Do you think that optimism is still there or has it dwindled to the point of hopelessness and despair at ever being able to achieve peace in view of such things as the nuclear arms race?
That particular brand of optimism was naive and self-entitled to begin with, and became, well, rather unholy as it came to grow again.
It was associated with Imperialism and with the White Man's Burden back in the day.
Now it is found mostly in dangerous denialism and fundamentalism.
Dangerous as apathy is, we have a far greater need for wisdom than for optimism.
Our vision is that humanity is headed for a golden age and that what we are experiencing is the death pangs of the old world, the old ways and the birth pangs of the new and it is a mighty struggle as many want to hold onto viewpoints which are destructive such as racism, supremacy of religion and nationality yet ideas such as universal human rights, religious harmony and unity in diversity through things like interfaith and multiculturalism have dug in their heels and are prepared for a long fight so to speak against the outworn shibboleths of past ages which has led to division, hatreds, wars and prejudices.
That is pretty much it. But ultimately our best hope is for the proponents of the worst instincts to actually die out as more enlightened people take their place.
There is little ground to be gained by direct confrontation with adherents to dying stances; if anything, that makes them feel that much more determined to cling to their stances and "fight to the end". They hold to those stances in the first place because they have a hard time accepting or even understanding better ones, after all.
It usually does not become easier because other people tell them that they must do it anyway.
When I see even sporting bodies taking a stance against such things as racism and the status of women I can’t help but seeing a new world being born gradually replacing the one that can no longer serve us in a global neighbourhood where the religions, nations and races are intermingling and in such close proximity to one another against the backdrop of the past when it was a much, much clearer ‘us vs them’.
That will happen eventually, but I fear that it will be at a far greater and more tragic cost than I used to expect back in the 1970s.
Science, by its technological breakthroughs has physically united us to such a point that we are confronted with a new challenge and dilemma of how to get along with each other without having another conflict as the ideas of supremacy of race, religion and nationality can only but drag us back to that ugly paradigm.
Indeed, and that has been the case for over a century now. As far back as in WW1 it was already clear that the development of firearms had overgrown the ability of governments to manage their own belicism. It is not
too gross an oversimplification to state that the participants of the conflict somehow failed to realize the true capabilities of the weaponry that they were brandishing against each other. It was a population of remote distance butchers that half believed itself to be knights in shining armor.
That situation has not really improved since. That is why we have the USA talking about "life-saving" atomic bombs and killer drones and Middle Easterns willing to kill and die "for God".
So with this confrontation the movement towards human rights , equality, cooperation and world solidarity is gaining momentum with each passing day. The danger is it only takes a few madmen who seek to reestablish the supremist ideals of the past to plunge us into another dark period of human history because we have failed to unite and establish peace.
I have to disagree here. There were always a few madmen and there will still be for a long time. They are hardly decisive in and of themselves, though.
The true problem is that there are far too many people willing and sometimes eager to listen to them. It is the masses, not the so-called "leaders", that need to rise up to the levels of ethical wisdom that have become necessary - and that are, indeed, considerably higher than they were back in the 19th century, because our reach has likewise increased drammatically.
I believe that a golden age is humanity’s distant future and heritage but that a dark period may intervene before that happens.
It will and it is. We are already having to deal with levels of nationalism, belicism and plain old extremism that were unthinkable even 40 years ago. And there is little indication of short term improvements.
I don’t think the forces of unity and acceptance of humanity as one family has become strong enough yet to compete with the voices of extremism and division but that just like the last war forced us to work out some kind of compromise with the establishment of the UN, any new conflict will force us to become a fully fledged world community putting humanity at the top of the agenda as opposed to national, religious or racial rivalries and agendas.
Well, yes. But far too many of us just Do Not Want To Accept that. Tragedy will doubtlessly ensue.
We seem to only learn the hard way through war and misery unfortunately. Can it be averted? It depends on us all I think as you know the saying where good people don’t speak out?
Yes, pretty much that.
