0.1.5 Why bother? We care about values!

Version 1.0 September 2016                                        Previous Version

●   Too many people have become disenchanted with democracy and too many people have some reason to be so.  As the educated elites have moved towards global citizenship, a free exchange of ideas, free trade agreements and open markets, those who left behind see “ethnicsâ€� or foreigners taking their jobs, CEOs taking excessive salaries, and corporations taking us all for a ride.  In affluent countries the real income of the middle classes is stagnant or declining.  In many developing countries excessive corruption impedes economic growth.  Too many people think the way to fix the system is to destroy it, which will only lead to violence and instability.

●   The Australian Government, which prides itself on its support for the international rule of law, its democracy and its support for human rights, has imprisoned thousands of totally innocent people who have reached Australia legally on small boats to claim asylum.  This is done so that the major political parties can be seen to be strong in defending Australia’s borders, though they pretend it is to prevent deaths at sea.  Most of the asylum seekers have indeed been found to be legitimate refugees under international law.  Too many people can’t see how unjust this is.

●   Many millions of people live in abject poverty, with malnutrition, violence, disease and shortened lives.  Even in most affluent societies there is an underclass of unemployed, uneducated, unhappy people excluded from modern society.  Too many people misuse foreign aid; too many people have given up caring about the poor or foreigners.  Too many people think the poor are that way because they are lazy, violent, promiscuous, heretical drug users.

●   Modern media distorts our perceptions of the world.  Most media – TV, radio and newspapers – are owned or managed by middle aged or elderly men.  Their editors either have biased views or self-censor to suit their bosses or their audiences.  The need to find advertising revenue means media target the lowest common denominator in mass audiences.  Too many people distribute false news, e.g. via Facebook and Google, that too many others accept uncritically.  Too few people break out of the media’s mindset and still remain engaged in society.

●   Too many people believe that truth is relative.  They read false implications into a) secularism; b) Einstein’s Relativity Theory; c) the theory of democracy (free speech, pluralism and equality before the law); c) the fact that many ideas are social constructs (ideas that have arisen in one culture but not another); and d) post-modernism (denying that there is a universal narrative but only individual stories, each from their own perspective).  If we don't agree to value the truth, to seek and speak the truth, then the only way to resolve disagreements is through conflict.

●   Too many people support “law and orderâ€� campaigns: increased policing and surveillance, cutting short the legal process, harsher punishments, and longer prison sentences.  The USA has one of the world’s highest prison populations but is no safer because of it.  States using the death penalty are no safer than those who don’t.  In prison, you are more likely to learn how to be criminal than to be rehabilitated.  Emphasising personal responsibility and revenge over inequality and social support prevents us from actually reducing the crime rate faster.

●   The President of The Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, in 2016 instituted extra judicial killings of supposed drug peddlers and users by both police and vigilantes.  Thousands died in a few months, including obviously innocent people caught in the cross fire and mistaken identities.  It has provided an excuse for criminals to eliminate their enemies.  Bypassing the rule of law is an invitation to abuse human rights.  A majority of the population still support the initiative.

Humanity needs a better understanding of values, especially how our philosophy leads to core values, how religions have sought ways to express values and promote them, how understanding science, history and culture helps us to pursue reasonable values in our personal lives and how good values are supported by modern liberal, pluralist democracies.