Minority or Majority...

[Balagor]

Well here's my two cents worth ... as I feel this Minority vs Majority has some relevance in my neck of the woods ......

 

Firstly, as a Minority that ruled over a Majority and over an entire sub-continent to 1) stem the flow of communism and 2) to hold onto power with fierce military aggression ... I have

first hand experience.

Our nation was governed by an ex military general by the name of P W Botha also known as the "Crocodile", that was until the mastermind had a stroke and his second-in-command F W DE Klerk

stepped in (pretty much immediatelly giving no one a chance to interfere) and took control of the country, and then through a rapid succession of two referendums he released Nelson Mandela and unbanned the ANC.

And then began talks toward a non racial and democratic new South Africa.

 

Now my older brother had a conscience and risking life and limb he once stood up and started shouting about the evils of the apartheid system on a university campus, only to be dragged

away by his friends as the place (like all universities at that time) was crawling with secret police who were posing as students.

He told me that he used to deliberately go out and make friends with black people and openly hang out with them at a time when it could get you a serious beating or jail time (if the cops decided to trump some

charge against you) or even death.

 

As he related this to me he told me that I should never ever be afraid of standing against what was wrong, no matter the consequences, no matter the offender whether they be friend or foe.

 

So in reply to your Q, I must answer - fear should never be a factor in choosing sides as to whether or not you will or will not take a stance against the "evil" as you see it or as it is.

This "non fear" factor should completely eliminate anything that would prejudice your decision or will to act.

Whether or not you stand in a Minority or Majority.

My only concern would be this - "this cause or thing that I am in opposition to, or this in which I am in favor of, is it true in the sense that it's based on verifiable data and not some half-truth or misinformation".

Because there's no way that I'm going to risk life and limb for a lie.

 

Is it right or is it wrong - and is it based on fact - this should be your standard against which you measure "the issues of life", and not whether it be becuase everyone else is either doing it or not or says so or doesn't.

 

Here is just one example on one such issue ... I completely agree with the actions of George W. Bush in the Middle East .... this is not a very popular choice but it's one I completely support ... it has set back worldwide

terrorism by years (based on fact) and has liberated Afghanistan which was crumbling back into the dust of antiquity and literal slavery (based on fact), and it set free a nation (Iraq) which practiced genocide on it's own people

(based on fact).

Whether or not you like him or don't, you can go to these nations and see people who are more "Free'er" now than ever before.

 

Or would you rather see a female treated as a piece of dirt or like some livestock to be used and manipulated and beaten publicly like an animal and deprived of an education and reduced to begging because it's "unlawful" for

her to work ..... damn this makes me so angry ............

Yes I'm sure that there were underhanded things going on but war is an ugly business and is never fair.

 

So sorry for straying there, but I like to give a practical example where I can to somehow back up what I'm saying.

 

No offence was intended toward anyone but if the cap fits then wear it.

 

cheers

 

If you really trust what you stand for is right, there is no such things as fear nor pain.

Are you ever in doubt whether the "case" is true or a lie, trust your own abillity to judge. Listen to your common sense and your heart.

You did so in the case with enslaved people and oppressed women.

[Fifoo]

First I wanted to thank you all for your comments on the subject... Myrmaad, to raise the ambiguous issue of interpretation of the term "weak". Grannywils, for your candor. Slygothmog, for being the last Knight of modern times. Trandoshan, your words are always helpful in any debates. Coous, to remain neutral on the subject, the day will come when choices are to do in life, so I hope you make the right when it presents itself to you. SilverDNA, for quoting the Milgram experiment. Balagor, to keep his "old hippie" state of mind, and especially more than anything else, do not change, stay as you are! Aurielius, for quoting Martin Luther King, the choice of this quote is perfect to illustrate the debate. And finally, Burnagirl, for bringing his disturbing evidence about what may be the conditions in which we see the good and bad, truth or lie... Indeed, everything is a question of our own ability to perceive and understand the world around us, about the complexity of reality and how we live or have the desire to live.

 

Another interesting example is what might be called altruism animal.

 

In "The Game of Death", a documentary by Christophe Nick, 80% of the participants issued electroshock. Similar experiments were conducted with such animals. The conclusions are different. This is the case of rhesus monkeys. In an experiment conducted in 1964, 80% of the monkeys stopped operating the chain of food delivered to them when they saw it was inflicting an electric shock to one of them. They preferred to go hungry for several days. Same with rats, they have stopped eating rather than to hurt another.

 

In his book, "The Age of Empathy", Frans de Wall, an expert on primates, shows that animals suffer to see one of their suffering... He tells how the heart of a female goose is accelerating when the male is attacked by another goose. Some animals have the same concern for the well-being of another species in a zoo, a Bengal tigress fed piglets, a bonobo monkey, a bird has flown concussed top of a tree to steal it again.

 

Compassion, which both candidates failed to Game of Death, has its roots in evolution long ago, a period prior to the onset of the human species. Furthermore it is regrettable that, by diverting most unfortunate, the emission of France 2 has quickly exonerated "electrocutors" their responsibility to focus the shot on television. Gladiators of the Coliseum, the slaughter of Verdun, the torturers of Abu Ghraib to those Srebrenica, people must look the truth in the face: inhumanity is as old as man.

 

To each of us to act conscientiously. :wink: