When is a solution not a solution?

Last week we talked about a possible solution to the divisiveness between the presentation of worldviews on social media. It’s called the using the scientific method, instead of the ‘mic drop,’ when discussing any problem on social media. A mic drop being used to emphasize that a discussion is at an end after a definitive or particularly impressive point has been made. Simply put, posting a snarky remark on Twitter or Facebook, then leaving the format. They are only distractions and usually very minor ones. They are designed to change the direction of the conversation or end the conversation. It is the equivalent of ‘taking your ball and going home.’

Problems have solutions. Solutions are not solutions only when your worldview or beliefs will not allow you to accept the solution. So how do you change an accepted belief that is held to be true. There are many variables involved, but two important ones are science and time. Voltaire once said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Over time, there were many beliefs that were once held to be true, but have been disproven:

1) Jews caused the Black Death and other plagues

2) Slaves were better off being slaves than being free

3) Blacks were racially inferior

4) Women were weak-willed and emotional

5) Gays want to spread the gay lifestyle

6) Atheists are immoral and communists

7) Animals feel no pain and do not suffer

What’s the point of all this? To promote scientific thinking, reasoning, and rationality. Reasoning abstractly is the basis of the Golden Rule, you have to be able to put yourself in another person’s shoes. The basis of morality is being able to think/feel like the other person. If you do something to someone, you must be able to put yourself in their shoes. Reading high quality literature, that will transport you into the brain of someone else will train your brain to reason as another person. Literature should enable you to see the world through another person’s eyes. Books like, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible, and my own Boot: A Sorta Novel of Vietnam, will help you to train your brain to reason abstractly.

In the last 100 years we have seen new democracies established all over the world, and now there are more countries that are democracies than autocracies. Why is this important? It shows the growth of rational thinking around the world. As democracies increase, wars decrease. As democracies increase, trade has increased, and as trade increases, wars also decrease. Bruce Russett and John Oneal developed a Peace Triangle based on regression analysis and their findings basically support what Immanuel Kant said in his 1795 essay, Perpetual Peace.

The key variable in the ‘arc of a moral universe’ is time. There are many other variables, that are hard to quantify, but exist, nonetheless. Our desire to pursue a compassionate justice and our desire to regulate our ‘inner demons’ to name but two. Over time we can see how Martin Luther King’s ‘arc of the moral universe (very slowly) bends toward justice.’ So, do not be dismayed by the foolishness that transpires on social media. Your ability and desire to think and act rationally will continue to bend that arc, even though we cannot visualize the end of arc we know it exists.

Until Next Time,

I Remain,

Just another Zororastafarian shoe salesman trying to squeeze a size nine into a size seven shoe…