The slippery slid towards a dystopian future

The slippery slid towards a dystopian future

By E. Stanley Ukeni

I have observed, with subdued trepidation, an unsettling trend that seems to progressively entrench itself in the collective psyche of the global consciousness. This malicious tendency, if not effectively stemmed, will gradually erode the moral constitution of the human society until humanity is left with nothing but its base instinct for self-preservation.

I suspect that the world will not long remain a hospitable global environment that nurtures reason and noble ideal, if these hateful and cruel human impulses are allowed to fester and spread unabated. Even the most casual observer of global trends would attest to the fact that the world has become a more inhospitable and dangerous place.

I am sure many objective social observers and political pundits would agree with me that our world seem to be heading towards a dystopian future in which simple decency will be a lost concept—where inhumane cruelty becomes the norm rather than an exception.  

I am sure by now you are wondering where exactly I am going with this discuss. Well, the intent of this article is to highlight an observation that has recently come to my attention. I have come to the realization, in recent months, that the righteous voices of noble and well-intended statesmen are being drowned-out by the often bellicose cacophony of the so call worldly populists.

These self-ascribed worldly wise-men and women seem to be achieving remarkable success, in the last few years, with their insidious designs of shoving a narrow self-serving nationalist ideology down the throats of credulous and somewhat disillusioned global masses.

In recent years, this insidious design has become self-evident worldwide, as vast population groups that were once considered moderate-leaning have now embraced stringent hard-line ideologies. Even societies that were once considered the bastion of liberal philosophies are beginning to succumb to the impulse of harsh protectionist and nationalist policies, which excludes, demonize, and even persecute minority and alien population groups.

This brand of divisive and polarizing social and political ideology, if allowed to continue to metastasize unchallenged will, over time, balkanize our world into antagonistic regions of fiercely contending power blocks. And going by past history, these power blocks would fiercely compete to attain or maintain geostrategic primacy over other regions. I, for one, cannot imagine how this scenario will bode well for the peace and progress of our world.

The question now should be, ‘why haven’t the voices of noble and well-intended statesmen sounded any warning about this slid to irrational inclinations?’ Well, there has been what I term, ‘voices in the wilderness’ warning us of our verge towards calamity. However, as I stated earlier, these well-intentioned opinions have been, all but, drowned-out by the vicious tones of current social and political rhetoric that is shaping global discuss these days, which are championed by unabashed megalomaniacs.

At different times, in the last few years, men and women of considerable power and influence have raised alarm about this dangerous slid to dystopian that does not bode well for our collective security, but unfortunately, the world seems more interested in sensational rhetoric that assigns blame for our inadequacies and short-comings to other—most notably to minority groups and alien migrants.

I am tempted to highlight a few of these leaders of conscience who have echoed warnings about the dysfunctional state of our world, but I am conflicted about who to mention and who to leave out. Finally I decided to highlight a telling address by Britain’s Prince Charles—the Prince of Wales, on December 22^nd, 2016 BBC Radio 4’s religious program.  

In the Christmas message, the heir to the British Royal throne delivered a pointed rebuke against intolerance and hatred against refugees fleeing religious repression and persecution.

Speaking of religious persecution, the Prince of Wales said, “…in some countries more insidious forms of extremism have recently surfaced, which aims to eliminate all types of religious diversity.”

And in his remarks on the plight of refugees in their countries of refuge, Prince Charles said, “…and the suffering doesn’t end when they arrive seeking refuge in a foreign land. We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive toward those who adhere to minority faiths.”

He continues, “All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s. I was born in 1948, just after the end of World War II, in which my parents’ generation had fought, and died, in a battle against intolerance, monstrous extremism and inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe…”

“…that, nearly seventy years later, we should still be seeing such evil persecution is, to me, beyond all belief. We owe it to those who suffered and died so horribly not to repeat the horrors of the past.”   

Those of us who are students of history would attest to the sense of euphoria that animated the European populace at the declaration of World War 1 by narrow-sighted leaders. The end of that war left the entire world, both the rich and the poor, weary. That war slowed the human match towards progress and advancement.

As if they hadn’t learnt from the past, the same irrational exuberance led the world into a second, and even more devastating, World War. Then, it was said to be the war to end all wars. But that has turned out to be a mere exaggeration. Currently, some world leaders, who are supposed to know better, are once again stoking the flames of intolerance and prejudice that lurks in the dark recesses of the human soul—knowing fully well that this flame can easily blaze out of control and engulf the entire planet with its fury.

Let us hope that, this time, the world would not enthusiastically march to the drumbeats of ultra-megalomaniacs into a new, and even more devastating and horrific World War, which I suspect would not leave any part of our world unscarred.    

Authored by E. Stanley Ukeni, © 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material and other articles or stories posted on this blog site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed, in whole or in part, without prior expressed written permission from the author, E. Stanley Ukeni.

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Photo Credit: NARA; AP photo; Yevgeny Khaldei/LOC