Stuart’s Thoughts  -  February 21, 2023

BEYOND NEGATIVISM, BEYOD VIOLENCE

It’s my opinion that if we want the human species to survive for the long term, sooner or later, preferably sooner, we must reject negativism and especially, violence.  Anyone cognizant of current events can’t help to observe the present rapid pace that we are killing one another, from Russia continuing to plunder Ukraine, killing many civilian women and children, to a record ten mass killings in the U.S. last weekend and on and on.  Why have we allowed our fascination with selfishness and tribalism lead us down such a self-destructive slope?  Russia and China are cozying up, Russia has withdrawn from a joint US-Russia ban on further development of nuclear weapons.  Our current administration in Washington is frequently viewed as a weak deterrent to opportunistic moves by would be aggressors.  We’re at a very dangerous crossroads in human history where any one of nine countries possessing nuclear weapons could ignite a war that would have the capability of killing billions of humans and turning earth into a radioactive cinder incapable of supporting life.

In order to avoid such a calamity, it’s my opinion that we need to place, at the forefront of all international human thought, a plan for ending negativity between us.  While that is probably too tall an order to handle at the outset, could we possibly arrive at a pact to disavow violence between all social entities, nations, ethnic groups, tribes of all kinds, especially political tribes, and all individual humans?

The following is an outline of my thoughts on what such a master plan might look like.  This should be introduced by a consortium of world leaders emphasizing the critical importance of the success of this and stress that it dwarfs all competing human initiatives.

1.  Convince our news media to reject negativism, focus on positive aspects of journalism.

2.  Ask our government officials to reject negativism, compete without negativity.

3.  Convince the UN to convene a committee to encourage international peace, cooperation and rejection of forceful                                                        conquest of others or tribal victory.

4.  Adopt a world-wide strategy of encouraging desired behavior and rejecting bad behavior, i.e., treat everyone the way                                 we teach young children acceptable behavior. Encourage the “Golden Rule” or, if you prefer, the “Platinum Rule” in interpersonal relationships. Provide rewards for good behavior and re-training for bad behavior.  In cases of chronic, unrelenting bad behavior, some form of removal might be necessary but this should be accomplished with as much positivity as possible.

5.  Most Importantly, we must all be winners n this, all 8 billion humans on earth.