2007-01-25

 

Common Cause

I first published this list around Sept 2004. This was after I had an understanding of what happens when two tribes meet. This was hitherto an alien concept to me, because I had assumed that all humans treated all other humans as equals deserving human rights, as I did (projection). But it's more complicated than that. That's not how we are designed. We are designed to make a determination as to whether the other tribe is friend/foe/neutral. And that is based on what we have in common. E.g. if both tribes are Arabs that might be enough to cause an alliance (a racist alliance). Here is what I came up with for the American tribe to present to Iraqi tribal leaders. I'm not claiming it is perfect, but I think it is a good start to begin negotiations. As far as I am aware, nothing like this is being presented at all. The Iraqis thus have no understanding of the motives of Americans, other than the lies that various people have told them. I see no evidence of the Americans attempting to correct these lies. America is doing good work in Iraq and hoping that the Iraqis will see the good work and form the appropriate conclusions themselves. That's an indirect and inefficient way of doing it.


I respect those who fight subjugation for unselfish reasons. Do you?
I pledge allegiance to use my brain to ensure survival of my species. Do you?
I pledge allegiance to use my brain to end subjugation of my species. Do you?
I respect those who fight dogma. Do you?
I respect those who are unselfish. Do you?
I respect those who judge people based on current behaviour, not past behaviour. Do you?
I judge people based on their individual actions, not actions of their tribe. Do you?
I believe people can use power for unselfish reasons, do you?
I believe people in power can be unselfish, do you?
I believe people should pledge allegiance to their brain above all else, do you?
I believe all people should be forgiven for their sins if they show remorse, do you?
I believe all people go to heaven, do you?
I believe all people are created equal and should have equal rights, do you?
I believe all people can do both good and bad, and that no-one is perfect. Do you?
I believe that no one man should rule the world, do you?
I believe that no-one should have to live in fear, do you?
I believe that no-one should be a slave, do you?
I believe we should not hate our enemies, do you?
I believe if you can't say something nice you should not say anything at all, do you?
I believe we should teach our children to love all people and hate no-one, do you?
I believe we should consider other people's feelings, do you?
I believe we should not be jealous of those more powerful than ourselves but instead should learn from them, do you?
I believe we should take the least worst option when making decisions instead of complaining that things are not perfect, do you?
I believe that we should make constructive suggestions rather than complain, do you?
I believe our society should provide a good example in public for our children to learn from, do you?
I believe our society should take care of those who can't take care of themselves, do you?
I believe that we should not judge people who behave differently from us, so long as they don't subjugate others, do you?
I believe we should be willing to compromise, do you?
I believe we should ask people why they are sad, do you?
I believe we should try to make people happy, do you?
I believe we should ask people if they are happy, do you?
I believe we should be tolerant of people who do not understand what they are doing, do you?
I believe we should compete for charity and kindness and individual excellence, not power, do you?
I believe we should not deceive others unless it is to prevent hurting their feelings, do you?
I believe we should appreciate what we have instead of complaining about what we don't have, do you?
I believe we should show appreciation when others give us something, do you?
I believe we should spend more time judging our own behaviour and less time judging other people's behaviour, do you?
I believe we should learn from our mistakes, apologize and move on with life, do you?
I believe we should try to change ourselves rather than try to change others, do you?
I pledge allegiance to use my brain to end subjugation of my species. Do you?
I believe that all humans are created equal and every human should have their point of view respected and that there should be checks and balances in place such that the little people's voice is also heard, not just the powerful. We should be vigilant in making sure that the government looks after the needs of the little people and that is why there needs to be NGOs to constrain the abuse of power.
I believe that God forgives us of our sins so long as the sin was not done for selfish reasons without serious consideration of the impact on other people.
I believe that people should not be taken advantage of, and that people should not be tricked into making a decision which they will later regret in life. However, one's personal moral code should not be inflicted on others, including children. They must be allowed to choose their own destiny and their own moral code, and this should be respected, so that they can blossom into whatever it is they wish to be. Every attempt should be made to give a balanced view of every issue so that the child keeps an open mind about everything. An active attempt must be made to ensure that the child does not get stuck on a particular dogma. Indoctrination must be avoided at all costs.
I believe that God guides our path through life and helps us make the right choices if we listen to him and accept his love.
I believe that it is natural to be lazy and selfish and that we should make allowances for people's failings instead of judging them by our own exacting standards.
I believe that if we make a promise we should not make it without the expectation that we fully intend to keep it from the bottom of our heart, but if we break it we should be forgiven by ourselves, others and God, we should not be made to feel guilty about it for the rest of our lives, as sometimes there are extremely difficult choices to be made in life and there is no easy way to choose between the two paths in life. That is what God wants us to do and he has a higher purpose and we should trust in him.
I believe that a commitment to marriage should be made with the expectation that it should be eternal, although if circumstances change divorce is acceptable and the parties should not be made to feel guilty.
No matter how sure we are that one party is lying while another party can be trusted, we should always have an element of self-doubt and use rigorous science to make decisions.
I believe that God loves us and we should accept his love.
I believe that not everyone wants to have children, but some people very badly do want to have children in order to be able to experience the joys of raising a child and having someone to love and who loves them in return. Only people who genuinely want children should become parents, there should be no societal expectation for people to have children as it leads to children growing up without love and if a couple are unable to have a child they have the right to get a child by other means.
I believe we are all God's children and he gets as much pleasure watching us explore an infinite universe as we get watching fish in a fishtank, and that we can indeed talk to God and listen to him if our heart is open to him.
I believe that it is our brain that is what our soul is, and that this can be implemented via electronics as a solution to our energy crisis such that we will be able to zap around the universe just like in Star Trek one day and that the purpose of life is to gain knowledge while still enjoying life and that we will be able to live forever some day.
I believe that it is possible to feel God's love in our brain and that it makes us happy. There is such a thing as love of God and we should feel secure that whenever we need it he will be there to guide us through the difficult choices in life and will answer our prayers and that he will try his best to give us whatever we want just like we like to spoil our children and give our fish lots of food.
I believe that God wants us to be humble and loving to each other, as this is what gives him pleasure in watching. But he wants us to never really be sure whether things are happening by coincidence or by his hand, as that would spoil his fun (just like goldfish never get bored of swimming around the same tank all the time, he never gets bored of watching what whacky ideas people come up with when left to their own free will and we never get tired of comedies).
I believe that we should ask for forgiveness from God for our sins and that he will forgive them.
I believe that people are inherently lazy but that there are sufficient resources in the world that people can trade in their vote for a stipend so that they are free to pursue their dreams.
I believe that we should not be expected to like someone else regardless of who they are and that there is no obligation to do so. That is part of God's fun, watching who we team up with and who we choose to avoid just like lemmings.
I believe that there are sufficient resources that one day there will be no need to do anything because robots will do all the work.
I believe that we should accept people as they are instead of trying to change them.
I believe we should forgive those who trespass against us.
I believe that charity begins at home.
I believe that we should not take the weight of the world on our shoulders.
I believe that we should seek salvation in God's love.
I believe that no matter how authoritive a man claims to be, we should never take his word over God's. It is OK to seek spiritual guidance but you must always make your own judgement using your own brain, although you should seriously consider listening to the opinions of educated people, especially if they are represented by institutions based on rigorous science.
I believe we should teach our children to love not hate.
I believe that children should be taught to respect their elders, but that they have their rights as well, and someone should be looking out for the rights of the child to make sure that there is no possibilty that child abuse is occurring, given that it is a genetic instinct to do unusual sex acts.
I believe that children should be raised in an environment where it looks like everyone is normal, but if they are different, ie have unusual (but natural) sex desires, they can learn about it in a book such that they can go and form clubs freely to do such things, but in public everyone should look normal and set a good example to their children.
I believe that we can talk to God and that God is listening to us and can help us when we need help.
I believe that God loves his children unconditionally.
I think it is courageous to fight subjugators, do you?
I think it is good to show unselfish kindness to strangers, do you?
I believe that unselfish people should be worshipped as if Gods, do you?
I believe we should not be numb to the suffering of strangers, do you?
I believe that we should care about the Iraqi people as if they were Australians, do you?
I believe that the American government cares about the Iraqi people, do you?



<< Home
|



This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?