| Ravenlock ( |
babbling on like usual
Well, I have been thinking (what else is new for me) that alot of things are happening in this world today. All with the War on Terrorism, the suicide bombers in England, the government scandal in Canada and all that good stuff. What I am really getting to is that I have noticed that no one really makes decisions for themselves. You're told what to do by someone and if you don't do it you go to jail or something else along those lines. No one or very few people actually think for themselves or are independant. If you are reading this and think you are independant and that no one makes decisions for you. You may want to think again, and look at what is happening around you and look at who influences you most. Usually those that influence you are the ones that help make decisions or do make them. Take the suicide bombers for example... They don't decide to do what they do they are usually influenced into doing such things and or are told to do them cause that is what they should be believing in. That has happened for many of years from the starting of time. As for the past 300 to 400 years there is something different amongst that. And it is called christianity... I have noticed that it has mostly started and caused racism amongst most of our fellow people. Take Canada for example: Europeans come to this country with christianity and force it upon the aboriginals. The children are taken from their families and are forced to forget their heritage and welcome this new religon into their hearts and if you didn't you were beaten etc. Now these days the native community is trying to bring back their lost past and their lost rights and passages that their people once used. And I would htink 35% of the aboriginal community is racist towards the "white" people cause they were driven from these such things and that is why they do what they do these days cause most families have brought them to think that way about them. And take the african-americans for example also. They were brought to America for slavery and that was the start of racism on that behalf also. You were brought to this country to be put to work if you didn't work you were shot or killed or beaten for not listening to your "master" or "owner" and you can not learn to read or do anything else that you can not do these days. Now they are trying to remove racism from the world which is highly impossible since the damage was already done and we never thought of what this would do... we just did what we thought was right at the time. I know that alot of other religons have some what gone this way with racism etc. But it is time to start changing things around and trying to fix our past as best as we could. But I have done enough for right now, to those that are reading this thank you very much and have a good day.
Anonymous
July 22 2005, 09:21:29 UTC 6 years ago
My 10 cents (inflation these days... sheesh)
I think one thing that people tend to forget is that history repeats itself. There is no need to attempt to scratch out the mistakes humanity has made in the past. From the Crusades to the conquistadors, there was always greed and motivation for power and control involved. In fact, anytime religion is used as an excuse for warring on another people, you need to stop and ask yourself if the religion is to benefit others, whether they like it or not, and whether or not it allows free will.Most religions today are rather flaccid, with the suicide bombers, annoying door-to-door JWs or Mormons, and crazy sidewalk preachers excluded. We're a civilised society and as such, we respect other's beliefs even more today than perhaps it has ever been. But, we've still got that history plaguing us. It brings up a valid question though: How much must we (we being the people blamed for past mistakes) pay before restitution is made? The answer is that we cannot pay for it. For one, it is rarely *our* duty to pay for our ancestor's mistakes. We can remedy and make things right under our own power, but we cannot undo what someone else has already done. I have ancestors who owned slaves. I have never owned a slave. Thus, I do not think I owe anything to another person who has never been a slave, but who had ancestors who were. Also, I think that those who were discriminated against/repressed/whatever in the past need to realise that it's the past. Working together could make this a reality, but humanity takes offense and defends itself. It will never happen. Same reason we'll never have world peace.
And as for your original thought: no one can make a decision totally on their own. There will always be external factors that will affect them, whether it is a peer, a belief, or a feeling. We're raised by parents who guide us with decisions while we're young, then by friends who pressure us when we get older. And, after that, we still have influencing factors. It all matters who influences us in the best way (best, of course, being a subjective term).
I don't think we're all yesmen sitting around, listening and begging for others' approval. Yes, we're influenced, but that's a fact of life. Not being influenced would be a removal of our humanity. We'd become robots with the sole ability to make decisions based on definite facts, with no emotions or anything else involved.
- Anon