One War to Destroy Them All!

Okay, it’s time to get a bit more aggressive with my Goodness First ponderings.  

As my blog’s namesake implies, our primary intention is to bring Goodness into this world, for ourselves and others; upon those journeys we are constantly prioritizing what is important in our lives from flossing our teeth (an act of questionable efficacy per evidence based dentistry) to dedicating forty plus hours a week toward a vocation that provides some balance of Goodness of economic and world affirming benefits.

To that ends I declare war (metaphorically) on the non-Goodnesses of the world.  Presidents of the past have declared war on other countries that sought world domination.  Presidents since Johnson have declared a war on drugs (except for those of the alcoholic variety).  President Bush and Obama have declared a war on terrorism (with their own flavor of nationally sanctioned terrorism).  

Each of these wars seem honorable on the surface.  In our imperfect world, one might consider certain complex situations having sufficient non-Good to consider (with great sadness and disregard for inclusion of immense profit margins) that necessity calls upon us (U.S.?) to implement state sponsored violence to turn the tide of the perceived “evils.”

In contrast, I believe the most honorable war is truly metaphorical and truly just!  I propose a massive, unified response that in its awesomeness does not require anything physically violent whatsoever.  And yet, the non-Good adversary I call out is nothing short of the ultimate nemesis of human society: Ignorance.

The War on Ignorance is one that requires our collective attention, especially since working toward such a victory will render all other violent wars simply unnecessary.  The War on Ignorance will require the most developed skills of our human populations and will leverage our economic investment in a future that includes a rich diversity humankind AND all our cousin species AND a consideration of our global environment.  In the War on Ignorance, Education and Diplomacy are the warmachines we need to construct to win the numerous battles ahead.   Educating our children of their history and of what reality consists of and striving toward truer understanding of our world as adults is paramount.  Forging Diplomacy that recognizes each human as an individual while working toward a global society that eschews arrogant speciest positions is equally critical. By focussing on such grand peaceful pursuits we will strive toward the ideals of what civilized society can be!

Ignorance as an adversary is more a plague than a thinking enemy, and I believe the analogy holds, in that we can quarantine and eventually eradicate Ignorance.  Imagine a world where the Trillions of dollars spent toward machinery designed to eviscerate, incapacitate and imprison other humans (and other animals) is leveraged toward the best educational institutions and exploration of our Universe.  Imagine a world where every would be parent examines their heart in conjunction with human population challenges before choosing to have a child.  Imagine a world where thousand year old beliefs perpetuated in divisive cult followings of supernatural entities (religion) is transformed into multicultural appreciation and a ever more unified humanistic ethic.  Imagine a world where each individual is encouraged to explore and create outside the systematic economic enslavement by corporate oligarchs.  

Each of these scenarios may seem like a stretch ("I know perfect's not for real. I thought we might get closer." --Rush), alas, society is what we make of it, not what some system of artificial rules dictates to us, whether those mindless rules be economic, religious, or even evolutional. (I'll save free will for another post)

In any case, I ask you to take a step back and contemplate the core ideals you subscribe to, ideals that rely on what is Real and Good, not on dogma that has been preached and reinterpreted again and again since humans first created myths as a substitute for (though perhaps a heart felt stepladder to) real knowledge and wisdom.  Together we can do it, we can aggregate the best evidence available to permit us to act wonderfully in the present and to design an amazing future that thrives for all humans, animals, plants (and AIs?) alike.

What idealistic effort might you nurture to help win the War on Ignorance!?!?