If I learned anything in my Philosophy major at Boston College, it was this: keep an open mind. Think freely. Listen to your friends. Listen to your enemies. Listen to everyone. Learn everything you can about this world and the millions of people around you and continue to grow as a person. No one has any idea where this life will lead us and no one individual is more important than any other. Seems like a simple concept, right?
WRONG.
The manner in which our society is constructed limits free thinking, equality, freedom of choice, creativity and happiness for those living in it.
Certain individuals have more power and influence than others either because of their background, wealth, political position, or random luck. Certain individuals never have a chance to even think about being wealthy or having a say. Certain individuals are discriminated against. Certain individuals are lauded for their accomplishments.
Could someone running for President in the United States as an independent candidate and ideas to shake things up ever succeed? NO. Without the backing of the Democratic and Republican parties and the funding and exposure that comes with it, no one can ever hope to making a significant change in the way things are.
As much as America is considered to be the land of the free, our socioeconomic and political structures encourages conformity, “knowing your role”, and “playing your part”.
I think one of the goals of philosophical study is discovering how we as individuals and as a collective can become happier. Now, I believe it is optimistic to think that everyone in this world can all be happy at the same time. There will never be a society where each and every person can have his/her own way. It is impossible. There are too many people and too many conflicting selfish thoughts and actions for everyone to be satisfied; however, I do believe there is one key to make the world a better place.
That key is UNDERSTANDING.
I typed the below blog post about understanding a while ago, but I never posted it, so with that introduction, I hope you like it (also, forgive me because I didn’t read through it that carefully again so there may be some weird stuff in it and it is a very rough draft):
People don’t give a **** about anyone but themselves, or do they? It is in age-old question that pretty much everyone has thought about. If each of us considers our own behavior and actions, it almost seems impossible to depart from our selfish ways. Charity and sacrifice are nice concepts, but they often seem like unattainable ideals.
As I have typed about before, some philosophers have argued that in a situation in which humans were in their “natural state” (no government / no society), there would be complete anarchy and every human being would act in a manner to ensure his/her own survival at all costs. The state would be characterized by murder, war, stealing – basically, total chaos.
If we look at how society is constructed today, we know that there is something (whether it is God, necessity, love, or whatever else) that brings humans together. From the very beginning of time, our basic human instincts led us to create complex political, education, communication and economic systems.
The progression took a while [huts >>>> villages >>>> towns >>>> cities], [telegraph, phone, radio, tv, internet], etc., but we now live in a world in which communication with anyone in any part of the globe at any time is possible. Without the desire to co-exist and collaborate, these structures would have never been developed. We need each other to have a fulfilling life.
Yet, despite all of these collaborate efforts, the human race remains at odds. The political climate in the United States is hostile - republicans and democrats are constantly criticizing each other through the media. Countries and the people within them are at war with each other. Crimes, including murder, are committed all of the time for a variety of reasons. People are chastised and discriminated against based on their race, religion and sexual orientation.
Instead of utilizing our monumental achievements in communication over the past 20 years to promote togetherness and understanding, we’ve allowed it to be just another a medium to promote negativity.
Before we think about solutions on how to solve these problems, we need to understand what we are up against.
Nature
Once we are capable of recognizing that other people besides us exist, we realize that each and every person is different. Some people are stronger than others. Some people are smarter. Some people are taller. Some people have different skin color. Some people are blind.
In terms of certain attributes, we were not all created equal.
Environment
Some of us were born in wealthy neighborhoods with robust educational systems and programs geared towards making us “successful”. Some of us weren’t. Some of us had two parents. Some of us were surrounded by positive influences. Some of us were born in violent environments in which people around us were killed everyday. Some of us have never seen a crime committed in our lives. Some of us worry about whether we should get a yellow or orange Porsche to add to our collection of 100 cars. Some of us wonder if we will ever own a car.
Competitiveness
In the United States, almost every situation we are placed in from the moment we are born is competitive. Everyone wants to be the best at every activity, whether it is sports, rapping, school, the workplace, etc, and those who are better than others at whatever activity is, are typically rewarded with money, power and fame.
Who is the best – Lebron or Kobe? Beauty pageants. “Why haven’t I been promoted – I am a better worker than that guy.” Gifted and talented programs. Educational grading system. SAT. “Safety School”.
Think about it – there are millions of examples.
Once we realize we cannot be the best at everything, society incentivizes us to carve out a niche for ourselves. Some people focus on music, some people focus on sports, some people focus on biology, etc. If I am good at finance and it’s going to make me money, why should I care about anything else? The result of this concept is increased / intense competition in particular fields (business, politics, science ,etc.) and a lack of understanding of other fields.
Summary of Differences
We are all different in terms of our biological attributes, skills, upbringing and, on top of that, we are encouraged to be competitive and look out for ourselves as we are growing up.
These factors have created the hostile and competitive world in which we currently live in with everyone thinking, “me first”.
Lack of Understanding
I believe that lack of understanding is one of the primary factors in driving discourse amongst humans and I am going to try to give a few examples.
Religion
How many people actually have taken the time to understand and learn about the religions they criticize so often? My guess is not many. I hear or read people equate Islam to terrorism all of the time. Think about the reaction to the construction of the Ground Zero “mosque” earlier this year.
Race
Racial discrimination, slavery, etc. What were people thinking when they instituted these concepts?
Background
Do people who have come from privileged backgrounds understand those who are homeless or never had the opportunity to be wealthy or have power?
Sexuality
People’s beliefs regarding heterosexuality vs. homosexuality evolve as they grow up and learn more about it (specially in the teenage / early-20s timeframe). Views can change dramatically with a little bit of understanding.
Others
There are so many other examples of how we can better understand each other. It is difficult to do sometimes, but I think the world could be a better place if we all made a better attempt.
A Conservation
About a week ago I was walking on the street and I was approached by an African American man who informed me that he had just gotten out of prison. Here is the conversation in paraphrased form:
Man: Hey man, can you give me a second, I just got out of prison. Where’s the E train at?
Me: Right there (points)?
Man: Hey, that’s not what I want. Can I get a dollar? I’m a dollar short.
Me: (hesitating) Ok, let me check my wallet (I wasn’t sure if I had one or not, but I found one). Here you go (I try to hand him the dollar).
Man: No, that’s not what I want (I probably appear confused and nervous to him). Hey man, I ain’t never robbed anybody. Why does no one understand that? Shake my hand.
So, I shook his hand and he wouldn’t let go of me. He tried to start talking to me and I pulled away from him and I said “Sorry, I can’t help you”, and I walked away very quickly into a nearby store. He walked down the block looking back at me and cursing.
I have no idea what the outcome of that situation would have been, but it is obviously still on my mind. I didn’t give a damn about that man and I ran away from the issue. I missed a potential opportunity to help out a person in need. If only I could have been a little more understanding.
