... the majority of the people in the world are more interested in Kim Kardashian's ass or Donald Trump's latest twitter faux-pas than actually solving real issues that affect our collective future?

Or am I just being abnormally naive in believing it's a worthwhile endeavor to be concerned about the general future and betterment of humanity? Let's face it, much of human history is marked not by huge advanced so much as by people and nations beating the snot out of each other.

So, What's REALLY Eating You, This Morning?

Sunset
Fiery sunset

I was having a brief online discussion with someone about "income inequality" and it occurred to me that it wasn't so much THAT the gap between the rich and the poor is huge that bothers me (that's part of free enterprise, I fear)...

... as the fact that "rich" is more often the result of DE-structive behavior and enterprise and those who sincerely engage in CON-structive behavior and enterprise more often than not end up penniless as a result of their efforts.

I watch our marvelous and very promising community here on Steemit-- loosely based on the notion of a "gift economy" and "paying it forward"-- and I even see deterioration towards a "lower common denominator" here: I looked at a couple of relative newcomer accounts this morning who had the appearance of doing really well... but on closer inspection, it turned out that once I removed the $80 worth of "paid self-upvotes," they really weren't doing very well, at all... and they weren't making any attempt to do well (engaging).

Maybe I'm just too idealistic for my own good!

Trying a somewhat shorter format here, as engagement seems to be dropping as of late. What do you think?

How about YOU? Where do you stand on the "idealism" vs "realism" scale? Are humans basically doomed to destroy anything that looks efforts to benefit all? IS there such a thing as a human "greed gene?" Are we an inherently destructive and combative species, not reall;y capable of long term peaceful cooperation? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and opinions-- be part of the conversation!

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(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180209 10:22 PST