Guest
Truth and information must be convincing, otherwise they will either not be perceived, will not have an impact, or will have the opposite effect, rooting the recipient in his beliefs. And if this truth is recognized, it will be only in retrospect, after the fact. What is the truth relevant to today’s realities on may ask and why people are so stubborn to see it? To any critical, watchful and observant eye it becomes crystal clear that people today have become excessively divided and drained taught both to mistrust everyone and to entrust their life to authorities and scientists who “know it all“. However, eventually with age most people disappointed start seeing everything as propaganda or ill intent feeling too tired and or scared. While others lacking critical thinking fall for black and white antagonistic world view. Separated from each other modern day people feel powerless to unite under some middle ground, whilst some loud vocal minorities start steering towards a radical and extreme worldview denigrating rational and weighed approach as boring, simple-minded, naive and weak. That’s how nationalism wins over compromising position, thinking that it promises protection when instead it more often that not brings conflicts that actually endanger brighter future trading it for short term sense of unity that relies on today’s common struggle against perceived looming enemy when the reasons for current misfortunes lie deeper, a kind of domino effect that has set off a chain of events that brought us all here. So what has led many countries to extreme and agitated perception of the world, such as nationalism if not decades of years of collective negligence and people living for themselves, selfishly forsaking hopes of better tomorrow because scientists, celebrities and world leaders arrogantly and irresponsibly claimed that the future will be bleak while a big portion popular culture and science endorsed this narrative painting humans as inherently egoistic, self-absorbed, troubled, rude, dumb and sexually preoccupied losers encouraging a self-fulfilling prophecy of hedonistic existence. Hence nationalism has become one of the instinctive responses presenting itself as means of self-affirmation at the expense of others, while deep down, unconsciously wishing to cure the world from misery brought by actual underlying factors and momentum such as centuries of ongoing class war, the devaluation of hard work and aspirations to improve conditions of our community and that of the Earth itself. And instead pursuing illusory dreams of instant success, excessive enrichment, brief fame or even ill-fame to show off and prove that you aren’t an “ordinary fool“. So how to break out of such self-fulfilling prophecies, that keep humanity in constant loop of using every chance to reach beyond the ordinary while neglecting main requirements of fulfilled life of having a healthy family and assisting society? One of the ways is to promote our inherent ability of finding pleasure in completing seemingly simple and regular activities and tasks that help keep our life and lives of those around us in order instead of chasing flashy, exotic, selfish but often hollow and even self-harming experience influenced by today’s misguided fashion seducing us to follow blindly after cheap distractions that mask corporate interests, desires of the elites to keep us in strict control and just general human laziness becoming a habit resulting in unaccountability and complacency. Thus such worshiped distractions and follies as unhealthy diet are often justified direct or subtle and artistic opinions that taking care of your health is boring, tedious and ultimately pointless because we are all going to die so why not live to the fullest for the sake of momentarily pleasure disregarding the damage waiting us in the future. Another example of widespread madness is quarreling bitterly over slight misunderstandings, trying to win the argument here and now, impatiently snap because it’s a quick and easy instant solution. Such squabbles can be on a level of relationships between two people, or it can be on national scale over some historical grievances or current injustices that stem from the recent and distant past. Such imbalances and disorders could be fixed by sitting down at the negotiating table with cooler heads prevailing instead of succumbing to irrational, engulfing, blind hatred. But what if your opponent has already done down deep that road, not heeding the voice of reason and your arguments are not persuading the other side, and you are now forced to defend yourself? Well, the most common sense response, having arrived to such a stage, would be putting up an adequate defense while keeping the window of negotiation open and not abandoning attempts to bring those who are just us are fellow travelers to senses, reminding them that this is our common journey on this planet, in this Universe.
