Today’s Newspaper Roundup

Isn’t that the point of all social networking sites?

I can sympathize with the desire to avoid the idiocy that fills Myspace. Although they probably have a different definition of “idiocy” then I do.

Montez,
Since I don’t know “most atheists and religious people,” I can’t answer your question. And since I dare say you don’t know most of them either, I don’t understand how you can assert that they actually do blame each other for the problems in our world today. But your point may simply be that too many do, which is a sad truth.

Be that as it may, you make a very important point about it really being about people. People are subject to their various vices and virtues; to their greed and generosity, their anger and compassion, their ignorance and wisdom, their fear and courage. So you are right to point out that people’s individual personal traits are very much involved in the good and bad things they choose to do in the world, regardless of their belief systems.

However, beliefs, ideas, ideologies, philosophies and world views, in a word, the “isms” also have a profound effect on the behaviors of people. They can persuade enormous numbers of individuals to set aside their personal vices and do good things instead. Or they can persuade the same people to set aside their virtues and do terrible evil, or at least stand passively by and let it happen.

That is why positive, respectful debate and discourse over different “isms” is very important in a shrinking world filled with dangerous weapons so readily at hand. Many, many people are afraid but nobody believes that they personally are evil. No, it’s got to be the “other guys” who are the bad guys. So too often we slip into blaming and name-calling rather than working together to find mutually acceptable solutions to the very dangerous problems facing all of us.

I often get a mental picture of two bickering people standing in a burning house blaming each other’s negligence for the fire. They both die pointing their fingers at each other because they didn’t work together to put out the fire. You may have heard it before, but a wonderful old recovering drunk was the first person to tell me that when you point your finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you.

Another good bit of wisdom is “Don’t fix the blame, fix the problem.”

So perhaps not ALL of us are into the blame game.

Richard,
It is okay for you to say that I don’t know “most” of them; because I do not, and I am not afraid to admit it. As you may already know, it would be impossible to interview every person in the entire world.

I used the mathematical formulas of Probabilities and Statistic – which will generally put you as close as humanly possible to the correct answer.

I took a good sample from the entire population and performed my own calculations, and that’s where the “most” came from. I did not say ALL.

I totally agree with you in regards to the “isms” having a profound effect on the behaviors of people. However, there always appear to be a person in the driver’s seat of the “isms”. And unfortunately, “most” people do not have the time to do their own research. So they (“most”) rely on the integrity of the driver’s of the “isms” that in which they (“most”) could most likely relate to. What a tragedy!

I like the good bit of wisdom “Don’t fix the blame, fix the problem.” However, the people involved have to fix the problem. Not a Superman.

My hope is that you were not insinuating that I should fix the problem. I am doing my part to the best of my ability, but I already know that I cannot change the mind and the will of a people. Do you know of one person in this world who could fix the problem? Is so please give me that person’s contact info, because their work is loooong… over due.

Montez,
We may be talking past each other and misunderstanding. I think that you and I are basically in agreement about the importance of people taking personal responsibility for their behavior and for contributing to both the problems and the solutions to the problems in the world.

I agree with you that blaming and pointing fingers is a destructive waste of time and I would add an abdication of responsibility. For this read “response ability,” the ability to respond. I also agree with you that many people rely on the leadership of authorities in their belief systems, be it clerics, experts, authors or politicians. This is very unfortunate because they are often mislead to serve the selfish goals of those leaders, or the first lofty goals of the leaders can become corrupted by the power that they gain.

I apologize if my remonstration for your saying “most” instead of “a lot of those I have heard” started us out on the wrong foot. I did not mean to sound harsh or hostile.

I was not implying that you by yourself or a superman should fix all the messes that you can see. I’m not sure how I was unclear, but I will take the response-ability and clarify now: What you and I are striving to do right now is an example of what I mean by fixing. We are going back and forth in a sincere effort to clarify our ideas and to ask the other for clarification of the other’s ideas. We’re not just going back and forth blaming each other; that is the useless bad habit that we both agree doesn’t help. So we state our views, see where we were not fully understood, re-clarify, help each other where we have overstated, and gradually move toward a sense of unity or agreement. Only after we have learned to understand each other can we form cooperative plans to effect change on problems we both see. I spend a large portion of my time in various discussions not arguing about viewpoints but talking about how to respectfully and positively argue for the benefit of all.

So to answer your question of who do I know who can fix these problems, the answer is you and me. We can do as you say, our part to the best of our ability, and also to spread the idea of getting past blame and moving toward each person using their ability to respond, or responsibility. We don’t necessarily have to agree with all of another’s views to effect a positive change, just sow the seeds of positive and respectful dialogue for the purpose of mutual benefit. Each person has more ability than they realize when you count the ability to spread a good idea. Once enough people get the good idea, such as solutions are far more important than blame, then each person’s small contribution to those solutions can make real change.

The most important problem to solve first is the common mis-communications that happen between people. Once that is improved through better habits of careful clarification, then solution-oriented suggestions can be shared that will be embraced by people who used to be opposed to each other.