Conflict

Many people view history as some sort of collective consensus that just happened to end up with the industrialization of earth and the prevalence of the Market Economy... such is not the case. The course of history is dominated by conflict, and all that our modern world is evolved from that cauldron of chaos. Thus is our modern world so rent with political, racial, religious, gender and cultural conflicts. It is the means by which humans decide what will come to pass. Anyone who aspires to a world in which we can live in peace fails to understand that any such world would necessarily exclude all progress. The presence of peace has never been a guarantee of the presence of justice, and as a result is useless as a means to measure our changing society. This presents a rather insurmountable problem for those determined and progressively minded citizens that will do anything to further their noble cause; except anything outside the accepted channels of behavior. So how are you going to change a social construction if you insist on operating within its parameters? To turn the question on its head, can you effect change from without? I think the bottom line is that people can only change so much in a lifespan. We are born into an already established system that in all likely hood will dominate our thoughts and feelings for the duration of our stay on earth. The pressure to conform is incessant and omnipotent, schools and prisons bear testament to that reality. Fortunately for the maintenance of my particular culture, people generally seem more concerned with making their existence as easy as possible rather than taking any responsibility for what takes place during that lifespan. My country is a past master at helping its citizens absolve themselves of any responsibility for anything other than their financial concerns. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that the primary reason the USA seems to be caught in a sort of psychological stasis is because we have become cowards, afraid to hold any truly personal opinions for fear that it won't be accepted by the rest of our contemporaries. In a world that is one gigantic struggle, the need to feel at home in your native land has long caused otherwise decent people to commit incalculable atrocities. And so it comes to pass that most Americans just download their thoughts from various media sources, completely bypassing the use of their own mental facilities. The more my nation speaks of freedom, democracy and liberty the more I think we are becoming the most enslaved people in history. Right before they loose all meaning, words are usually used with such profusion that their meanings become blurred, then disappear entirely. I can't help but thinking of Orwell's brilliantly succinct comment on this: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength. I really hope that the rest of the world doesn't fall for this insidious trap. Perhaps our example will provide such a horrific example that we may yet serve some great purpose in the development of humanity.