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Vision

August 17th, 2007
By Alex Hammer

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They say that “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man (or woman) is king (queen).”

Malcolm X was assassinated when he started embracing more peaceful/conciliatory (difficult to find the most accurate word, I want to be very fair) views.

Gandhi was, most assuredly, a man of peace. But he aroused great resistance in his non-violent means of securing political (and I’d add moral) change, and he too was assassinated.

Martin Luther King was a National treasure. His “I Have a Dream” speech is, to me, the most moving and visionary message that I can think of anywhere. A bullet ended his life as well.

A science-fiction novel contains the well-known line, “violence is the last bastion of the incompetent”. I agree. Little children (and sometimes big children, and sometimes adults!) throw temper tantrums when they don’t know other more socially appropriate ways to try and get what they want. As we develop and grow older, we hopefully grow out of the temper tantrum strategy and develop more refined and more effective methods of dealing with others.

In an episode of Star Trek (or maybe one of the movies, I can’t remember), the crew is transported back into time. They’re in a scene, which is the past for them, in which someone is going to have an operation. Star Trek’s doctor (Bones?) is appalled. He calls them “barbarians”, incredulous that they would really need to cut somebody open to attempt to cure them.

Not too many centuries ago they thought it was OK to kill “witches” in Salem, Massachusetts. In not too distant human history Christians were fed to the lions. Jews and others were slaughtered en masse in modern times in the Holocaust. And more recently still was the Rwandan genocide.

Today we’re killing each other in Iraq, for starters (killings in our own country as well). I’m not making light of that at all when I ask “What’s up with that?”. I really want to know. Some animals kill each other at times (and I guess just primarily for food). I don’t think killing - whether it be the death penalty, a war, or some other means is really human. I think it’s barbaric.

At the same time, I am not a full pacifist. I think it was essential that we defended ourselves in World War II (World War I, I know less about), and I think, after 9-11 that the war in Afghanistan also was justified.

But I think that we humans as a species have to also continue to evolve so that we learn, collectively, how to solve problems without violence. We don’t allow temper tantrums in adults. Why should societies sanction violence?

“Violence is the last bastion of the incompetent”. If we had the advanced skills to resolve problems in more evolved ways, no one would feel the need for violence and it wouldn’t occur.

Now, I don’t propose to know what all of those solutions to violence and wars may be. I have a few ideas, like anybody else, but I think it is more important that solutions develop collectively. We don’t allow slavery anymore in this country (what a stain on our nation’s history that is), we have (and I hope continue) made progress in ensuring the rights of women, minorities, the handicapped, etc. Children are no longer exploited in sweatshops (I hope) in our country. As things have evolved over time they should hopefully continue to evolve over time further. Maybe we will reach a time when like the Star Trek character we realize that some of the things that we are still doing today - by tomorrow’s standards and maybe today’s - are still barbaric.

We should be happy with the progress that we have made, but never rest on our laurels or grow complacent.

Also, “the perfect should not be the enemy of the good”. Just because humans may never be perfect does not mean that we should let up on our quest to be better than we are today. Our elected officials play a big role in this. We turn to them to embody our wishes, and for leadership .

And then we have the visionaries. Those that are ahead of their time. Gandhi, MLK, a late-stage transformation (if that can be a suitable term, I don’t mean to be disparaging to anybody’s views on either side) Malcolm X. There is a spiritual component to life that ignites in us such that over time, collectively, we become better. It’s not OK to kill “witches” today in Salem, Massachusetts.

And it is sad that it ever was.

Alex Hammer is the owner of Politics 2.0 (What’s now and what’s next!).



This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 6:40 am and is filed under Columnists. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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