The Purpose of all Wars, is Peace

The reason all these have the same date, is because I worked on them at different times its just that I posted them all at the same time.

- "The purpose of all wars, is peace." -Saint Augustine

This quote is an incredible paradox, is it not? Well, the purpose of all wars should be to end all wars, but as we know from the painfully current events, it too often isn’t.

This paradox makes sense because war should be fought only with the intention of the highest good. The Dalai Lama believes that force should only be used with a compassionate concern for others well being. Saint Augustine shares a similar belief in this paradox, in that war should be used only if it ensures peace as best it can.

Rudkin tells us that paradoxes are good, and should be embraced. Most people when they hear the word paradox, shy away, and dislike the word and the concept. But I agree, this being not the first social science course I’ve taken, I seem to notice that paradoxes really bring a lot to the table, when studied.

I know the word dichotomy very well from the course, feminism through an international perspective, I took here, at U of I. But the word dialectic sounds pretty knew to me. The chapter only gave a read between the line definitions of what the actual word means. Dialectics are logical methods and processes of thinking designed to arrive at the truth. The chapter summarized the many paradoxes present in the book.

The dialectics were past and future, the tension between reflecting and action, between science and values, between self and community, similarities and differences, things changing and things staying the same.

The dialectic of past and future reflected in a way upon many “hard” sciences like physics, or biology making disprove theories absolute, according to Rudkin. But I disagree with Rudkin, even in “hard” sciences, disprove theories have their place, definitely a larger place than was gotten from the reading. But the paradox is that the past does play a larger role in the social sciences than it does in the “hard” sciences. Also, once a problem in the hard sciences is solved, it will stay solved, until it’s disprove by something more advanced or because somebody’s experiment doesn’t match. But in the social sciences, some problems aren’t really solved completely, and have to be resolved and resolved numerous times in many different times and places.

An interesting parody was the tension between action and reflection, between activists and academics; it said that community psychologists are placed in precarious position, by having to be both of these roles. I am kind of surprised that Ruskin is telling to be part active. I like this stance, and I support it.

I always thought that values played an important part in science. The values of research, logic, thoroughness, unbias, should be placed first. I didn’t get completely what Rudkin had to say here. I must admit that I don’t like the way Rudkin writes sometimes, it seems like she just tries to fill up the page and kina avoids getting to the point.

A paradox that Rudkin stressed was the one between the self and community. The lesson from this paradox is that issues should be solved on the right level between the self and the community and not just the self how it was preached for the longest time.

Humanity, It’s Not Hopeless

“Never Send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee” John Donne

"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor" Robert Frost

Humanity, It’s Not Hopeless

After reading the last chapter in the book, I got to thinking about what I think aboiut the future of humanity, and other sources. This is what I really think about this world, about us all being a part of this globe together.

When I was filming a whole day of Ebertfest, the director of Man Push Cart, told Ebert that he doesn’t believe that the world will get better. He said that he doesn’t believe in poverty ever ending, world hunger ending, the super rich ever not being full of greed, wars stopping, and people not suffering. He said that he learned from looking at history how the world works, and that suffering will always exist.

The director said that he was a big fan of and that a lot of his ideas came from the French author Albert Camus. I was pleased to hear that because I also a big fan. I have read the lengthy Plague and the Stranger, although I’ve never read the The Myth of Sisyphus, which is what the director said he based the movie on. I can see where the director, Ramin Bahrani, is coming from. It’s sad and scary, looking at history, there doesn’t seem to be much hope for humanity. It seems that I am speaking about history in these papers a lot, at times like these I wish knew more about history. Why were there so many wars during the 20^th century? I hope it’s because of the many developments and the technological leaps that have occurred in these times.

But On the other hand, people have done lots of things throughout history, they have traded, grew, colonized, lost, killed, saved, but it seems to me that humanity has progressed. There have been people like me that have tried to change the world, to, improve it, and as far they could, they succeeded, so therefore, me and you can too.

I’ve chosen to direct my life by the principles of the Dalai Lama, and so I guess I don’t believe that there isn’t any hope for humanity. From a different perspective, but very close one, it doesn’t matter, because believing and acting that the world can be changed for the better is the only way a person can be happy with the life he or she lives.

There is a quote in the supplemental reading list, “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee” John Donne. I think, but I’m not sure, that the meaning is that bells usually toll for a person when that person is dead at that person’s church service. Taken with the whole poem though, I think Donne’s meaning is that we all have a responsibility a call to action to contribute to the world as much as we can.

It seems to be hard to trace the timeline of poverty. The oldest human issues would be basic needs, of the people, and therefore poverty can be considered to be the most essential issue existing for humanity out there. When a person is in extreme poverty, that person doesn’t have access to shelter, food, proper clothing, and sanitation. So poverty should be the main issue that people should focus on.

So, what to I believe in, well I believe that humanity defiently isn’t doomed. History shows us, that humanity isn’t stupid, (all in all), and that it does coninously strive for progress. So, in the future, distant and especially starkly near, humanity will either be full of injustice and misery like it is, or it will wise up and be compassionate and caring. I’m definetly completley living by the second.

A World Without War Now That’s An Alternative Setting

A World Without War Now That’s An Alternative Setting

After reading the stuff on Alternative settings, I imagined a world without war.

This kind of alternative setting might be even more important than a world without poverty.

Poverty isn’t the biggest issue facing us, rather its war; it is the continuous armament of the globe. Nothing else is in as much opposition to the basic humanity of the globe, as the continuous armament and use of weapons. Some armed conflicts are necessary, like WW2 and many others. But it’s only possible to know if a war is justified with hindsight. It’s very important never to presume that we know whether the outcome of a particular war will be justified or not. According to the Dalai Lama the Korean War was also justified because it gave South Korea, a chance to gradually develop a Democracy. The Dalai Lama proposes that all countries gradually reduce their weapons, at the same time.

First Nuclear Weapons have to be removed, then mass casualty, Chemical and Biological Weapons, offensive weapons, and finally defensive weapons need to be eliminated. At the end that only a security/police international coalition remains and that it is equally represented by each country, no matter what the size.I’m not sure if eventually the equally represented coalition should rid itself of weapons.

If every nation, no matte what the size had equal representation, then that would be the major step toward creating a stable international community.

The world spends its resources and money on what? Well, it spends a huge percentage on war. Huge, I’m not sure how much is spent, but its huge “Of course, the immense financial dividend reaped from the cessation of arms production would also provide a fantastic windfall for global development” (http://www.dalailama.com/page.63.htm).

“No matter what the case may be, I feel that a compassionate concern for the well-being of others - not simply for oneself - is the sole justification for the use of force.”

http://www.dalailama.com/page.44.htm

Institutionalized Murder

Institutionalized Murder

What do you do when you execute a person? Do you say that he doesn’t deserve to live? That by doing what was done, that individual “deferred” for lack of a better word, the right of life. Many people think, and I did kind too, that after committing executable crimes, the person shouldn’t be using resources like food, and tax money, while other “good” people are starving, and need those resources a lot more. There’s of course the chance that the crime can be committed again, and so the person will just continue to stay locked and use up resources in our already extremely “overcrowded” and critically deficient prison system.

As far as I know, two great movies came out on the topic of the death penalty. Monster and Capote. Interestingly, both earned their lead characters Oscars for best actor.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time; I haven’t, to see Capote. After seeing the extremely highly regarded Monster, I would have never put Charlieze to death. Movies are great when they help you emphasize. Every human being in this world should be empathized with, and that includes multiple homicides.

Selby: I just wanna live, Lee. I just want a normal happy life. I don't know why you did this.
Aileen: Because I love you. Because I love you and I never wanna to loose you and that's all. I love you from my heart, my soul, my mind. And I never let you down. All right? Because it was me. It was only me. And I'll tell them that, ok. It's over for me now. And I never gonna see you again.
Selby: Yeah, I know.
Aileen: I wish there was a way that people can forgive you for something about this, you know. But they can't. They can't, man. So I gonna die, Sel.... Hey Sel, I'll never forget you. Good bye, baby. Bye baby.
Selby: Good bye, Lee.

This is an excerpt from the fictional movie Monster. I understand that I’m using dialogue from a fictional movie to help justify a very serious issue. This is very unheard of, but I believe that a movie of this stature makes a very important social point.

Many people believe that people who committed horrible crimes are disturbed, mentally abnormal in a significant way. There is no denying this, they are. What else could have driven them to those crimes?

Maybe they aren’t in the least mentally ill, and are simply evil. They have calculated their crimes with full knowledge, of the consequences, of who is going to be hurt. So these people are just like the majority of the population, but are extremely not like the rest, because their motivation and morality are completely skewed or absent. No, people like this don’t exist, there is no such thing. If maybe there is one person in a million like this, then that person would be mentally ill. Exhibiting such traits is a sign of illness.

According to Amnesty International, over half the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice. The US joins the ranks of countries like China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia as the number one perpetuators of this crime globally. For the year 2005, 94% of all executions come from these four countries.

It’s alarming that we are among these three countries. In 2005, we have executed 60 people and condemned 106 to death sentence.

The Money of the Rich

The Money of the Rich

“They have seized upon the government by bribery and corruption. They have made speculation and public robbery a science. They have loaded the nation, the state, the county, and the city with debt“
Denis Kearney

As I started writing this response it turened into a PDA. Imainge that.

The Rich Don’t Pay Taxes

I admit that I don’t know enough I don’t know enough about taxes system that we live in, but I believe that there’s a lot of truth to what fallows.

Big business pays doesn’t pay taxes. It seems like the richest should pay most taxes, but it seems like they pay the least. They have expensive accountants, huge tax cuts, and countless other tricks to avoid paying taxes. Giving the filthy rich huge tax cuts, doesn’t make any sense. One of the main reasons rich don’t pay taxes is because their profits don’t come in the form of a salaried income, they have their gigantic wealth in the form of a molten of investments, and the large majority of taxes comes from income tax.

The rich then give the all Republicans and most Democrats campaign money they have in return, and then the Republicans use that money to brainwash the slight majority of the Americans, into believing in these lies. Many lies, one of which is that the Republicans are poor and don’t need to be burden with any more nasty evil taxes.

We live in a tiered tax bracket, but the bracket should be higher, a lot.

If you come from a family which has money, often the principle is invested, producing more money. There are trusts for members of the family, which usually are funded primarily by accumulated interest, dividends, money produced by investing the principle. Some of this money is also reinvested, producing more money. With this system in place, you never actually spend your money; it works for you, producing more.

People should be educated about the seriousness of this extremely widespread inequality.

Actually, in our country, there is no Democracy, and the government controls the people.

I’m saying this because Bush was never elected in the first place.

This Domestic Crisis is Very Severe

Poverty should be among the top priorities of state and national governments.

Poverty exists everywhere, in every State in the US, and in every country in the world.

The people should get together and demand that the government change many of its policies towards the rich, and super rich.

If this doesn’t happen then other progressive steps should be taken.

The Death Penalty

The Death Penalty

I’m not sure as to which issue is more critical, as to which issue is more important, which issue should have a slightly higher priority. Here are some issues that might be the biggest issues facing humanity in this modern world.

War might be the biggest issue facing humanity

War, continuous armament of the world

Disease epidemics

Extreme Poverty, Inequality

Corruption,

Destruction of the environment

I’ve decided to focus on one issue, and I write about it here:

I must admit that on first thought, very first thought, I found it hard not to put a person to death, that I knew “beyond a reasonable doubt” committed heinous crimes against other people. Maybe that emotion and thought are conditioned for me because I live in this country. But after thinking about it for just a moment, I realize that the death penalty is wrong, and should be abolished.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments. - (Amnesty International). http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-index-eng

I’ve observed this in social sciences that something to be true has to have observed bombers behind it. Not everything can have these numbers, but many things can. It is shocking that there are 106 death sentences and 60 executions in the United States in the year 2005, when the death penalty was never proven to deter crime more than other methods (Amnesty International). That is the bottom line then, does it deter crime, and it doesn’t.

Now further steps need to be taken, what is to be done with the most horrific of criminals? A serial killer or a terrorist responsible for a bombing which killed 60 people at a temple. Well is it possible to release such people back into society, so they can live on their own? I don’t know, the answer to this question, but it seems like they can’t be. One option would be too force them to work in confinement, all the time treating them humanely. Of course throughout, reasonably, we teach and change the individual for the better and see what happens.

Important Parts of the Super Initiative

Important Parts of the Super Initiative

We would form a group, or improve on existing ones, that would try to invoke the greatest participation by other people as possible. One of the main goals, would be to invoke the greatest impact on our politicians to change the way our big businesses exist, and to change the way the very rich live in this country. The goal is to get all middle and lower class citizens of the globe to participate to improve the economic inequality of our globe.

On a different smaller community level, I would get the message out by posting messages on likely websites, newspapers, magazines, TV ads, signs on buses, walls, and huge billoboards. I would also get the message out with the help of other existing similar organizations and local government.

The people around the world would be the natural support system, and the formal support systems would be US and the systems and organizations that WE interact with that would be occupied all day on the issue. Some would be NGO, non-profit, type groups. Some would be non-profit because, in a way, that is the point.

Change will be on many levels. One will include social support networks of family and friends. “The only thing that poor people have is each other”; we are going to improve on this truth, and we are going to change it by significantly changing the face of poverty. Now, the poor are going to have everyone.