It's about 11:05 A.M. here in the San Francisco Bay Area as I write this. It's a beautiful day, with blue skies, and a cool 55° F. My wife and I just came back from one of our favorite places we like to go on the weekends: a locally owned bagel café with a great selection of breakfast sandwiches and pastries.
As we enjoyed coffee and bagel sandwiches and read the paper, we got to talking about the challenges we are facing as a nation, as I imagine many couples do when reading the paper together, and learning about the latest scam and influence-peddling corruption affecting our neighborhoods and cities. Our source of discussion this morning was the San Francisco Chronicle.
As we talked, the conversation kind of took a positive tone as I told her about a little bit of a transformation I was feeling lately, in spite of the awful situation we are facing when it comes to our institutions (government, church, and business).
Ironically, as I've been getting more involved in social activism, I've been feeling less jaded towards my fellow human beings. All of a sudden, when I look around, when I run across people on the street, my perception of them is more positive, more sympathetic, more understanding.
I've noticed that, in very small things, like when I take my daily one-hour walk and I see people approaching the other way, how almost everybody smiles and says hello; and I do the same. And this very small change is indeed something very new (for me), as throughout the years, when I walk, I've hardly paid attention to people as they walk by. And that little change somehow ties together with this new and emerging positive attitude I've been gaining towards people in general.
Don't get me wrong; I'm aware that not all people are good, that there are really dangerous people out there, that we as humans are afflicted with all kinds of bad personality traits like envy, and greed, and selfishness, racism, and many other things. But I'm also aware that we are equally capable of behaving morally, and so I understand that there is both, the potential for doing good and bad, in each human being. And, of course, for most of us, it is a mixed bag; nobody is perfect.
And as I thought about all this, I also told my wife that all of a sudden I've also become more understanding of religious people. Thus far, because I'm agnostic, I've harbored a certain hostility towards it, considering all organized religion to be based on superstition, and wondering about how otherwise intelligent people could ascribe to it.
My wife, who often calls me "Spock" because of my dry adherence to "reason" and "logic" and "empiricism," (as I write this, I'm looking at the little picture of Spock she glued to a corner of my desk as a joke), often argues with me by telling me to "get off my high horse" and accept the fact that, yes, people can be logical and reasonable, and adhere to empiricism and science, while at the same time being able to hold deeply religious beliefs.
And again, as I'm going through this small transformation, I don't feel like arguing the point with her (or anybody else) as strongly as I did before. In fact, just as I connect with the goodness of those passing by during my walks, I'm starting to feel the same towards people who hold religious beliefs, even though I do draw the line when it comes to extreme dogmatic fundamentalism.
Either way, I don't want that personal observation to distract from my main point: Most people are decent, despite weaknesses and failings.
Which brings me to what I see as the "root of all evil" in our society. If most people are decent and trusting, then they may be at a disadvantage when dealing with the few are are sociopathic; those who have no compunctions about doing anything to get what they want, including to lie, cheat, manipulate and exploit other people.
And therein lies what I see as the main problem we are facing: Our institutions have been taken over by very small group of (what I consider to be) ruthless sociopaths who have taken advantage of the decency and trusting nature of average citizens.
And by having taken over these institutions, including government, the mass media, and even (some) houses of worship, they have been able to propagate a certain ethos that seeks to exploit our weaknesses and repress our humanity.
And so, this ethos encourages greed and selfishness, envy and distrust, and tribalism. And the reason behind it is because when a population is infected by it, it is less capable of acting morally; and in the final analysis this benefits the sociopaths who, motivated by megalomania and unquenchable greed, are then able to loot and pillage and accumulate obscene and grotesque levels of wealth and power.
And so they use their control over our institutions (especially the mainstream media) to instill fear in the population, to inflame negative traits such as racism, jingoism, greed, envy, rampant consumerism. And this robs us of our humanity.
And that's why you see a relentless attack on "the humanities," on intellectualism, on the study of history, of empiricism, on the arts, language, on literature, on the sacred profession of teaching. In short, this is an attack on the very soul of a people.
No society can be enlightened without the strong influence of the humanities and the arts, because morality itself depends on it. Through the study of history, philosophy and literature, we examine what it is to be a moral woman or man. The arts, including visual, dance, music, enrich our souls (as it were), and complete us as full human beings.
It's time to reclaim our humanity; it's time to organize against, and oppose, the control a small group of (what I consider to be) sociopaths has been able to exert over our society.
It can be done. Let's use our teaching talents to reach out to every single citizen in the country and educate them about what's going on. Let's use our intellect, and disciplines like philosophy, history and science to set a path towards a more perfect union. Let's use art and music to reach deep down into the soul of people to inspire them into believing that we can indeed reclaim our humanity by acting in concert against those (few) who would subjugate, manipulate, and exploit us, and the environment.
I'm currently forming a network of social justice activists with three objectives: Work together to identify the root causes of corruption in our system; finding ways to coalesce the entire network into a cohesive and strategic cultural (movement) force; coming up with strategies to act in concert against the nascent plutocracy with the ultimate goal of removing it completely, and replacing it with democracy, freedom, and justice and equality under the law, for all.
Let's join together, secularists, atheists, agnostics, believers, as long as we have one common goal and share true American values and respect for the Constitution of the United States and a belief in the promise of a more perfect Union.
The map below shows our rapidly growing network. I'll be reaching out to people for ideas, but the important thing is to take that first "leap of faith" and believe that we do have the power to remove the influence-peddling corruption from our system.
I trust you. I trust your capacity for decency and compassion and empathy.
P.S. I dedicate this humble diary to my wife for her unconditional love and support (and for putting up with me), and for always helping me keep things in perspective.
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Ray Pensador | Email List | Twitter | Facebook | Social Justice National Ad Campaign
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