Noone is suggesting that we watch more TV. And the mere
existence of web sites is of course no problem either. It's
the rate at which stuff proliferates, be it web pages or
cars. This is growth getting out of control, it's a
cancerous tumor.
Each one of us is consuming a lot, and of course finds good
reasons (a posteriori !) to defend that fact. A healthy
approach would be to step back, to distanciate yourself from
yourself and your surrounding. I guess that's what self
consciousness is all about.
As to needing 'pretty dictators' as excuse for not being
able to feed the whole planet, that's plain rediculous. You
mean, it is the fault of all the Mugabes, Ghaddafis, or
Husseins that there is such a huge gradient in wealth
between what we refer to as first and third world ?
As graydon points out, it is our inability to reason, the
all so modern
religion of 'free markets' which is at the heart of all
that, both, the world's poverty, as well as the uncontrolled
growth we are experiencing.
Isn't it strange, how keen we are on technological
excellence, controlling even the genetic foundation of
future generations of living beings, but at the same time
throwing up our hands if it comes to having the slightest
control over us as a society / culture ?