Month: October 2024

We Should Never Have Taught Them to Read

Posted on by josuter

We should never have taught them to read.  Turns out they are just as smart as anyone.  Blame the children of slave owners.  Why?  They were best friends with children of slaves.  What do best friends do?  They share things.  All kinds of things.  They show each other stuff they just discovered and even how it works.  Pretty exciting. Sometimes they will challenge their best friend, but always patiently, because they want their best friend to succeed.  

This goes on till sometime in their adolescence when they would look at each another in a different way, as if one of them were a stranger.  Spoken or unspoken, one of them would realize their friendship must be secondary, put on a lower level, behind some new role in their own family and community.  Sometimes they fight just to make the break quicker, less painful.  Yet that precious friendship, lost or dissolved, never goes away completely.  

They never were animals.  Animals don’t read or play musical instruments – though they do sing.  Animals don’t become artists, teachers, engineers, or business people.  Animals don’t invent Arabic numerals.  Yes, Arabic numerals, a tool used by everyone.  Any why this fear of Russians, people who have created a great culture with great music, literature, and ballet?  Have you ever heard a Rachmaninoff Concerto?  If Russians are evil, then we should not allow our children to listen to The Nutcracker Ballet, composed by a Russian named Tchaikovsky.  

Here we consider the power of language, the power of music, mathematics and design.  These are all part of a story that should give guidance, and must touch reality at some points along the way or it will fail.  Stories can be modified when circumstances demand.  When the politicians are paralyzed it may be up to religious leaders of integrity with or without military leaders to make such changes.  Citizen’s can and will do it on their own but it may take longer.  If the story and the social hierarchy rest only on the power of violence, then humans are destined to forever fight each other and never see what lies beyond.  

Israel Palestine Solution

Posted on by josuter

A nation-state is not a person or a living being.  It is an agreement among leaders about rules and boundaries.  It is whatever can be agreed on and written into a constitution.  This is good news and may allow democracy to evolve.  It may also allow a solution to Israel’s dilemma.  With this dynamic form of democracy, PM Netanyahu can declare victory.  He could say “The war is over.  We have extracted an eye for an eye, ten times over.  Israel has won and now it is time for peace.”  Such a declared victory would be more Biblical than a war without end.   *(Ecclesiastes 3:3 – A time to kill and a time to heal.) 

Israel-Palestine will remain a single state, but because of external threats, the military will remain under Jewish control, even if the Jewish population becomes a minority.  That can be written into the constitution.  Regional leaders within Israel-Palestine will maintain peace in their areas, but they can be removed by a referendum of 80% vote of any minority within that region, or by a 60% of the general population vote within that region. This can also be written into a constitution and allows political leverage by minorities to allow some control over their own lives.  This dynamic democracy is somewhere between one-person-one-vote and one-group-one-vote.  It can work if leaders agree.  

Let the food aid into Gaza.   Palestinians can leave Gaza (with help and transportation) and establish many enclaves around the whole of the state of Israel-Palestine.  Enclaves on both sides can have their own small arms but only to be used defensively.  Any attempt to use them offensively will result in the small arms being taken from that enclave. Declare that the war has been won, but do not go back to the status quo.  The walls of Gaza must come down.  Anyone can live anywhere in Israel-Palestine.   

It may be that PM Netanyahu is the only one who can carry this out.  The role of religious leaders will be key in helping to guide The Story toward a positive future for all involved.  Third party peacekeepers and communicators may be required for some years and will be allowed to carry arms to defend themselves.  This plan is not simply a way of keeping enemies close but gives people a chance to heal.  Claims on geography are important but not in the same way as in the past, and there is no current court of justice that parties will listen to.  The healing must come from within.  

Prisoners of The Story – Or Not?

Posted on by josuter

Prisoners of The Story – Or Not?

Two thousand years ago maybe the Story “worked” but now it needs to be updated because the world has changed.  Opponents now have all the modern warfare technology.   We are not a few hundred people in a tribe fighting over hunting grounds or grazing lands.  

If Donald Trump becomes the next president, Biden may, in his remaining two months, let loose the dogs of war in order to make things more challenging for Trump.  Two of those dogs, B&S, are headed for jail if justice is to be served. They may stop at nothing, pulling us all down.

The Story can be changed if we look at other options.  B&S may never have thought of a Dynamic Democracy model, but it might be the only way forward when neither side wants a two-state solution (and which would allow continued lobbing of missiles to the other side).  

Having a liberal democracy with one-person-one-vote is a key part of the Zionist dream of having a homeland. Yet there are other options, including a Dynamic Democracy that chooses leaders by group methods. It can create dynamic feedback from groups instead of from individuals.  Specific groups may be required on some issues while other times randomly picked groups will work.  If constructed properly, social feedback can even control weapons of mass destruction on the international level.  This Dynamic Democracy model can work if leaders on both sides agree.  It also allows Jews as a minority to still play a prominent role in self-government of a homeland.  

You and I might not know how to move this model of Dynamic Democracy to B&S, but with only 6 degrees of separation between any two people on earth, there must be a pathway.  One can start locally, challenging people around you to consider how to move this model forward.  Results of the first round may give hints. Quickly follow the first round with a remixing of groups or introduction of new players.  This can be done every hour or two until a pathway opens up.  

If Israel only has a minority, then pushing for a liberal Democracy with one-person-one-vote could be the end of Israel.  A Dynamic Democracy as an alternative model could lead the way to finding solutions.