Jean-jacques Rousseau @ MindSay

civilization makes us poofters...  makes us weaker as individuals yet

stronger as groups...  or is that perceived strength just an illusion?  are

not groups more fragile than strong individuals?  what is more useful--

strength or knowledge?  individuals build strength, groups build

knowledge...  what is easier to acquire-- strength or knowledge?  in the

"natural world" knowledge is more elusive than strength, and vice-versa in

the "civilized world"...  perhaps wherever "might is right" prevails, nature

prevails, and this "civilized world" of which we so often speak and dream is

but a theory...  for would not a truly civil world follow the maxim "right

is right" above the alternative?  why should the "wise" bow to might?

wisdom should elevate us above fear...  wisdom should equip us with the

tools to negate physical might...  tools that transcend might...  tools that

CONVINCE rather than dominate...  tools that ENLIGHTEN rather than

terrorize...  where are these tools?  why aren't they working?  might is the

easy way, the natural way...  it is our default tool, our inherited master,

our first and last resort...  right must be AGREED upon, but might is as

uncontestable as an avalanche...  right demands co-operation, might demands

submission...  right must constantly be revised and challenged, but to

challenge and change might is to make a fire burn cold...  right is reason,

might is muscle...  right harvests the virtues of all, might harvests the

fear and obedience of all to serve the virtues of one...  right is the

domain of all, might, of a few...  nature taught us to be mighty, to wield

might like a talisman against all unpleasantness...  we know what it is to

be mighty, for we feast on the less-mighty every night, and hold a knife to

the throats of the less-mighty every second of every day...  if our might as

a species is ever challenged, we get to task eradicating the source of that

challenge...  bears are not civilized, wolves are not civilized, sharks are

not civilized...  "civilization" is the domain of humankind and those who

never fail in the service of humankind...  we eradicate the competition, and

then we turn on each other...  when there are no bears and wolves afoot

within the city gates, we project their spectre onto the faces of each

other...  we are meant to live alongside such adversaries, and our genetic

conditioning creates them when we isolate ourselves from them (or eradicate

them)...  we are/become wolves at each others' doors...  our genes must be

telling us that we need wolves to avoid becoming weak...  what good is a

might that can never affect?  what good is might when there is nothing to

effect?  might is divisive...  might is delusional, always inventing

threats, always subjecting us to fear so that we may seek out strength...

we need strength no more!  we are all that's left to feel the brunt of our

strength!  we are all that is left to suffer from might!

the bears are gone!  the wolves are gone!  the sharks are gone!  the plague is gone!  we killed them all because we feared them!  now all we fear is each other-- what do you think we will do to ourselves!  might will lead us to ruin, not victory-- IT is all we need fear.  IT is the last and most formidable beast of this world...  it is our greatest threat...  fear it, and the fear with which it contorts us into beasts...  might is the enemy of civilization, the enemy of right, and only righteousness can beat it...  this is not abstract!  education can prevail over might as laws (ideally) prevail over chaos...  we are NEVER taught the follies of might-- never!  we are simply taught of the scar that might has left, and is leaving, on our world...  we're taught the wheres whens, whos and hows of might and that is all!  and that is insanity!  "this conqueror had an army of this many and killed this many people to gain an empire of this many nations..."  "this mogul began with a bank account of this many dollars and bought out this many companies to gain a corporation which spans this many continents..."  MIGHT.  it is a wretched, wretched thing, but it can be defeated by three humble letters: "w", "h", and "y".  might cannot stand up to questioning and logic...  it is irreconcilable with our better virtues...  might's strength rests on the assumption that all life will use might whenever it comes across anything that can be swayed by it...  might's strength rests on the assumption that all life is selfish to a fault, that all life is selfish first and foremost...  is this the case?  if so, life is invirtuous, and not worth fretting over at all..  if not, WE HAVE TO CHANGE NOW.  right is right.