduce population, as much as the governments would probably like that idea (and it will happen if we have too many people, but that's a discussion for another time). Instead we supply abundant and free public transport. Suddenly the roads are not congested again, yay!
Check out this info:
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-eastwest-smog-factory-should-never-be-built-20130915-2tsx1.html
3) (back to the points I was making) Fear is not the way you run the world. I know it works better, and is easier. But it's not right. The same as negative reinforcement is quicker and easier when teaching an animal (or person). Much quicker than positive reinforcement, but it isn't right.
