A NATION IS BORN! ...BUT WHAT DID IT COST US?
The century old Israel-Palestine conflict is all of a sudden the new hype in 2023; it only took a disaster on the Israeli side of the border to trigger it (October 7th, 2023). Goodbye Ukraine! Hasta La Vista post-covid excess deaths. The newest and latest talk-of-the-global-town is here; no different from the use of buzzwords like The Cloud and AI, while the majority of debaters hold a prestigious degree in Youtube-TikTok-Certified Understanding of the given matter.
...and so just like everyone else in this self-proclaimed informed citizens majority, all of us who are quick to get sucked into being in the know, I too had to try to inform myself on this new hype! A friend eventually shared this seemingly objective YouYube documentary (oh the irony) recounting the views of Israeli and Palestinian individuals (officials and civilians) who were there in 1948.
Now if we (the people; the masses; the 99.9%) can somehow manage to avoid sympathizing with either side for only a moment, reason and logic alone would tell us that this cyclical (if not circular) endeavour appears to be endless (if not pointless) in nature.
...and then we may ask, how can good young men anywhere exercise such a devastating form of brutality against life?
No, sorry. It's not because they are monsters, and we are good. That's just what some very influential psychopaths want you to believe. Don't just take my word for it, in 1988, Noam Chomsky (who some of my young, slightly more ignorant and yet supposedly-well-educated Canadian friends call "a loon") co-authored Manufacturing Consent. This book was so threatening to these psychopaths that it was forcefully pulled off the shelves by the umbrella media conglomerate that owned the small publishing company at the time. Chomsky hit back up dozens of well-researched publications, including the mindboggling content in Profit Over People (1999) and Failed States (2006), just to name a select few that dared to challenge the Goliath that the U.S. of A. has proved to be.
Acemoglu is another brilliant writer who co-authored Why Nations Fail (2012) and The Narrow Corridor (2019), underpinning the frailty that is involved in spawning and maintaining a well-balanced nation (or a "Shackled Leviathan", as they called it); a nation that can truly champion freedom and justice for all its citizens.
One might consider, what about the authors' incentives behind authoring these books? Were they working for the Russians or the Chinese? Well, a professor of mine at Carleton University, Randal Marlin, also published Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion (2002) discussing the various manipulation techniques that have been in use for millennia. His course wasn't only eye opening; it was well needed wide-awakening slap in my face. Randal, whose classes I attended in the flesh, also happened to be part of the Clinton Administration back in the 90s; so, even if my younger friends want to label him another basket-case, Goliath himself certainly did not.
Endless other authors like them have written on such topics and yet their proposed perspectives and arguments remain almost entirely absent in the typical educated conversations that seem to take place, as if unbeknownst to the average citizen. Perhaps Black Mirror's Men Against Fire presents the most modern and crystal clear approach to how collective illusions can be weaponized and targeted to generate individual perceptions that are completely rooted in inculcated myths, aiming only to cultivate intolerance, hate and division. I recommend everyone watch at least this episode (if not all of them) and then reflect on our comparable, inconsistent and often questionable human tendencies and behaviours. That's all, just, reflect.
Back to the seemingly unresolvable Pal-Israel conflict(s), I had to wonder, how are nations formed in the first place? I mean, did it look any different when settlers took over indigenous lands? Does the creation of a nation always entail devastation? It turns out that Columbia University professor and historian Rashid Khalidi had already examined century old primary sources behind this particular conflict and thought to ask these very same questions (see his title The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, 2020). Obviously, this author was criticized for minimizing the Palestinian aggression.
As a third party observer, I just finished watching the a council meeting of concerned nations alarmingly requesting a cease fire of the ongoing brutal Israeli retaliation, labeling it as an inhumane war crime, guilty of unjustifiably murdering thousands of innocent children (I write this passage now, on 11 Nov, 2023; over a month since the 7 Oct Hamas attack). I'm no theorist, but I think I'm equipped with enough neurons to recognize that Israel's current behaviour, today, right now, aligns perfectly with Khalidi's claims. No, it's not as complex as you're made to believe or think.
Read such historical books for yourself - not theology but history - including Daniel Cordis' contrasting perspective Israel (2016), then form your own opinions - not the ones you pick up from your friends, parents or Tik Tok videos. War is never a solution; not for the people. It's not about Islam vs Christianity or Capitalism vs Communism. These are seeds that turn our lizard brains into hate machines, feeding the oldest Us vs Them tribal mentality, playing into the dichotomous nature of the Divide and Conquer tactic of the ruler. The people are weakest when divided.
Maybe we have been duped into playing a losing game all along? Maybe, there's been a better way to do things but, we just never stopped to think.. how? A starting mindset that I would encourage stems from an old speech made by Charlie Chaplin in the Great Dictator. Black and White ancient and yet very relevant today - soldiers need to put down their weapons. Have a listen, it's only a few minutes long.
I've also heard of the Network State amongst other pilot programs attempting at sustainable societies. I'm a fan and contributor to the LinkPower movement that's just taking fruition in Vietnam. I love what Wikipedia and Open Source are about, and how Jimmy Wales refuses to take the billions that he could (although there may be a darker side to his story that I'm oblivious to? If so, please enlighten me).
What do you love? What are you a fan of? Is there a way that we can bring all of our good ideas together to make something absolutely, unprecedently, monumentally amazing - something that works for all of us?
Why not start right here and right now? Until we come up with something better, together.
A TIME FOR CHANGE
Say we could ask a genie in a bottle for a few wishes, could we even imagine what our ideal utopian world would look like?
Or how about this, picture a white backdrop and ten thousand pregnant women gently giving birth to newborns. Think, Boss Baby; factory in clouds magically producing babies and getting them ready for their new families and homes. Only this time, try to envision a world into which YOU would want these babies to enter. What can you dream up? What sort of world would you want these babies to enter, if you wanted them to live the best lives they could possibly live? Reimagine even the concept of family and home if you need to; a blank slate, or tabula rasa.
We've become so used to things the way they are, that I don't think many of us could accomplish an act as simple as picturing a different world. If you think you do, think of the sorts of people that would exist in this imaginary world - do you think you would have the same people? If you do, you'd be wrong. Ask any development or education expert on the effects of the environment - or nurture - on an individual, and you may be surprised to know just how dramatic an effect it would have on the person. So, reimagining the environment, by definition, requires the ability to reimagine ourselves, our neighbours - pretty much everything we've come accustomed to.
Test it out! Can you imagine a world such as the following:
⇒ No countries = No politicians = No lobbyists = No corruption = No deception/manipulation = No (modern day, useless) wars
This surely sounds absurd, even to a troglodyte. A wise and evolved, modern day human would consider this thought to be naive, ignorant or a utopian dream.
Ok. Let's take it even further.
If we inspect this imaginary causal chain and assess it (eventually through more detailed discussions, is the ultimate aim here), we find that it has the potential to empower individuals everywhere and nurture diverse communal and municipal cultures. If, we can imagine a complementary humane and universal approach to free quality human learning experiences for everyone (which is a project that I have turned into my life's mission, going on 8yrs now), we could eventually mitigate hunger, poverty and fear, and perhaps most pressingly, eradicate modern day warfare.
In other words, these few modifiable factors have the potential of changing everything we already (think we) know about how the world already works (e.g. evolution vs destruction), or how people already tend to behave (e.g. selfless/selfish). This inherently means that we literally know nothing of how anything would work or what anyone would be like if the world functioned in an entirely different way!
So then, what is stopping us from envisioning something different from the status quo? Ourselves? Our preconceived notions and jaded feelings?
I believe we can do better. At least, that's if we want to continue classifying our species as civilized and intelligent. Otherwise, we may as well pass off such glorified titles to the elephants, or any other species that better reflect or represent such traits; because, we don't.
My life is not worth more than yours. Nor yours, worth more than mine. The leaf on the tree making oxygen for us is perhaps worth more than both our lives put together. This is an opportunity to make our choices worth more than that leaf.
If we want real change, we all need to agree on what that's going to look like. We all need to understand one another. All of us.
We now have the tech to build and implement what could be the first ever Global and Universal Direct Democracy, and truly Open Government!
Yes? No? Do you disagree?
Great! Let's competently validate - or refute - this seemingly dreamy sentiment with logic and facts in our Blueprint Discussion sections, together!
Shall we?
THE BLUEPRINT
We all need your vote - yes, your thoughts and opinions - on each and every element that matters to you.
Such a collaborative approach ensures relevance and inclusion for everyone. This inherently promotes further engagement and participation, and makes us all fully accountable for, and accepting of the choices we all eventually agree on.
Revisions are unavoidable, so amendments will certainly play a part too. This is by definition and necessity, a living document. Remember that none of this initial proposal was meant to be static. Every part of this Blueprint is open to debate, critique, and most importantly, change!
Not one of us can figure this out alone - it must be a collaborative effort!
- Administrative Regions to identify global regional needs based on topology, weather and other environmental factors
- Energy Sources including Regional Needs and their Dispersion
- Food Sources including Regional Needs and their Dispersion
- Water Sources including Regional Needs and their Dispersion
- Other Natural Sources including Regional Needs and their Dispersion
- Property Ownership including Equity, Equality and Meritocracy, with a globally accepted and humane min and max
- Value Exchange Systems including Markets, Economies and Incentives, with a globally accepted and humane min and max
- Taxation flat and consistent as a globally accepted and humane value, based on the newly envisioned value exchange system
- Infrastructure such as Public Works and Shared Services that include Transportation, Communication, Healthcare and Welfare
- Policy and our overarching approach to global consensus, replacing all existing trade agreements
- Legislation basic universal human law similar to the golden rule with community-based amendments
- Enforcement to police, defend, serve and enforce the application of the universal human laws and their community-based amendments
- Human and Environmental Prosperity including Research and Development, and our Collective Human and Humane Advancement as a whole
- Personal Growth including Learning Experiences, Healthy Lifestyles and Personal Development
- Culture as an umbrella for all forms of Arts, Humanely Evolving Traditions, and Celebration of Diversity
Each of these will evidently require Pilot → Migration → Transition → Exit/Revision plans (Preliminary Migration and Transition Plan) to bring us from the existing state to our more desirable objectives.
THE GUIDELINE, NICE AND SIMPLE
Keep your contributions civil, constructive and collaborative.
There's zero room and zero tolerance for indecency andor abuse.
Free resources are available on sites like Opencourseware.org, Coursera.org and Edx.org if you need to learn the art of constructive communication and collaboration. Once you're ready, your thoughts will always be welcome on here, no matter who you are or where you currently stand.
Curiosity leads to discovery.
Discovery sparks new feelings.
Feelings inform our learning.
Learning feeds our growth.
So Living without Growth is likely to Feel like a mundane, plateau of useless meaning andor existence.
Therefore we can say that,
Discovering, is Feeling;
Feeling, is Learning;
Learning, is Growing.
Growing, is Living.
THE BACKEND WISHBONE
- Purpose, Mission and Vision What is One House and why e-Pangea? (Some of) The (long-winded) thinking behind the vision and mission
- The Drive, The Push, The Pull This was the opening content on the site, but just too much to read for many of us
- Technical and Financial OneHouse Project Setup, Configuration, Management Costs and Sustainability
- Author Just another nobody human being like you, but synergistically and naturally awesome when we all learn to stand together