Countering Polarization PDF Download

Author: Charles Notess
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781436314664
Category : Reconciliation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In concluding my book, I emphasize the need for changes in the cultural values of citizens around the world. These changes include truly independent judicial systems that are founded upon the universal values of compassion toward all others and actions that emphasize fairness and equality of opportunity to live a good life. This implies replacing the tribal-scale systems of honor with larger-scale trusted systems of justice organized at state, national, and global scales. It is the clan and tribal systems of honor that often lead to violence, torture of others, and nepotism. The foregoing considerations apply to peacemaking in the Middle East, in other third world nations, and in Western industrial nations, including America. Closed minds and tribal (small) scale commitments are found in all of these areas. Limited influence, power, and frustration at not knowing how to negotiate peaceably with ones oppressors and exploiters who are in power often lead to violent responses. Such responses are found in street gangs, rebellious outcasts from society with little hope in their future, regressive believers of orthodox religious and/or political beliefs, and the like. Updating political and religious traditions to make them more relevant will not be easy. I believe that some kind of independent and trustworthy judicial hierarchy guided by universal moral principles is needed to provide checks and balances for the narrow perspectives that sometimes dominate religious, political and corporate organizations. Poorly educated leaders in third world countries mislead their people, especially those with little or no education. They mislead them to use religious justifications to support evil actions. Somewhat similar problems arise among Christian believers wherein clerics follow a selective literalist approach to theology, one that is often slanted by extremist political tactics. When political perspectives dominate the religious ones, tactics such as single-issue politics can take over, especially before elections. It is important to separate the tribal aspects of traditional cultures from the basic human values that are propagated by the main world religions. The intent of the basic and universal political and religious values can be maintained as the old cultural traditions are changed. The counseling and teaching of young persons and adults must include providing road maps that help each person navigate their own paths of life. Such navigation requires commitment to ever-increasing scales of perspective taking and community, and climbing their own path toward transcendent perspectives and relations to transcendent powers while maintaining a balance between commitments to personal development and community development. Development of strong personal identities requires extending compassion to others and serving the welfare of diverse others. Emotional energy should be channeled toward helping, nurturing and caring for others, not by dominating their lives, but by training and teaching for self-sufficiency within supportive communities. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) provide many opportunities for serving communities in positive and constructive ways. Religious leaders need to learn how to build a sacred set of memories and stories about persons with good characters that their followers will internalize to some extent. Sacred symbols can be in the forms of songs and poetry, but they should not sacralize violent acts from the past, which often serves to perpetuate hatred, or lead to the idea that one's group is a chosen people. Marc Gopin made these latter points in his book "Between Eden and Armageddon". Immigrants can follow paths to: assimilation, reorientation (rather than regression), and some mix of assimilation and reorientation. How much of the culture does one change through assimilation? What parts of the culture should be de-em