Social Reason

Resolving "Irreconcilable" Differences - Milton W. Raymond

Mutual threats of nuclear annihilation by East and West blocs during the Cold War brought-out from thinkers on survival a non-authoritarian moral standard, "Is this effective for the betterment of all humanity?" Yet, the thinkers didn't use it consistently enough to resolve the conflict. Why? I tested people in the U.S. with the question, "If everyone lived by this moral standard, would there be wars or other social abuses?" The answers showed general recognition of the validity of the standard, but with it came denial that this standard or any other "Golden Rule" could ever be taught and lived by. Why? Essentially, 100% of the replies, often given with great assurance, boiled down to: "Depraved human nature." Asking for details abut what was human nature and what was learned behavior, I found that few had ever thought about it and none could prove this world view was anything more than a self-fulfilling prophecy, learned by them in their own lifetimes. Those who referred me to the writings for proof of their contention still clung to their depravity belief after my report that the writings they cited were contaminated by the same depravity world view.

I had also introduced the following explanation of the religious aspect of Soviet aims: failure of Judeo-Christian religions to teach effective ethics enabled the outburst of greed that accompanied the concentration of wealth during the first industrial revolution. Marx's followers sought to end greed by establishing gunpoint socialism, whereby, somehow, some day, a "new socialist man" would emerge, able to cooperate voluntarily for the common good, after which the state could wither away, its coercion no linger needed. I proposed for the West a race to achieve an ethical society (of "new men") in lieu of the armaments race, a third choice with a slogan, "Neither dead nor Red, a better world instead." This was rejected out of hand by two generations of depravity believers, despite the possibility of peaceful reconciliation of the East-West conflict. This indicated to me:

1. That adults are addicted to a lethal world view.

2. That efforts to deprogram adults should be minimal, just enough to allow introduction of preventative education for children.

3. That, beyond replacing the depravity belief with a sane and defensible world view, we also educate to prevent other insidious false beliefs, new or old, from developing into future mental addictions and into so-called irreconcilable conflicts.

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All of the above and more can be addressed by an intensified curriculum for critical thinking, spanning two generations and making the questioning of all inputs with the aforementioned moral standard the only comfortable way of life. Instructions for the first generation on how to avoid family practices that cause parental deprivation allow kindness-based second-generation upbringing and gut learning of the curriculum. The embodied world view pictures humans with wants and needs, not depraved, but simply not yet enough knowing how to achieve their aims without hurting others. "Effective" in the moral standard means "Does it work?" and allows only demonstrable facts (not magical assertions) to be used for problem solving. No need for a story of how everything began. Mental addictability is pictured as an overdone extension of the learning process, caused by failure to question the purpose and workability of one's beliefs and actions.

A "flyleaf program" gives students reading assignments for practice in detecting the depravity belief and its corollaries. A sheet listing page numbers and a short identifying description is attached and the book returns to the shelf, one less "proof" that depravity believers can cite. Though, this is better than burning "contaminated" books, it is far from enough to deflect die-hard believers.

Minimal deprogramming for adults calls for a panel of alert activists in several disciplines to make a video of a confrontation with a roomful of believers who, one by one, are made aware of their own depravity world view. The purpose is to show that the rest of society, especially school boards and the like, how universal and "invisible" is our addiction to this view of a threatening world and how in troubling times this view makes acceptance of authoritarian decisions, even for dictatorship or war, seem like logical choices to the addicted believers. The video would next announce the proposed two-generations program called Social Reason (SR)1 to prevent such mental addictions in the future and to create a society of foresight users wherein few emergency/authoritarian actions are ever necessary.

There are addicts to the authoritarian approach who will use their power to block any start of education for critical thinking. My advice is to wait them out, as the ultimate consequence will be a population incompetent compared to SR-educated populations elsewhere. Impatient activists invite a clash yet want a just resolution without violence. The best I can offer is the moral standard for transition societies, "Does this hurt anyone who would hurt no one?", combined with painful consequences only for the addicted elders who would inflict war on their children. Altemyer2 has established a list of 50 characteristics of Right-Wing Authoritarians (RWAs) useful in getting RWAs to chastise other RWAs. I offer a religion-based sample message for use in such chastising.

Marx's error, blaming capital instead of unethical use of capital, led to his choice of the authoritarian approach (confiscation of private property), which later begat the costly arms race that broke the Soviet Union. Next time, try SR. Chinese pro-democracy dissidents please note: tinkering with systems is futile. Adapt SR to the existing system, which will work better while a second generation devises a far saner system than we ever could. The same advice for the U.S. populist Alliance for Democracy.

Socialists3 still seek a transformation (new man) through the working class. They too should try SR first. Then, their grandchildren, raised in kindness and educated properly, can, with their social problem-solving expertise, finally displace bloody authoritarianism from its millennia long place at the center stage of history.

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A more complete exposition of the program can be obtained from the documents listed below:

Pre-Introduction

Applying the Process

Children's Section-Pre-Introduction

Status Report

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References

1. M.W. Raymond. Social Reason. Last revision 1976. Unpublished. A 70-chapter curriculum guide, awaiting update by its users and others. M.W. Raymond. Social Reason: A Status Report. 1995. Stored electronically in Peace and Conflict Archives, CSF, U. of Colorado, Boulder, CO.

2. Robert Altmeyer. The Authoritarian Specter. 1996. Harvard Press. pg. 300-02.

3. Istvan Meszaros. Beyond Capital. 1995. Merlin. London. pg. 984.

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