I was discussing the topic of the end of the world with a friend of mine not too long ago. He appeared relatively neutral, but a little more toward the side that proclaimed "yes, the world seems to be coming to an end because of all these natural disasters and political conflicts". My stance, however, was that these "impeding doom" ideas are simply perpetuated by the massive increase in access to information we now have that was far more limited even as little as 20 years ago. I know you guys don't want to end up reading another long article, so I'll make this brief.
Think about it: before the internet, we relied on television and the radio for info. Before that, people communicated via telegraph; prior still, letters were hand delivered -- discovery and harvesting of electricity only began about 200 years ago or so. But what we seem to forget is that natural disasters have always occurred and will always occur, and the same goes for conflicts between those in power and the people ruled by them.
Ok, I'll start with disasters. [1] Among the six earthquakes with the highest death tolls recorded are the Damghan, Aleppo, and Shaanxi earthquakes, with respective casualties of 200000, 230000, and 830000 -- all three occurred before the 17th century AD (years 856, 1138 and 1556 respectively); [2] four of the ten floods with the highest death tolls took place before the 1700s; [3] and four of the ten worst tsunamis ever recorded happened before the year 1800 (four tsunamis that occurred after 2010 are ranked eleven to fourteen). Please note that I say these are the "highest death tolls ever recorded," meaning that there could have been disasters that happened so long ago that there was no way for anyone to list a definite death toll -- in fact, I'm sure this was the case. The fact that many of the disasters that top these lists are said to take place after the 1600s to me is just further evidence that societies have gotten better at recording these events. And it's common knowledge that those things which are recorded stand the test of time best.
It is known that Chinese Philosophers who lived and ruled between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC frequently quarreled over differing Philosophies and often spoke of political conflict. Mengzi even alluded to the idea that, although it is the ruler's responsibility to lead the people in such a way that is in accordance with moral code, if the people overthrew an incompetent ruler then it need not be said they are in the wrong. To put it another way, if the people felt that a ruler was not doing a good job, then the idea of overthrowing him is permissible. Another well-known example of political conflict is the American Revolutionary War that took place between Britain and its 13 colonies. That is a clear example of rebellion against those in power, so I won't go into detail here.
All in all, my point is that natural disasters and political uprisings are not new events. It only seems like they occur more frequently now due to the recently rapid growth of global communication. The fact that I could go online this past March and read about the tsunami in Japan or turn on the tv for live coverage of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 only means I had easier access to that information than I would have for the Shaanxi Earthquake in 16th century China. This alone is not sufficient grounds for believing the world is coming to an end.
Bibliography:
Damnit damnit damnit
ReplyDeleteWhy are you so cool