Lavoy Finicum stood up for his convictions, his beliefs. The Bundys stood firm in their beliefs. Malcolm X stood for his beliefs, and Martin Luther King stood for his beliefs. I forget the name of the lady that refused to go to the back of the bus, but she, one person, did make a difference. IF a person is willing to Stand for their conviction and beliefs then yes one person can make a difference. It is not the one telling you you can not make a difference, it is them, they, government, and church telling you you don't matter. Society is good at telling people what they can and can not do, society is the believers in the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
One man, one woman, or one God, can make a difference in the lives of the many. The many will never make a difference in the lives of the one.
Don't get me wrong! I'm not saying one person can't make a difference. I'm saying one person probably can't solve some of these major issues we face, like war for example. I've yet to see anyone stop people from bombing each other, and in regards to MLK jr, it's great he helped so many, yet.. Sometimes it seems as if people are almost more racist than ever. Same with Ghandi and other people who helped.. There's now more war and more people dying by government than ever.. So I mean.. it's great we have one of these MLK or Ghandi types every once and a while and they help, but they have not solved the problems. In order for that to happen in my opinion we must all become our own ML and Ghandi types. Or.. A lot of us.. Not all.. Just a lot, more than we have now. Much more.
A point not missed by me. Society is not going to solve the ills of society, any more than a drug addict is going to solve the drug addiction problem. It is the individual,(who often stand outside of society), who has the ability to solve the issue. One individual gathering more individuals, MLk and Gandhi started as individuals, as one, then they gathered, not intentionally but because other individuals saw substance in what they stood for, and chose to stand with them. The individuals chose to stand with them first, then society tagged along.
In time the bombs will stop falling. As humans we have not stopped fighting among ourselves, it is questionable if we can live without fighting among ourselves. It is going to take a long long time before the bombs stop falling. As for there being more war and more people dying than ever before are you really sure about that? When in history has there not been war? Are we killing more people percentage wise than any of the wars in the past? Is our (USA) government, or other country governments really killing more of its own citizenry percentage wise than it did in the past?
I do not believe Ghandi, and MLK had anything to do with an increase in violence. During their peak notability time, there may have been a slight rise in government obstruction of their cause but no real significant increase of violence from their respective governments.
I just made a movie that included research about this subject that I haven't released yet because YouTube is taking forever to review my channel.. But anyways.. According to recent research if you look into the subject of "democide" you'll find some scholars believe that yes it is the worst it has ever been in the last century. This shouldn't be too difficult to believe considering the rapidly growing populations of the world and the mass lethality of the weapons of war.
And.. I never said I thought Ghandi or MLK increased violence, not sure if you were implying I did or not? But I don't think so, I think they helped! They are both heroes of mine in their ways, though they were flawed men as well, I don't think anyone is perfect.
I'm not saying what they did was negative at all, I'm saying it wasn't enough.. We need more than an amazing civil rights leader every once and a while.. We need almost everyone to have a mindset like they are a Ghandi or a MLK or even a "Jesus".. Whoever, more people need to be their own heroes, and.. I think unfortunately.. We need to make being "good" cool. Or popular.. The more people think it's cool to help others instead of to steal and hurt from them, the better.
Once again though.. The messages these great leaders taught us are amazing and they helped so much, but.. I think more people need to actually embody those messages, cause the world is more crazy than probably ever in recorded history.
Yet at the same time.. What's difficult about this is.. Even if we are almost all peaceful and good enlightened people, what do we do about the predators? They probably like it when we don't fight back. We're easier to control that way. So there has to be some kind of balance there between.. Being peaceful and benevolent and righteous and also not letting predators prey on you or others.
It is a tough line and a tough nut to crack, and no I was not implying that you thought MLK or Gandhi were responsible for an increase in violence.
I think I brought that up as side effect, though temporary one, of the response of their respective governments toward them.
I still think that it only takes individuals, people willing to step out from society temporarily to effect great changes in society. Society is never going to solve the problems of society, that is all I am saying.
That is what I am saying, society can not fix that issue. Because then they become the predator. The individuals need to step out from society and solve the problem. Society will not and can not solve it. Society is in truth the schizophrenic portion of the problem They see themselves as Peaceful, when the reality is anything but, society is always at war with the individual, and with other societies.
I'm sure you are getting tired like me, maybe one day we will all be able to sit down and solve the worlds problems, but I don't think society will accept the solution. So for this thread, I'll read your response and then move on to the next piece of thinking enlightenment you present.
Thanks for the clarification in regards to the increased violence in relation to civil leaders and now that I see what you mean.. I sort of agree. I think they do increase violence because the government starts cracking down on people more. But.. I think that might be a necessary aspect in order to get more peace in the longterm generations down the line.
I'm a little confused by your response that society can't fix the problem.. If society can't do it and individuals can't do it and government definitely can't do it.. Then.. Who can? Aliens? Are we screwed? Heh.
When you say this..
Does this mean if you saw an innocent man woman or child being viciously beaten in front of you that you would not try to stop it from happening? You feel like using force to stop someone from being hurt makes you the predator? Do you also feel the same about self defense? Like if someone was going to attack you, you wouldn't fight back? You'd just let them kill or torture you or do whatever bad things? Because in order to defend yourself you think you become a predator? Is that true?
Not sure if you can answer since you said that was your last message on this thread, so.. I guess we can finish this communication another time or I can just wonder. Peace.
No what I am saying is that ONLY the Individual can solve this type of problem. That only the individual can step out from society to solve the problems. Look at society's solution to perceived child abuse CPS. The individual that steps forward and puts a stop to violence being perpetrated on a child will in most cases be prosecuted by society, because they did not let society fix the problem ie: they did not call the police and sit by and watch the crime continue.
What I am saying is it is upto the Individual, and in most cases the individual needs to step out from societies norms to fix the problem.
For a society to strive for peace and be called a peaceful society they must by definition abhor violence of all natures.
Oh okay. I see. I misunderstood you quite a bit! Sorry about that.
Uhhh... I generally agree as I mentioned before that we sort of need to "Be the change you wish to see in the world" in regards to being the MLKS and Ghandi's ourselves in large number, but.. I'm not sure single individual can solve these huge issues like war, that's what I've been trying to say.. That.. If people in MUCH bigger numbers really took the messages of the MLKS and Ghandi's to heart.. Like.. To treat others with respect and not treat others in ways we wouldn't want to be treated.. Then right there, so many of our problems would improve.. If many more individuals started taking those philosophies our civil rights leaders talked about, and embodied them in mass numbers to push back against the predators and the apathetic as well.
My argument is that I love these people like MLK and Ghandi, though.. One of them every once and a while isn't enough, we need more people to live like the "Jesus" they go to church to basically worship. We have tons of Christians who believe in a guy is uber loving and forgiving and peaceful and then go drop bombs on innocent children over seas or beat their wife or hate people of different skin color or sexual preference or whatever.. I mean.. It's right in front of us, these civil rights leaders have told us the teachings, yet.. Sometimes it seems like barely anyone lives those teachings. ;\ And that if more people did, things wouldn't be nearly so bad! So in a sense.. I agree with you.. It is the individual, but it's also the individual in much bigger numbers. Not just one Ghandi or ML, but thousands if not millions or more of them.