What are people for

p What are people for What Are People For

Wendell Berry '92s persuasive argument that many modern conceptions of progress and happiness are rooted in ignorance and self-deception finds substantial validation in even a cursory glance of modern media and political discourse . Looked at more closely , the misconceptions ably identified by Wendell Berry in the Western (and particularly American vision of life and life responsibilities , cast an illuminating light on contemporary government , American foreign policy , and many urgent social crises

Most obvious is the relationship between Berry '92s observation that

br '93The higher aims of '93technological progress '94 are money and ease '94 and the recent almost epidemic instances of corporate corruption (and corruption in government ) whereby CEO '92s have garnered massive bonuses and pay-increases whilst robbing their shareholders and workers of profits and pensions . The corresponding downfall of powerful political figures in the United States Congress , as well as their lobbyist counterparts for racketeering , bribery , and other financial crimes indicates how widespread is the oligarchical strain of political morals in contemporary society

Wasteful projects such as the '93 '94Big Dig '94 in Massachusetts (estimated at 2 .5 billion in 1985 , over 14 .6 billion had spent in federal and state tax dollars by 2006 , as well as the highly-publicized Tyco and Enron financial scandals affirm Berry '92s contention that far from securing a worthy future , the immediate greed and gratification of '93big money '94 has motivated corporate and political leaders to sacrifice the future and well-being of myriad other individuals and the nation as a whole in favor of selfish , personal gain . This type of greed , based on the fallacious assumption of preserving one '92s future extends throughout the social hierarchy of America , with most , if not all industries and pursuits subordinated to it as Berry remarks '93Surely the aim cannot be the integrity or happiness of our What Are People For Page -2-

families , which we have made subordinate to the education system , the television industry , and the consumer economy '94 The reality is that most families are useful to the controlling interests of the American economy as charted demographics which allow individual economic resources to be targeted at '93tapped '94 by the said controlling interests . Corporate America , the media , and the governments themselves function as subsidiaries of the overall obsession with wealth and the increase of personal fortunes

The quest for personal enrichment , the acquiescence to greed predicated on the unknowable future is self-rationalizing behavior Ironically , it is also self-destructive behavior and also portends the possible destruction of the global environment . Were humanity truly concerned for the future , Berry argues , we would embrace the good things we know about the present such as water , oxygen , trees , oceans mountains , and wildlife , and see to it that these good things endure '93If we take care of the world of the present , the future will have received full justice from us . A good future is implicit in the soils forests , grasslands , marshes , deserts , mountains , rivers...