Peace, I hate the word...
I had earlier expressed having had an idea, and then I sort of dismissed it casually, like I have dismissed so many things. I thought that maybe I had been a little frustrated lately and my histrionics were acting up, that maybe it was a facet of what I had been going through, this intense desire to move the world.
I don't know much, but I do know that we're living in a dangerous place, and although it has been beaten to death, there are some problems that I don't think have been addressed.
I think that one of the core problems facing our world today is a sense of disenfranchisements, a sense that there is a great and growing gap between the haves and have-nots that will never be rectified. This fear of a growing technocracy manifests itself in a number of ways, but most prominently in 'culture wars' and fundamentalist forms of spirituality and both threaten the fabric of our society (globally).
The problem of fundamentalism is two-pronged. The first is the cynical, that the leaders of these movements are exploitiong the feelings of their minons in order to secure power that would otherwise slip away from their grasp. They appeal to the desperate, and partially the ignorant (although, desperation may produce a blindness in all of us). They create an enemy on the outside, that can be fought against, rather than challenging people to adapt with the times they stand up and demand that everything be halted around them. With all of this ire focused without, there is no time to look inward, and the same problem exists with cults. The problem is exascerbated by the fact that our country is being run by morons who think that diplomacy only comes at the end of a gun.
The second problem of fundamentalism is that of faith. It is very easy to just think in very cynical and very analytical terms about these movements, that they're just attempts to maintain the status-quo or put a new group into power when they can't come up with anythin that really helps or advances the people that they wish to dominate. I suppose that I've learned a lot about faith in the past few months, I think that for a long time it was never something that I really considered, just something that sort of annoyed me once a month with a mass.
For many people, especially those living out on the edge, those who feel like they have no hope in this changing world, faith is all that they have. They only have the belief that the lord will provide because the world hasn't shown them anything else, and if someone who is older and better educated than you is telling you that everyone who could help you is the agent of teh devil, then they are twisting and perverting that faith, that they are sewing the seeds of the kingdom amidst foul soil (so to speak). Faith is nearly impossible to shake, be it in god or in people, and whenever it is brought to its foundations something colosssal must have happened.
Recognizing these as a root cause of violence and strife (amidst many other socio-economic factors), how can they be combated?
The short answer is, hope.
If the United States and other governments want to stop giving money to the Palestinian Government because of Hamas, then they are only adding to the wealth of material that Hamas might draw from for propoganda. After all, if you're not helping any more, then you've turned against the people (or so the logic might go). I propose that the United States use the money to fund alternative charities, that can provide even more services than Hamas (who have pensions, buy groceries, visit old people and the like, in addition to wanting to destory the Zionist Entity). Naturally it would be incredibly difficult to give such an organization credibility, which is why it needs to be run purely out of altruism (no CIA, no strings).
In the Sudan, there are US MIlitary units that are combating terrorism by going around to villages and helping them obtain what they need, be it pumps or irrigation ditches for their crops. As we learned in Vietnam, you can't win hearts and minds with tanks and bombs, you can only win them by giving the people something (and trust me, food and water are always what people want).
The program would parallel that, but be broader in scope. In addition to providing support for infrastructure in impoverished regions, it would provide food aid, jobs training, and scholarships for local young people to go and study various professions in the United States (with emphasis on agricultural sciences, engineering and medicine). It would cost a lot of money, but can you put a price tag on freedom?
People need hope, people need something to grab onto in their darkest hours, because they'll try to grab onto anything, and while I might think that I had some bad times in the past, they're nothing compared to what most people in this world go through. What I'm saying is that in order to establish more firlmly the role of reason and moderate skepticism in our world, we need to give people something real to grasp onto.
There is also the idea of pushing passive non-violent resistance, the kind that toppled governments and changed the world. It helps to establish a moral high-ground and bring pressure to bear against governments that use extreme tactics to fight against resistors, violence only begets violence. Non-violent passive resistance is the most effective tool to bring back reason into the debate, and that's really all that we want.
So, what needs to be done? Education needs to be put forward, both here and abroad, the government needs to be petitioned and urged toward this goal, and redirecting resources to establishing these sorts of programs, other businesses and groups, especially moderate muslims (and maybe christians). It's a lot of work and a lot of research, but I think that it can be done, but I really don't have much of an idea about these.
Well, that's about all I have to say.
I don't know much, but I do know that we're living in a dangerous place, and although it has been beaten to death, there are some problems that I don't think have been addressed.
I think that one of the core problems facing our world today is a sense of disenfranchisements, a sense that there is a great and growing gap between the haves and have-nots that will never be rectified. This fear of a growing technocracy manifests itself in a number of ways, but most prominently in 'culture wars' and fundamentalist forms of spirituality and both threaten the fabric of our society (globally).
The problem of fundamentalism is two-pronged. The first is the cynical, that the leaders of these movements are exploitiong the feelings of their minons in order to secure power that would otherwise slip away from their grasp. They appeal to the desperate, and partially the ignorant (although, desperation may produce a blindness in all of us). They create an enemy on the outside, that can be fought against, rather than challenging people to adapt with the times they stand up and demand that everything be halted around them. With all of this ire focused without, there is no time to look inward, and the same problem exists with cults. The problem is exascerbated by the fact that our country is being run by morons who think that diplomacy only comes at the end of a gun.
The second problem of fundamentalism is that of faith. It is very easy to just think in very cynical and very analytical terms about these movements, that they're just attempts to maintain the status-quo or put a new group into power when they can't come up with anythin that really helps or advances the people that they wish to dominate. I suppose that I've learned a lot about faith in the past few months, I think that for a long time it was never something that I really considered, just something that sort of annoyed me once a month with a mass.
For many people, especially those living out on the edge, those who feel like they have no hope in this changing world, faith is all that they have. They only have the belief that the lord will provide because the world hasn't shown them anything else, and if someone who is older and better educated than you is telling you that everyone who could help you is the agent of teh devil, then they are twisting and perverting that faith, that they are sewing the seeds of the kingdom amidst foul soil (so to speak). Faith is nearly impossible to shake, be it in god or in people, and whenever it is brought to its foundations something colosssal must have happened.
Recognizing these as a root cause of violence and strife (amidst many other socio-economic factors), how can they be combated?
The short answer is, hope.
If the United States and other governments want to stop giving money to the Palestinian Government because of Hamas, then they are only adding to the wealth of material that Hamas might draw from for propoganda. After all, if you're not helping any more, then you've turned against the people (or so the logic might go). I propose that the United States use the money to fund alternative charities, that can provide even more services than Hamas (who have pensions, buy groceries, visit old people and the like, in addition to wanting to destory the Zionist Entity). Naturally it would be incredibly difficult to give such an organization credibility, which is why it needs to be run purely out of altruism (no CIA, no strings).
In the Sudan, there are US MIlitary units that are combating terrorism by going around to villages and helping them obtain what they need, be it pumps or irrigation ditches for their crops. As we learned in Vietnam, you can't win hearts and minds with tanks and bombs, you can only win them by giving the people something (and trust me, food and water are always what people want).
The program would parallel that, but be broader in scope. In addition to providing support for infrastructure in impoverished regions, it would provide food aid, jobs training, and scholarships for local young people to go and study various professions in the United States (with emphasis on agricultural sciences, engineering and medicine). It would cost a lot of money, but can you put a price tag on freedom?
People need hope, people need something to grab onto in their darkest hours, because they'll try to grab onto anything, and while I might think that I had some bad times in the past, they're nothing compared to what most people in this world go through. What I'm saying is that in order to establish more firlmly the role of reason and moderate skepticism in our world, we need to give people something real to grasp onto.
There is also the idea of pushing passive non-violent resistance, the kind that toppled governments and changed the world. It helps to establish a moral high-ground and bring pressure to bear against governments that use extreme tactics to fight against resistors, violence only begets violence. Non-violent passive resistance is the most effective tool to bring back reason into the debate, and that's really all that we want.
So, what needs to be done? Education needs to be put forward, both here and abroad, the government needs to be petitioned and urged toward this goal, and redirecting resources to establishing these sorts of programs, other businesses and groups, especially moderate muslims (and maybe christians). It's a lot of work and a lot of research, but I think that it can be done, but I really don't have much of an idea about these.
Well, that's about all I have to say.