How To Save The World: Step One
By Daniel Miessler on December 10th, 2006: Tagged as Civilization | Culture | Philosophy | Politics
The world today is failing to help the less fortunate due to cowardice. This is true in the U.S., in Mexico, in Africa, and most everywhere else on the planet. The issue isn’t obstacles that cannot be overcome; it’s that we are unwilling to correctly identify the obstacles in the first place.
When we as world citizens approach a situation in which a certain segment of the population is in pain, we approach it in one of two ways: it’s either a problem with the group itself or it’s a problem with the group’s environment, i.e. they are victims of something external to them that they cannot overcome. Inevitably, we chose the latter.
What’s needed, however, is an aggressive move away from politically-correct, “victim” policy and one towards logic and reason. The sad reality is that in order to do any good we have to stop treating many of these groups as equals.
When a child starts lighting things on fire, the role of the adult is not to convene a summit composed of equal numbers of children and adults in order to decide whether they should be allowed to continue the behavior. Instead, the adult’s job is to simply state that it cannot continue. Children are not entitled to equal treatment because they are children. This should be no different in the “adult” world. If a population or culture seems unwilling or unable to subscribe to the concepts that make civilizations successful, and human suffering ensues as a result, the world should step in and put a stop to it. But not as an equal — as a parent. A loving parent, to be sure — a parent that knows that this child will one day be an equal — but a parent no less.
Failure to adopt this approach will lead to the child simply lighting things on fire over and over. The role of the world in that scenario is reduced to sending firetrucks (and money for new furniture) and politely asking for the kid to stop. I say the time for that has passed. Let’s call a failed system what it is and find the courage to “talk down” to our family members who have lost their way. Anything less is superficial and ultimately pointless.
The challenge here, of course, is determining who should be included in the group of parents, and what the message to the child should be. And given the recent Bush administration the perception of arrogance and condescention is somethiAny discussions along this line inevitably lead to charges of racism, religious oppression, cultural elitism, etc. But one fact is clear: the unwillingness to classify these situations correctly, i.e. as groups/cultures that need behavior modification rather than environment modification will only prolong the suffering.:
