It's one thing to say that the world wide web and improved communications are a force for peace, but they can also be abused. Who would want to think about how horrible that would be; the rise of a political force determined to put forward a strong program of hard toothed solutions to our present discontent!
No! What we really want is our bumbling democracies to muddle through amid protest and change without those people of a harder bent taking control. But, we are very close tom the tipping point towards that Platonic wheel of political change that predicts chaos.
It's very conceivable that we will fail to introduce a substitute for oil before the stress of a fluid world energy shortage results in serious clashes between the forces for stability and the lack of responsibility that emerges through desperation.
The problem arises because of debt that one generation accumulates and attempts to pass on to the next. When a new generation does not assume the burden of the excesses of a previous generation, the rapid transformations and adjustments needed for stability tend to erode respect and trust in the legal system.
Gradually, the new generation forces the issue seeking an advantage not by democracy but by fierce and by fighting amongst themselves. Bam! you have the instability everyone wants to avoid but few of the previous generation did much to address let alone understand.
It's not good enough that we don't know how to solve our present predicament. The spring is wound tighter and tighter as disagreement between influential parties becomes more fierce. Whoa betide the individuals that come in the middle, the innocents and the weak of the current and new generations who are dragged into a conflict between extremes willing to do more and more at the edge of violence in order to succeed.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/11/government_debt
Will not time reveal the lasting importance of friends and mutual respect? Be kind to those who think well of you and those you know and try to add positive elements to your world. Promote peace in your heart and sunshine in the minds of those around you by your own good works. Elevate the level of discussion by thinking less of the issues and more of how you can reduce the tension of stress that arises with honest disagreement. Relax by breathing more deeply and consciously.