Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The Ends and the Means
How can we figure out who to trust? How do we know who is telling the truth and who is lying? How do we know who is helping the efforts for truth and justice and who is instead harming such efforts?
Well, one important test is to look at the PROCESS people are using. In other words, forget for a minute what someone is saying. Instead, focus on how they are doing things.
Indeed, President George W. Bush has said many beautiful things about democracy and security, values and principals, freedom and liberty. But what has he actually done? Hasn't he actually acted by using a process which is authoritarian, destructive of innocent lives, freedoms, liberties, American values and human dignity?
As another example, in the 9/11 truth movement, the following are some red flags that someone is not acting in the best interests of truth and justice:
- Spending more time attacking members WITHIN the truth movement than attempting to bring the perpetrators of the horrific 9/11 attacks to justice
- Working in "gangs" to attack 9/11 truthers with false claims, making it seem like many people believe the false accusations being made about those working for 9/11 truth
- Placing their need for attention, power or fame above being a member of a team working for truth and justice
- Threatening the use of force, whether physical, legal or otherwise, against everyone who disagrees with his or her viewpoint
- Focusing more energy disrupting discussion and action than moving the ball forward
- Mischaracterizing silence in the face of a false accusation as an admission, when silence might be due to the crazy nature of the accusation or experience that the accuser will simply make up new, false accusations when confronted with the truth concerning the original accusation
Talk is cheap. As alot of people have said, you'll learn alot more about people by watching what they're actually doing and the "fruits" they are producing than their words.
And as Emerson said, "Who you are speaks so loudly that I can't hear what you're saying".
Talk is cheap, and there are many clever tongues. Moreover, we all have blind spots, and if we use a corrupt process to achieve noble goals, we are no better than President Bush.
We all have to get better at judging people by their actions and their fruits, their process and who they are. Because even while we are fighting for heroic and noble goals, we will become as bad as those we are fighting if we adopt an "ends justify the means" mentality. Because when the ends justify the means, the new boss will be just like the old boss.
Don't believe me? Then I've got one follow-up question for you: Didn't those who carried out the 9/11 attacks believe that the ends justify the means?
Well, one important test is to look at the PROCESS people are using. In other words, forget for a minute what someone is saying. Instead, focus on how they are doing things.
Indeed, President George W. Bush has said many beautiful things about democracy and security, values and principals, freedom and liberty. But what has he actually done? Hasn't he actually acted by using a process which is authoritarian, destructive of innocent lives, freedoms, liberties, American values and human dignity?
As another example, in the 9/11 truth movement, the following are some red flags that someone is not acting in the best interests of truth and justice:
- Spending more time attacking members WITHIN the truth movement than attempting to bring the perpetrators of the horrific 9/11 attacks to justice
- Working in "gangs" to attack 9/11 truthers with false claims, making it seem like many people believe the false accusations being made about those working for 9/11 truth
- Placing their need for attention, power or fame above being a member of a team working for truth and justice
- Threatening the use of force, whether physical, legal or otherwise, against everyone who disagrees with his or her viewpoint
- Focusing more energy disrupting discussion and action than moving the ball forward
- Mischaracterizing silence in the face of a false accusation as an admission, when silence might be due to the crazy nature of the accusation or experience that the accuser will simply make up new, false accusations when confronted with the truth concerning the original accusation
Talk is cheap. As alot of people have said, you'll learn alot more about people by watching what they're actually doing and the "fruits" they are producing than their words.
And as Emerson said, "Who you are speaks so loudly that I can't hear what you're saying".
Talk is cheap, and there are many clever tongues. Moreover, we all have blind spots, and if we use a corrupt process to achieve noble goals, we are no better than President Bush.
We all have to get better at judging people by their actions and their fruits, their process and who they are. Because even while we are fighting for heroic and noble goals, we will become as bad as those we are fighting if we adopt an "ends justify the means" mentality. Because when the ends justify the means, the new boss will be just like the old boss.
Don't believe me? Then I've got one follow-up question for you: Didn't those who carried out the 9/11 attacks believe that the ends justify the means?
No comments:
Post a Comment