Intimidation as a means of governing and dealing with the world

A substantial number - the great majority - of the world's conflicts are derived from people trying to intimidate one another and those they are trying to intimidate trying to prove to the world that they will not be intimidated.

The conflict between the United States, the United Nations, and Western nations and Iran, right now, is a classic example of this stand-off and its ineffectiveness.

It is the hubris that intimidation instead of reason is the most powerful force in the world.

And if that were the case, wouldn't you expect a culture that celebrated its power to intimidate more than its power to reason?

Either one of two things is the case: either we are lying about the things that we say that we value, or we doubt our values for fear that they are not as strong as our power to intimidate.

But one thing that is for sure that gives me hope amidst all of this foolishness is that reason is how we will end up resolving this issue, because reason is the only way that we can make sounder judgments when the world is not moving forward in the way it needs to.

And that is how reason sustains our culture and why it is the pinnacle of our cultural values.

If only we could have more confidence in that fact of life.

Love,
Ben