Category: Decisions

In the First Place: Why Public Debate Is Usually Pointless

6/6/2014

What are the pillars of our society?

Those who make decisions on our behalf, those who enforce those decisions and those who report them to us:

Government
Churches
The military
The media

They are all institutions whose existences are based on beliefs they do not accept
any dissension from.

Government – we are legitimate and all of our actions are legitimate
Churches – our dogma is correct and you will be punished in the next life if you disobey
The military – our wars are justified and you are not patriotic if you say otherwise
The media – what we say is true, we hide nothing important and if you disagree, you are a nut.

The institutions control public discussion by labeling thoughts that would harm their existence. The following questions will never be answered by any of these pillars:

Government – What is national security and what types of information are really hidden to the public for this reason?
Churches – Can you prove that the leader of your religion really existed?
The military – How many soldiers would you recruit if you told them the truth about why we were sending them to war?
The media – How often are you pressured into dropping stories and who pressures you?

To get these questions answered, we need another actor to join the debate. Many fear the institutions and their enormous power and do not ask why our society functions as it does.

But we need the questions answered.

Almost every debate, whether about something like guns (especially in light of recent reported shootings in the national news) or butter (like the perpetual debate of how much money to devote to the military) starts off with at least one of the false beliefs stated above. In short, the debate gets it wrong IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Be a part of a public that reasonably questions what we hear. Disregard those who state beliefs but do not back them up or who refuse to answer your questions. This is how we collectively will get these questions answered. Then we can discuss the details.

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St. Peter's Choice - A Novel by Dean T. Hartwell out Soon!

6/6/2013

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Daring to challenge assumptions about God and the afterlife, the novel St. Peter’s Choice by Dean T. Hartwell arrives soon to an audience of those willing to think freely.

It is Judgment Day. The “rock” of the Christian religion begins to change his mind about going to heaven after he decides to talk to those sent to hell.

When he speaks to God later about the conversations, he finds he has a choice to make between faith and reason.

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Would You Follow an Illegal Order?

4/6/2013

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Would you follow an illegal order?

Experiments, such as the Milgram Experiment, have concluded that people will break their own moral code if conditioned under certain circumstances. In that experiment, the person running it would tell the subject to ask questions of another person. Upon receiving incorrect answers from the other person, the subject would be told to order shocks to be given to them.

Unbeknownst to the subject, the other person was an actor secretly helping those who ran the experiment. Separated by a wall from the subject, the actor pretended to feel serious pain from the shocks. Overwhelmingly, the subjects, at some point told that they would not be held responsible for the harm, would continue to administer the shocks.

In a municipality recently, the head of Code Enforcement made a remark we have probably all heard frequently. When asked why he did not charge a city official with permit violations, he said he was “just following orders” from supervisors who urged him not to pursue the matter.

Before we make any moral judgments of those discussed here who went along with actions they knew or should have known were wrong, we could start by asking ourselves:

What would we do?

Few people are comfortable with the idea of standing alone in advocating a point of view.

Few people are willing to risk repercussion from authority.

Few people have the ability to see themselves as part of the orders they carry out, especially when given the choice to displace the blame on the ones who gave the orders.

The morality of an order depends upon the followers’ willingness to equate their responsibility to that of those who give them.

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Forget about Free Will or Fate

5/27/2012

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If I had free will, what would that mean?

Would I still have to deal with the uncontrollable things in life - my DNA, the weather, and decisions made by others?

I am skeptical of the idea of free will because our freedom to will is so limited.

I am under six feet tall. Even if I will to be an NBA star, does it matter?

I doubt free will.

I do not like the concept of fate, either. I reject the idea that my life is guided by some force or that it has been determined ahead of time.

How can anyone prove their fate, anyway?

We are handed a number of characteristics and circumstances. We play the cards we are dealt. Not everyone gets a chance at a royal flush.

We are free to imagine things being better, but our choices are as limited as the people we are. We can work on freeing ourselves of limitations but in doing so, our will really is not free.

We are free to make what for most are easy decisions - pay the rent, don't commit a crime - but when the decisions get tougher, we are reminded we are not free to disregard consequences.

Nothing is really free. Fate is only understood in hindsight where it can be explained but not proven.

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Control Your Life by Controlling Fear

8/13/2011

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Control Your Life by Controlling Fear

I fear a lot of things, such as:

A lack of concentration when I most need it
Being judged prematurely
Being prevented from making progress on things I care about

It is natural to feel fear. Sometimes, in situations of danger, fear keeps us alive.

For example, say a car comes down a highway toward us from the opposite direction. Then it suddenly moves into our lane! We would feel fear and our mind might create an image of a head-on crash to prompt us to act (such as moving to a shoulder).

But not all fears are about survival. My fears are about my sensitivities and the feeling that problems cannot be resolved. I also fear that others will judge me before I have a fair opportunity to show them who I am.

My nature is to respond. When I do not respond to a question, criticism or insult, I become angry with myself or with the situation.

Where do these fears come from?

Childhood explains some of it. I had a speech impediment as a child. Other kids mimicked me and made me feel less inclined to participate in conversations.

I had trouble finding allies. Trusting others became difficult when people I stood up for did not stand up for me. I developed a fear that I was not worthy of an equal relationship.

As an adult, this problem of trust continued. I never felt like I fit in anywhere and feared a life apart from everyone else. For some time, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, my fears were realized.

In a state of loneliness, I decided to join a club I had wanted to join for some time. I could not have known it at the time, but it turned out to a great benefit in more ways than one. For one thing, I easily overcame whatever had remained of the speech impediment and have gone on to lead the club, win awards and participate in contests.

But more importantly, I met the woman who is now my wife!

All decisions we make affect us, some in good ways and some not. But the act of making decisions strengthened my confidence in myself and also my resolve to confront my fears.

So, by writing this essay, I have created my own progress in addressing my fears. The simple realization that we have control over finding our own solutions keeps us ready to handle whatever life hands us.

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With No Values, the United States Will Never Have Justice

11/16/2010

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With No Values, the United States Will Never Have Justice

I had a classmate in high school who was quite popular, a good student and a star athlete. He seemed destined for success. And indeed he went on to receive scholarships and later became an FBI agent.

The newspapers from my hometown reported that while on duty, he had carjacked someone at gunpoint. This activity got back to his supervisor, who ordered him to come see him in his office at once. But instead of going back to the office, my classmate shot himself to death.

I thought that he obviously felt embarrassed about what he had done but could not understand why he would not see his boss, even though it would likely mean losing his job. What would cause him to take his own life, which was surely more important?

I wondered if he ever had faced a difficult situation or whether he had ever done something unpopular or even said anything that the majority did not agree with. I could easily recall others I knew in high school facing dilemmas. But not him. He always seemed to be with the "in" crowd. His inexperience with looking or feeling different may have contributed to his suicide.

I learned of another situation about conflicting values from my uncle, Steven Hartwell, a law school professor at the University of San Diego. He brought in a guest to explain an assignment about a client with a legal document in a hypothetical tenant/landlord dispute. She went on to say that the only way for them to win the case would be to lie on the document.

This is the kind of action that gets attorneys disbarred! And yet twenty-three of his twenty-four students gave this advice! People face pressure to win and the pressure intensifies when an authority figure (like a client) pushes for a certain result that contradicts established ethical standards.

I went to hear Oliver Stone speak recently. He talked about problems journalists face when they ask questions about the assassination of John Kennedy. Those who ask, according to Stone, typically find that their sources "dry up" quickly and they have nowhere to go for information.

People make decisions, sometimes good and sometimes not so good. Typically, a person must decide between two choices, each of which represents a value. Those who value popularity spend less time evaluating the substance of the decisions they make and lose sight of what their values are. Those who go against the grain do so at their own peril.

Why do some conform and others do not?

Conformity probably begins at an early age. It is difficult for many of us to be alone for too long. We need friends, companions and others to be around us. As a child moves up through the school ranks, they see that their opinions do matter in terms of landing friends.

A child might hear a question: "Do you like to play football?" and begin to understand that the question is really a way that the questioner divides those whom they know. Other questions can make it clear who is "cool" (i.e. friendly or likable) and who is not: "Do you party?" or "Did you study for that exam?"

By the time they become adults, those who answer too many of these questions with the minority find themselves on the "outs" of their community. And the questions get more tricky.

"What do you think of people who put up signs for same-sex marriage?" (or people "who support flag-burning" or people "who oppose the death penalty") any other topic in an area in which the topic is not popular). We may say that questions like these are not appropriate at places such as the work site, but we also know that people ask them and we know that silence or "No comment" can and will be used against the person responding in such a manner.

Those who ask such questions communicate what they expect of others. Those who answer with the crowd likely gain more friends or acquaintances. But they may lose their sense of who they are and what they believe.

How does the issue of conformity apply to our nation?

I believe a lot of people are looking for someone or some group to validate their opinions. The Tea Party has become a symbol for those who say they are frustrated with our government. As I have noted before, the Tea Party focuses much of its "platform" against taxes and government spending. Many of those who claim to be with the Party also vent their anger against illegal immigration as well.

The Tea Party has chosen to be for what is popular (and against what is not): no one ever says they don't get taxed enough. Government spending can be measured in the trillions, a number most cannot fathom. And illegal immigration is, well, illegal.

One needs to dig deeply into analysis to understand that each of these issues is more complicated than the Tea Partiers let on. Taxes will always be necessary to allow society to assist individuals in ways they cannot do for themselves, such as making roads, maintaining street lights and maintaining order. Because of these common needs, we will always have a government that taxes and spends. As for illegal immigrants, the simple fact that many people are unwilling to do jobs that people emigrate here to do keeps this issue in play.

But popularity, often derived through polls and the mainstream media, does not reflect reason as well as emotion. Many people still conform to ideas that should have been discarded by now:

Osama bin Laden did 9/11 (even the FBI acknowledges a lack of evidence for this idea) http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2623
Barack Obama is a socialist (the United States Socialist Party has denounced him) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20019089-503544.html
The United States is a Christian Nation (there is no mention of God or Christianity in our most important document, the Constitution)

Our nation is lost and probably always has been. We have thrived on military might to get what we want from the rest of the world and we have, through educational institutes, told children to worship the flag by encouraging the repetition of the Pledge of Allegiance the way churches tell them to believe in the superiority of their religion. Worshipers conform and do not question authority or much else around them.

Of course they do not all take their own lives, commit fraud or shun those who seek the truth. They just see their own image and not their true selves in the decisions they make, perhaps the biggest tragedy of all.

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In the First Place: Why Public Debate Is Usually Pointless

St. Peter's Choice - A Novel by Dean T. Hartwell out Soon!

Would You Follow an Illegal Order?

Forget about Free Will or Fate

Control Your Life by Controlling Fear

With No Values, the United States Will Never Have Justice

With No Values, the United States Will Never Have Justice

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