The Government of Canada is spending $1 billion on security for the G8/G20 Summits in Toronto and Huntsville (including a $2 million fake lake). A hefty price tag to be sure. Not sure what they're expecting. Will Osama bin Laden finally make an appearance? Maybe the Raging Grannies are swelling their ranks with baby boomers? Perhaps registered and orderly marches shepherded by police are too scary for Steve and friends?
So what and who are we actually defending our dear leaders against?
Some years ago I read an interesting book by Jared Diamond called Collapse. The book outlines how ancient societies fall, including the Greenland Norse, the Mayans and the Easter Islanders. Various factors play a role in these collapses but one common theme is the isolation of elites from the signs of a weakening and precarious system. For better or worse these privileged individuals have the power to soften a fall or prevent an all out collapse altogether. In some cases they do listen (or are made to listen) and act.
So, for instance, a Mayan ruler will be blissfully unaware that food production is dropping due to environmental factors or due to bad policy because his dinner table is just as full as ever. The dancers still perform. The harem is just as pleasurable. The armies protecting him guard his palaces from tall ramparts. These armies keep the revolting, starving masses at bay or at least out of earshot of the dear leader and his inner circle.
And when the ultimate collapse comes, the ruler wonders how it could have happened. He never saw it coming and he never could have.
So maybe the $1 billion price tag is all about maintaining the roaring silence in the corridors of power. Stay the course. There’s no such thing as peak oil. Climate change is just a socialist plot. Tax the banks and our financial problems are solved.
And happily oblivious our dear leaders march us triumphantly into their impossible future.
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