Dear Friends,
It seems to me, we are all different, and the same, and it is in those places where we are the same, that we connect. The wise ignore as best they can the differences that tear us apart. There are aspects of our personalities that overlap with someone apparently utterly different. That overlap, even if small, is a place where we can connect. Once we have connected, as individuals, we can blend in those places where we differ. If you understand what I am saying, it is obvious why grouping people is a fools errand. Because any definition of a group, where some arbitrary attribute overlaps, is not necessarily meaningful. Moreover, people that are alike in one aspect are probably very different in others. Meaning, when we limit individuals to a group, we limit individuals.
That is why the mental framework of seeing people as right or left is so deeply flawed. How can any definition that is not only mercurial, but actually flips every now and then, be at all useful? It is not. It is in fact harmful. Instead of informing us, it distracts, dumbs down and warps us. In 1910, a US progressive was pragmatic not idealistic, he or she was also left leaning, nationalistic, racist, eugenicist and pro war. Today their philosophy has not changed at all… except that they are no longer nationalist or pragmatic, since socialism has been proven to be economic, social and cultural poison… They are now idealists, clinging to a belief that if they get absolute power, they can usher in utopia… where everyone else failed so utterly before. That mental framework is attractive, understandable and flawed.
A better mental framework might be to see people as people. Your favorite color might be red, a hideous color, and anyone who favors it should be ostracized… or not. Instead, focus on where we agree first, then, once we have mutual respect, we can discuss those things we disagree on. It is more dramatic to look at where we disagree, and so more exciting, but less profitable. Let us not become like the people in the Emo Phillips joke, who agree on everything, so fight to the death over a tiny disagreement. So we have something to fight over I suppose. Nevertheless, where the elite try to separate us into groups, those groups necessarily are arbitrary. Grouping random people based on race, religion, or toe nail fungus status, ignores the myriad of ways we are the same.
We have become so polarized because we are following our leaders, but in this day and age, we need not. We have progressed beyond the need to be ruled. Grouping us and pitting those groups against each other, like in the Star Trek Episode, Gamesters Of Triskelion, is a means to usurp control. They honestly believe they can make every decision for everyone, better than we can ourselves, and so they group us to that end. Clutching at an economy, culture and people, is like grabbing smoke. No matter how well it appears to be in hand, when you close your fist, you find it has metamorphosed into a different shape. Because humanity itself is an emergent phenomenon, out of the complex system that is, the human condition. Like a brain in a dish… the graspers don’t understand this fact.
It is only by applying our innate humanity, to humanity at large, that we can really be civilized, mature and sovereign human beings. Grouping people, especially with the intent of ostracizing them, is the opposite of human hearted. Although it is easy to become trapped in the flawed mindset of categorizing people, we must try not to, doing so only serves those who would separate us into warring factions, to their own diabolical ends. They are graspers. People who grasp at power and group us to help them achieve it. The solution is to engage with people as people, individuals as individual and human to human, not as race versus race. The first is a win win, while the second is a lose lose. Only fools choose a lose lose, when a win win is available… and know about it.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
