Keith Addison wrote:
> <snip> (my comments below inserted for clarity)
> >Keith, and others in this forum, seem to believe that some innate
> >goodness exists in humanity. I keep looking for it, but most of the
> >time what I see is simply innane!
>
(to which Keith responded:)
>
> It's not something I just believe Robert, I know it, from broad and
> repeated experience in quite a few different settings. It's widely
> confirmed by much independent and long-standing as well as current
> evidence. Also it's something I've done, again in different settings
> - it's something that can be used.
I have so seldom experienced principled behavior from people that it
shocks me when I see it. Because I expect people to behave selfishly, I
spend very little time feeling disappointed!
Before I delve too deeply into my own cynicism, I acknowledge that
we as a species are capable of altruism and goodness. Examples of this
exist, and perhaps I am quicker to ascribe nefarious motive to human
behavior because the contrast between what we COULD accomplish and what
we (even on a personal level) most often DO, is so great. I can
envision brotherhood, compassion and equality to an extent that moves me
deeply--only to encounter the precipice of reality wherein grinding
poverty, misery and warfare exists for the vast majority of people in
this world, with a widening gap between them and a small minority of
very wealthy, powerful and influential individuals who remain completely
insulated from this suffering by virtue of their wealth and power.
While it's wonderful that our current economic system enables people
to be successful (and trust me, my own family is MUCH better off in
North America than we ever would have been if my parents had stayed in
Brasil!), the cause of the inequity I observe has a great deal of its
origin in the personal selfishness of human beings in power. Some of
the wealthy and influential people ARE well intended and work to ease
the misery of other people, but these seem to be exceptions.
Truthfully, I should only write for myself. At the risk of starting
yet another religio-socio-political diatribe, I am a Christian whose
faith in God should enable me and others of like faith to revolutionize
our world. Yet for the most part, we don't. I find the admonition to
"love my neighbor as myself" among the most difficult principles to
apply, because oftentimes, my neighbors are not even likeable! So if I,
a man of deep conviction, find the axioms of my own faith contrary to
the natural propensity of my own behavior, how much more is this true of
the collective attitude of my nation--people who share a similar culture
and values?
I know you like to contrast we Americans from our government in
Washington, and I appreciate this more than you may realize. Doing so
may extend grace to me as an American, yet because of my citizenship, I
AM responsible for the lies and war mongering of the current
administration. I AM responsible for corporate greed, even if I don't
directly make the decisions of government and industry, because my
nation's government, and the policies it promotes, exist at my
discretion. (Ok, the collective discretion of 280 million citizens like
me. . .) The revolutionary nature of its founding documents MAKE me
responsible, because when the government no longer represents my
interests, I have the right to petition for redress. Even more, I have
the obligation to do so because my vote is the price every politician
pays to get into office in the first place. Extending this argument
further, the Declaration of Independence states that when the government
no longer represents me, I MUST overthrow it!
That's pretty radical language.
Now, I don't imagine Mr. Franklin, nor Mr. Jefferson along with the
other founding fathers, could ever have dreamed the system they set in
place would become as corrupt as it has. However, the system we have in
the United States very much reflects who we are as a people. My mother
used to tell me: "The people get the government they deserve." And if
she's right, God help us all! (Everyone knows that WE have Weapons of
Mass Destruction, and worse, the will to use them!)
I've gone from "turbines kill birds" to "God help us all" in the
course of a single discussion. The thread that binds those two thoughts
together is precisely what you mentioned when you wrote:
"So who's right? Both, yes? With human nature you'll find
what you set out to find - it depends on the intentions, the mindset,
the cherished notions, of who's looking."
Indeed! I can only influence myself and the people in my circle who
respect me. If I see abject misery around me and do nothing, then by
virtue of my inaction, I condone misery. If I witness my government
behaving irresponsibly and do nothing, I condone its behavior. If I
read mindlessness in someone's post and fail to respond, I condone
mindlessness.
We can disagree and still respect one another, as long as the
"intentions, the mindset" and "the cherished notions" we bring into the
process are thoughtful at the outset.
robert luis rabello
"The Edge of Justice"
Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/9782
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