World Central Kitchen Workers (comments) [back]
These comments were added on 2024-06-16
This LinkedIn post discusses violence, and after re-reading the original post I decided that I wanted to provide some clarifying comments, since this is an important topic.
> Israel has now killed 7 aid workers working for World Central Kitchen who were in Gaza to distribute food. I suspect this killing is a message from Israel for those from the west who want to help people in Gaza.
> One thing that is starting to become clear to me is that there are a large number of people who believe that those who are in power get there by being willing to use violence and to hurt people. I suspect there are even smart, intelligent people who believe this, and so when properly threatened, simply do what they are told.
I have been considering these words in retrospect. My intent was to describe these people as having an incorrect strategy. Ideally, people would not agree to do things simply because they are threatened. Instead, they would do things because they have been convinced that it makes sense to do them. By referring to my suspicion that others would do what they were told if threatened, I was trying to imply that I would not, in order to inspire others to have the same feeling.
However, after some thought, I have to admit that it is probably literally true that there is a level of personal threats that could be used to pressure even the most well-meaning person to do something unethical. The way I see it, the solution must be to create a society where it is not possible to threaten people in this way. If you want someone to do something, they should be convinced, not threatened.
> The ability to use violence is a decision, not a skill. A non-violent person could theoretically decide to use violence at any time, whereas a skill takes time to develop and requires effort. If we choose our leaders based on their ability to use violence and hurt people, then we probably will choose people who lack any particular skills, and so they probably will not be very good at their job.
> In US politics Joe Biden is well known for using the phrase "don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative". This phrase is an example of this mindset, in my opinion. When I read the phrase, my interpretation is that the speaker is saying the listener will choose the speaker because they have no other option, rather than because the speaker makes ethical decisions as the almighty theoretically would. In my opinion, this phrase has a subtext that implies the possible use of violence.
It is possible I am misinterpreting Joe Biden's intent when he uses this phrase. One of the reasons I have written these additional comments is because I realized that if a person does not know me very well, they might think some of my references in this LinkedIn post were a secret call for violence. If my comments can sometimes be misinterpreted if someone is looking for a subtle message, so can Joe Biden's. Subtle references are easy to misinterpret, which is why I decided to post some clarifying comments.
I disagree with the decisions that Joe Biden is apparently making with regards to Gaza, but there is a lot of important information I do not have in order to know how at-fault he really is. People may be lying to him and manipulating him. I do not know what information he receives. However, I am very comfortable blaming the system itself. In my opinion, we are all stuck in a system playing a game with perverse incentives that cause people to hurt each other for no reason.
The only use of violence that I have intended to imply has been violence against the physical border walls between Israel and Palestine. That is the reason that my peace plan page includes an image of a wall exploding.
> Personally my opinion is that humanity will not survive unless every person on the planet starts refusing to do things that are not in the best interest of everyone. We have to start ignoring people who believe they are in charge simply because they are willing to use violence.
This is somewhat of an ironic way to end the LinkedIn post given that in my comment above I technically just suggested violence against the physical border walls between Israel and Palestine. However, I am imagining organized violence, during which humanitarian aid is also rushing through, and people are not attacking each other.
In my vision I am imagining Pink Floyd playing a concert in the resulting space, partially because Roger Waters did the same thing for the Berlin Wall. But musical selections would of course be up to the Israelis and Palestinians.