Core Values – Freedom

Posted on by Opher

Freedom is the basis for a lot of my life and thinking. I refuse to be a clone or slotted into a hole. I want to be free to think, feel, experience and express myself.

I resent any intrusion into what I regard as my freedom.

But I do recognise that freedom is a compromise and is limited. None of us are free.

The only way we can be completely free is to be living entirely on our own. Even then we are constrained by our abilities and nature.

I do not want extreme freedom.

I do not want to live in a society where people are allowed to be violent.

I do not want to live in a society where they are free to bully, express hatred, practice misogyny or racism, threaten, rape, steal or damage. I’m happy that there are laws to prevent this.

I do not want to live in a society where everyone has guns and armed police can shoot me.

I do not want to live in a society where those of a disposition can practice incest or paedophilia. I am happy there are laws on incest and an age of consent.

I feel that I am fairly able to live as I like. It is not a police state. I can vote for who I want, say what I like about the government and religion with impunity. I can believe in what I like or not, worship or not and blaspheme. I will not be tortured, imprisoned or burnt at the stake.

I might complain about the sham of our democracy and argue about certain laws – such as the drug laws – or complain about the exploitation and elitism – but I can go where I want, say what I want and do what I want.

If freedom was absolute we would have anarchy and a violent society in which nobody was safe. The violent bullies would rule. It would be grossly unfair and frightening.

So freedom for me is a compromise.

I’m OK with governments forcing short-term restrictions in an emergency – such as a pandemic – as long as those restrictions are limited, fair and removed ASAP.

I get aeriated about religions indoctrinating children or restricting women’s rights. I get aeriated about government censorship or political restrictions. I get vexed about media lies, government spin and fake news – it undermines truth and removes freedom.

I’m on the side of the people of Myanmar opposing their military government, those who fought apartheid, the Muslim women refusing the veil, the people standing up to juntas and oppression of any form. I’m for civil rights and for us all to be equal and free.

But let anybody try to take away my free speech, right to travel, right to vote or right to not worship and I would be forced to fight them.

Freedom is a basic right as far as I’m concerned. But freedom is a slippery beast. It is a compromise at best. Freedom is an ever evolving battle.

Core Value 3 – Tolerance

Posted on by Opher

I am, believe it or not, an extremely tolerant person. I will argue my views most fiercely but will also stand vehemently in support of anybody whose beliefs are threatened.

I don’t care what colour, race, politics or religion a person has. I stand firmly against racism, prejudice, misogyny and elitism.

I believe in the strength of a polyglot, pluralistic society. I believe that a culture is enriched by diversity and weakened whenever it seeks to impose a single belief – either in a narrow political view or a theology. Cultures flourish when they are tolerant of many political, religious, spiritual, artistic, cultural and social views and structures.

I am extremely intolerant of intolerance.

That is why I find fascism and theocracies utterly abhorrent.

I have a global view. I believe in one people one planet and love to travel the world to appreciate the diversity of thought, culture, perspective and philosophy. I find that very broadening of the mind.

I am quite happy to share my community with people of different races, cultures, politics, views, colours, sexuality, religions and creeds. I will happily argue and rant at them. I find that stimulating. However, when any group attempts to make out that its nationality, religion, culture or creed is superior to any other then I take exception. If any religious group or political cult attempts to indoctrinate, groom or intimidate anybody, particularly children, then I shall fight it (non-violently) and oppose it forcefully. If a religion or social group is misogynistic, homophobic or racist I believe it should be countered most strongly.

I stand against nationalism, racism and theocracy.

So I stand for a person to hold their own views and values but not their right to impose that on others. I want religion and politics either out of education altogether (no flags, pledges, prayers etc) or presented in a reasoned way where all views are presented – including those of atheists like myself.

I would like to see all religious, nationalisatic and political views discussed rationally without prejudice.

I find flags, anthems, rituals, pledges, parades, uniforms, dress codes, prayers, dietary codes, holy books, political proclamations…………………. (and all the other paraphernalia used by politicians and religious leaders to instigate unity and create group culture) either interesting, amusing and fascinating or sinister, worrying and downright evil. It depends on the extent.

To Make America Great Again is a good example. It is an extreme nationalistic slogan that in reality is proclaiming a superiority of Americans over other cultures and that they deserve to be great and the rest of the world (the inferior nations) can go hang.

It does not take much to see how daft this is. America has no real culture. It is too new. What it has is artificially created out of the national story created by it’s show of flags, repeating of pledges of allegiance, its parades and demonstrations of military might. It has to do this because it’s people are all immigrants pulled in from all parts of the world and all cultures. It is seeking to unite them into a new people with this artificial unified culture that doesn’t exist. It has to do this because it has little history and unity to build on and its people are so culturally diverse as to require this great show of unity to cohere them together.

Americans are obviously not superior to the other people of the world. America is, more than any other country, made up of all of the people from these other cultures.

The only true Americans are the Native Americans and I doubt that a lot of them would subscribe to the culture, flag and attitude of the MAGA ethos. They still probably wish that the whole load of these immigrants would get back on their ships, disappear over the horizon and allow them to live by their own creed.

We buy into the stories we want to believe in.

So – the dilemma is how tolerant should one be?

It is a core value I hold dear but it has been sorely tested by the rise of extreme right-wing fascism, the post-truth rise of fake news and conspiracy and the horrendous intolerance of all religions – the Islamic terrorism and strict conservative theocracies, the racism and misogyny, the Hindu extremists, the hypocritcal American evangelists, the environmentally destructive Christians, the fanatics who run the Jewish, Hindu, Islamic and Christian religious schools to indoctrinate children.

Should I be tolerant of warmongers? Racists? Misogynists? Fanatics? Indoctrinators? Political extremists? Liars? Conspiracy theorists? Cheats? Fake news purveyors? Abusers? Exploiters? Polluters? Environmental vandals? Political corruption? Religion?

Do I simply have a scale of tolerance that is slightly more in one direction than another?

How does one select what is worthy of tolerance and what one should be intolerant of?

Core Values – Number 2 – Fairness

Posted on by Opher

I believe in fairness. I’m not sure if that come from my upbringing or is something intrinsic to my character. One thing I am certain of is that it does not stem from any religious belief. I have no religious belief.

My trust in fairness leads me to all manner of social and political views.

I think the gross inequality created by capitalism, feudalism, monarchies, despots, global elites and all other systems created by human beings – stinks.

Politically this could lead me to communism. But I stop short of that. I do like the idea of equality but it seems to me that communism tends to create tyrannical control which impinges on my freedoms. So it leads me to Social Democracy. I think all people should be treated fairly and rewarded according to their effort and worth – but not over-rewarded. I think we should take care of the weakest in our society.

Fairness leads me to despise all forms of racism and misogyny, homophobia or discrimination.

Fairness leads me to recognising the value of all life and not treating animals with cruelty or thoughtlessness. They too, wild or domestic, should be treated fairly.

The drive to treat all people and animals fairly drives my life. It’s inherent in everything I do.

Three of my Core Values – Number 1 – the truth.

Posted on by Opher

I am reading this book by Yuval Noah Harari at the moment. He really makes you think about things – such a great writer. One of the things he made me think about was what were my core vales.

I selected three:

  1. Truth

I believe in truth. That means I do not believe anything without proof. I hunt for truth. It makes me cynical.

I’m a scientist. Science is the search for truth. We might not find it but we learn on the way. If it cannot be demonstrated, repeated and explained I remain skeptical.

Science doesn’t explain everything but it certainly gives a better explanation than everything else.

I do not find truth in religious belief. There is no evidence. It does not make sense. It is all based on faith in some human concocted fantasy. All very good when we understood very little but it does not hold up for me. Religion is constantly trying to reinvent itself as science reveals its cherished beliefs are not true.

Things we do not understand are explained by fantastical gods, paradise, heaven, angels and the rest – visions in wildernesses, up mountains or in caves don’t do it for me. Humans have created thousands of gods and afterlives. We used to worship the sun and moon and perform ceremonies to produce spring and rain. I really do not think any of those ceremonies, dietary restrictions, sacrifices or costumes had the slightest effect on the sun and moon.

As for politics – well I am sure that some politicians are genuine and do their best. I always take what they say with a pinch of salt, judge them on what they do and not what they say, and look to hold them to account.

I vote Labour because they do support public services and the poor. I wouldn’t vote Tory because, despite what they say, they always give tax cuts to the rich and cut public services.

The truth is that politicians are politicians. They use spin, lies and deceit.

Then we have the media. The truth is very difficult to ascertain. It depends who owns it, what spin it has and what propaganda they are spewing out. I prefer newspapers like the I and the BBC to that of internet sites. One has to read between the lines and weigh up the evidence. The internet is controlled by obnoxious people who pump out lies, conspiracy and fake news. At least I know the bias of media outlets I know about. The media has become polarised and full of lies.

I value the truth and honest, genuine people.