Human Solidarity
Can the human community imagine and create a more constructive sense of solidarity when no obvious common enemy presents an imminent existential threat to civilization’s survival?
Can the human community imagine and create a more constructive sense of solidarity when no obvious common enemy presents an imminent existential threat to civilization’s survival?
In 1875 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government is responsible for regulating immigration. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower urgently empowered the Immigration and Naturalization Service to “remove illegal immigrants, mostly Mexican nationals, from the southwestern United States.” The expulsion program’s official name was Operation Wetback. Border patrol, state and local…
Cherry-picking refers to people’s practice of selecting information to justify their points of view, even as they ignore perspectives and data from the same or similar legitimate sources that contradict their positions.
For example, the Hippocratic Oath is sometimes quoted to justify a stance against abortion rights by the same people who are certain that faith in female divinity as expressed in this document is heretical. Indeed, this oath, from which anti-abortion advocates draw support, was created by people who worshiped goddesses. It states, “I swear by Apollo the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and judgment, the following oath and agreement.”
The connection between humanity and the nutritional abundance of our sacred planet is as indispensable as the placental connection between a mother and her child. The placenta has been described as the only disposable organ ever made. Civilization is also disposable. If the connection between humanity and civilization fails, our descendants will have no more chance of survival than a fetus disconnected from its placenta.
For dozens of centuries the aristocracy mocked and doubted the common people’s capacity to lead. Then came “We hold these truths to be self-evident … all men are created equal … they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights … among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” If you believe these words, then you own responsibility for human leadership now.
The doomsday prophet Harold Camping recently revised his prediction. Camping now predicts October 21 2011 will be humanity’s last day. What’s comforting about this update is that “The end is going to come very quietly, probably within the next month….Probably… there will be no pain suffered by anyone because of their rebellion against God. Unbelievers might just…
Before Thanksgiving weekend 2011 passes into history, let us be thankful for people who pay their taxes, because they are supporting the people who don’t. Benjamin Franklin famously wrote that “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Indeed, civilization cannot exist without taxes, by which we pay for…