Analysis and Opinion
By JoeAm
Humans form collectives around common passions, common dedications. Cults, gangs, LGUs, dynasties, political parties, tribes, echo chambers, nations, faiths. These are examples. Wolves form packs, whales pods, and buffalo herds.
We humans have more diversity than animals in how we gang together because we are able to develop concepts that unite us. Like the idea of governments that write laws. Or LGUs that confiscate the nation's wealth to pad the coffers of the entitled. Or God in various iterations.
If we go through the list of collectives, we might discover some interesting emotional responses. Cults are groups of unthinking people obedient to weird ideas. Gangs are thugs who break laws and use drugs. Stay away from their territories. LGUs are local governmental gangs. Dynasties are the families that run the governmental gangs. Political parties are unions of dynasties that seek to run the nation, which is a very large gang, or cult, or faith. Tribes are ancient gangs of warriors that did not have nukes. Echo chambers are internet gangs. Nations are collectives trapped by the land they occupy, and so organize to keep that land and all its wealth. Faiths are collectives that are good if they are mine but not if they aren't.
The collectives all have leaders called preachers, bosses, mayors, godfathers, candidates, chiefs, influencers, presidents, or priests, imams, rabbis, and a lot of other terms. Of course, that's just English. Foreigners are huge gangs of people we don't trust because they look or speak differently than we do.
Most of the friction on planet earth is caused by collectives trying to impose their will on those outside the collective.
We are great at coming up with concepts that section us off and terrible at figuring out how to get along together, peacefully.
Think of the cultlike behavior of Duterte followers, or US MAGA Republicans worshipping Trump, or China marauding to expand their gangland territory. Or Crips and Bloods, Taliban, pirates, IDF, or other bands of humans that wall off any prospect of getting along by using violence and hate. Cops and protesters are modern examples. The intellectual differences go emotional and then people must get hurt to cause others to shout "Wait a minute, wait a goddamned minute you idiots!"
I toned down the language in case kids are reading.
It seems to me we have to think a lot better and harder to bring the gangs together, not wall them off with emotions gone berserk. Schools should do exercises to expand the human capacity to understand where others are coming from, peacefully. And to intellectually map out a set of values that can bring people together. For example . . .
- All humans are equal in their uniqueness.
- Laws allow us to live harmoniously.
- Privacy is a right.
- Freedom is loaded with responsibilities.
- Learning is a lifelong passion.
- Humanity is compassion and intelligence together.
- Wars are bad and so is global warming.
Well, it's a start. Respect the differences. Enjoy the differences. Talk frankly about them. Strive to put emotions away. They are corrosive, like acid.
We are all gangsters, in a way. Some gangs nurture us and protect us. Family, faith, nation. Echo chambers, I suppose. Politics has become a way to hate, not protect. We should change that. Faith is a freedom that should have a huge element of private to it, with preachers as teachers not warlords. Cults should dissolve under the weight of intelligence. Dynasties are families trying to leverage power and wealth to keep it for the entitled. They are too often destructive and should be outlawed.
We can be smarter, for sure.
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Cover Photo: Created by Bing with the prompt "Representation of wolves fighting bears, in oils."
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