GREAT DECISIONS II
RESPONSIBILITY and JUSTICE
n . Responsibility and Justice -- future date
As a young person I saw ills in the world and one by one they were solved.
Communism has proved a failure. Fear of atomic war -- we no longer practice hiding under our desks.
Segregation has ended. And so on. But the Justice system has remained unbalanced. The rich get bail and
the best lawyers to circumvent the law. Juries vote on the presentation of the case, the truth is unknown.
Laws are make by man and if one follows legislation being made, the effects of special and personal interests
is apparent. Laws are not just, but infallible only because they are laws. Even in the Ten Commandments,
the first shows blatant self-interest.
Social responsibility came to become my solution to the workings of the world
including elements of self control, social responsibility and more. The Boy Scout Law made sense
- "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent."
For years I sought the answers on how to
instill, teach, indoctrinate responsibility. A dozen years ago I found that the techniques are available.
Wonderful. Then I discovered the next problem. What to teach as responsible behavior. There are
thousands of specifics -- don't throw empty containers out the car window, and such. What are the
common elements that comprise responsibility? The Golden Rule is universal -- Do (or don't do) to others
what you want (or don't want) done to you. Is this too slick to have meaning?. Or is this so sublime that it is the
key to the universe of human life? How to make it practical -- or to have a minute to minute level of ingrained
behavior?
Religion has co-opted the subject of morality. But truth and sense are unrelated to religion,
in fact, religion (to fundamentalists) requires suspense of sense and science. Is repetition and mantra the key to instilling ongoing behavior?
Religion is not a good base for public legislation. Masses of people have died over religious
conflicts. When a Pope first gathered an Army to regain the holy land, he used it to attack his rivals of the Eastern Orthodox.
Our courts require of statement
of religion to assure morality and truth -- how silly. Liers lie. Jurys express their bias.
Juries can repudiate the law. Not just in Simpson's case, but can tell legislation that certain
laws violate the public sense of right.
Why are "the judges" so important to political parties?
I personally lead an effort to a world language Basic English on the thought that if people round the earth could directly speak together, then understanding without a filter through national spin (bias, propoganda) would reduce conflict and make the
"others" become "people just like us". But the Irish are the same people and fight over irrational religion. In fact,
civil war between people of not just the same language, but the same society are some of the most intense
violations of civility.
Civilization -- is that a metric in our search for civility? Anthropologist like to say that all societies are equal. this is an attempt to show that native cultures are not to be crushed simply because they are different.
Yet, high civilizations such as Japan can have the creed of Bushi that tolerates barbarism. Or fundamental Islam that supports murder of relatives for causing embarrassment. Others have traditions of female circumcision. Subjugation of the weak is a common tradition round the world -- women and untouchables come to mind.
Respect, a theme within responsibility, is perverted in a mafia sense
Will human rights legislation cut it? We have seen that U.N. decrees are worthless. Hate crime
penalties are just another form of creating a special class of persons -- which is in itself a perversion of social equality.
Justice is supposed to be the foundation of Islam. The idea of justice, what is proper, is different round the earth
and between the experiences of various people -- are burkas just? Can justice be subjected to the laws of science with reproducibly reliable test results? Can laws of justice be applied to the benefit of mankind as can engineering apply the laws of science? Why not? We will have answered my questions when we find the fundamental social laws that may be applied with expected/reliable results. That is, when we can teach responsibility with the same
facility that we can teach fluid dynamics.
Side note: In my reading of the Koran, the foundation of Islam seems to be is revenge upon those who hate us, and the rest of world hates us. Likewise, a key ingredient of Paul's Christianity is banding together by those who are persecuted. The difference is that one says to eliminate of the nonbeliever and the other suggests patience for future reward. These readings are, of course, filtered through my life experience. What is truth?
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