For those who argue that everything is fine and nothing needs
to be changed, I point out that we have millions on the edge of starvation
and millions more two paychecks away from being homeless and we have
a massive addiction problem in this country…… all of this seems to suggest
that our problems aren’t just individual, single issues… but that the issues
we have stem from a system wide failure… that the issues we have are the result
of the nihilism that exists because of the political and economic system that
negates and leaves people without any say over their lives or any control
over their lives… the apathy in this country is also a result of people
being denied any control over their lives………… via ism’s and ideologies like
capitalism and religions like catholocism and the political via representative
democracy which only represents those who can afford it…
we often blames individuals for their individuals problems and yet,
we clearly have systems, both political and economic that negate
and dehumanize human beings and their values…and those systems
inpact upon our lives cannot be denied…a CEO in New York decides to
cut cost by eliminating 10,000 jobs and people due to forces beyond their
control and without having any say in the matter lose their jobs…
and the invisible hand of god proclaimed by Mr. Smith, that hand sweep
people into poverty and despair… but it wasn’t the hand of god, it was
the greed of the CEO… when will we blame the person who committed
this act of greed?.. it was man, a human being who caused despair
and confusion and anger to those who lost their jobs… but it was
the system that allowed the CEO to cut those jobs and send those people
into a bleak future…because the CEO can blame the rising cost
of workers to cause the downturn in his business… but here again,
we see workers sacraficed to the alter of mammon, to the alter of
profits/money…when will we put human beings ahead of profits/money?
And capitalism role in all this is to give the CEO cover to send thousands
into despair…
and how exactly does this concept of living without ism’s or ideologies
help this?
if we no longer live with ism’s or ideologies, as a practical matter,
how are we to make judgments?
If we walk away from ism’s and ideologies and prejudices and superstitions,
all the childhood indoctrinations, how do we engage with morality?
The question of Morality isn’t really rocket science… we can engage
with morality with values… I would treat someone differently if I
engage with that person with the higher, more human values of love,
justice, hope, peace, charity, humility or one of the hundreds of higher
values that exists……… if we treat people with justice for example, that
means we treat people equally, we are fair to people……
Justice means equality…or if we treat people with kindness…
we no longer have ism’s or ideologies dictate our actions, but we use
values…… using the higher values tells me that sexual relations with minors
is wrong because they are unable to defend themselves from adult predators…
but we can flip the argument… we can argue against people being predators
against children because those same predators would object to being the
object of another predator as children…….or people who would
murder others would object to being murdered themselves………
we can state that if people will not agree being the victims of
predators themselves, they cannot somehow state that being a victim
is somehow right or just……… if you steal, then you agree to the fact
people can steal from you……. the conclusion of this is that
people will treat others as well as they want to be treated…
this is one possible way to understand “morals”…
how do you want to be treated? that would suggest to us that
morals is simply a means of understanding how we should act toward
others… because what if that act or action were directed to us?
which leads us to another question?
for the higher morals to be achieved, we must become aware of
and have compassion for others………. it is easy to be an asshole if
we don’t “see” others as human beings… to many people go through
life seeing only their needs, wants and desires… traveling through life
as if they were the only people that existed in that life…………
this awareness of others is fundamental in our awareness of
morality… it takes two to tango as it were………
how can we lose a sense of other people in this existence?
it is easy when we make as our primary goal, materialism and
the pursuit of profits/money…if we place materialism and profits
first, then we lose sight of people and their values, this
pursuit of an ism or ideology allows us to neglect or negate
other people…
people are used in the engagement with the lower values of greed
and lust and envy… whereas if we engage with the higher values,
we treat people as we ourselves would want to be treated…
Ah the philosophical among us would say, you are talking about Kantian
ethics, but Kant would make it a duty for us to treat people ethically,
and it is not a duty, it is an awareness of others as human beings with
the needs and wants and desires as we have needs and wants and desires…
in other words, we see other people as we see ourselves……
within the equality that people need and deserve…
it is a viewpoint that understands people as being our equals,
if we treat people with equality/justice, we treat them morally…
if you want a “moral” society, then we must begin by seeing others
as being equal to ourselves, not higher or lower, but equal……
the process of morality begins once we see others as we see ourselves……
am I first in the universe? no, I am simply equal to everyone else and
this equality means I treat others as I would treat myself, as I would want
to be treated…morality begins once we see others, once we become
aware of the equality of other people………
now with that said, we can be sure that many will not begin this
process of treating or becoming aware of others… never underestimate
the solipsism of people… the only thing a lot of people are aware of
is themselves… they have no idea others even exists in the universe…
others who are valid, equal human beings just as we are………
“I think therefor I am” is not only a philosophical theory, but
it is the starting point of those who can only envision their needs,
their wants and their desires before, indeed being the only people
on planet earth with needs and desires and wants… you see many people
who have no vision of others, “I think therefore I am” is all they see…
their viewpoint doesn’t allow for the existence of other people as people…
as living, breathing people who needs and wants and desires equal their own……
solipsism allows us to negate all others as being less or nonexistent in value to us……
and what is the dominant viewpoint of capitalism? the idea that my needs
and wants outweigh your needs and your wants… that regardless of the
consequences to our society, I must engage with materialistic behavior…
for I am the only one, the only person who matters in the universe………
and capitalism is the perfect ism for those who practice solipsism……
but how do we exist without these ism’s?
we begin with the understanding that others are us, in fact,
there is no such thing as others, there is only us… morality
begins once we see that “others” is really us… how would we act
if the situation, any situation, were to be us… we no longer see
our acting upon others, we see others acting the same way to us……
and how would we feel if others treated us any differently then we
treated them?
the beginning of morality is once we see and become aware of
the fact that others want to be treated equally as we treat ourselves…
Kropotkin