Verbal and physical violence against minorities, Jews, gender orientation (GLBTQ) and our common environment seem to be on the rise. All of this is based on what Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman called "fast thinking," judgments based on people's beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence. People's Values, Assumptions, Beliefs, and Expectations about the way the world is or should be (VABEs) drive judgments regardless of the scientific evidence. This is an age-old phenomenon AND it's past time for modern humans to acknowledge the scientific facts:
- All homo sapiens grew out of the rise of the species in Africa. We have traced the dissemination of homo sapiens DNA as we spread out across the world. We are ALL members of the same race/species. The distinctions people focus on today are not racial, they are based and normal genetic variations in skin color and in facial features. C'mon, people! We are all the same race! Those who say otherwise are unaware of or unwilling to accept the evidence.
- Gender is not and has not been since the beginning of mankind (homo sapiens) a binary phenomenon. Our earliest recorded history reports that some percentage (about 10%) of the population worldwide are not clearly male or female: some are born with an attraction to the same gender, some with an attraction to both genders, some even with indistinct physical genitalia. Get over it! It's a demonstrated fact of genetic life.
- Religions develop distinct cultures. Culture is a set of shared VABEs. Cultures can be strong or weak--and they are often based on myth, inaccuracies, falsehoods, and flat-out dysfunctional assumptions about the way the world is--or should be. I outline in A Song of Humanity: a Science-Based Alternative to the World's Scriptures in the book of Gods how varied and utterly uninformed the various views and constructions of "god" that homo sapiens created were. Early homo sapiens did not understand the sources of famine, thunder, lightning, earthquakes, etc. and fabricated stories to explain those natural phenomena. We have, especially in the last 150 years, uncovered so much based on physical evidence that it's long since past time to let go of those "ancient" historical "sacred" writings and acknowledge and adapt to what we now know. The perpetuation of vehement belief in these inaccurate depictions of the nature of the world we live in amounts to mental, emotional, and physical violence to both "true believers" and "infidels" alike.
- In an historical world with apparent boundless resources, humans learned to dominate their own territory and to protect themselves from their neighbors by force. In a modern world where travel and communication have grown exponentially, we can no longer ignore the "commons," the impact our individual behavior has on the global community as a whole. To ignore the health of the "commons," is to ensure the erosion of our planet and our mutual destruction.
We need a new set of VABEs, a new set of values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations about the way the world is or should be. Those "new" VABEs should be:
- We are all brothers and sisters of the same human race. There is no basis for judging others on the basis of the color of their skin or their facial features. We should judge each individual by their behavior.
- Our religions are based primarily on where we were born. We should tolerate everyone's beliefs so long as they don't try to foist them on others--by peaceful or violent methods. Worship how you wish and let others do the same. AND pay attention to the replicated, evidence-based discoveries of science.
- No one asked for their gender orientation; they didn't apply for or ask for what they got. Gender orientation is a function of genetic reproduction of DNA. Therefore, we should allow people to practice their sexual preferences freely--so long as they don't force or harm others.
- Mental illness is also a function of genetic reproduction. Society should acknowledge this and provide for the mentally ill. Paranoid schizophrenia for example afflicts 1% of the population world-wide.
- We all should leave our immediate area better than we found it. Account for and manage your own waste--of all kinds. Those who continue to extract more than they contribute (in whatever profession) should be constrained by the pressure of the rest of the people who live in the global commons.
Verbal and physical violence against minorities, other religions, those with variations in gender orientation, and the common environment has no future. Variations in skin color, facial features, religious beliefs, gender orientation and environmental health are not going away. The only way we can learn to live together is to re-examine our own VABEs, acknowledge the dysfunctionality of many of them, and replace them with new VABEs that ensure our personal freedom of choice and a healthy commons upon which we all depend for survival.
