Humanism.

Humanism: is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established doctrine or faith (fideism).

-Definition: Wikipedia

I am a woman.

I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter and granddaughter.

I am a conservative.

I do not identify as a feminist.

I do not identify as a non-feminist.

I believe that every human on the planet should have the sole right to their person.

I believe that every human should have equal opportunity.

I believe that every human should have equal provisions and necessities provided.

I believe that every human should be treated equally by the law and others.

I am a humanist.

In the simplest of terms there is a lot wrong and a lot right with the world that we live in.  Many of each to do with our personal identities and our access to rights and freedoms. Most of it to do with this principle, even this demand even, of entitlement for equality.

In North America we can choose the industries we go into, choose what education we take in post secondary, choose who and when we marry, we can choose different “lifestyles”; a word foreign in many countries in the world.  We can choose how to live our lives and where to live them.

In developing countries people receive none of these luxuries.  In a developing country people are more worried about where their next meals will come from, or access to clean water, than whether they are making an acceptable wage on a daily basis for work done. In these countries people are more worried about their families or themselves dying of starvation or drought than any of our ‘western issues’.

Emma Watson gave a moving speech on a new feminism campaign that the UN is calling ‘he for she’.  within the first 5 hours of global access to this speech via internet, she was receiving threats against her person, her private sexual life, along with every other woman who is active and identifying as a ‘feminist’ that I have seen in my life time. This is unacceptable.  Not that a woman is targeted for her views, or that a feminist was threatened for taking a stance.  Not even because a ‘new campaign’ for equal rights for women was possibly started or possibly misrepresented.  But that a human being, who is trying to make a difference in a big kid’s sandbox, was judged for their opinions at all, and the result being threats against their person, their privacy and most importantly their life.

She had an immeasurable number of excellent points in her speech.  She spoke about how inequality affects both men and women.  She spoke of how it is wrong to deny women access to equal wages, and rights over their own bodies.  She discussed the depth of the impact on both men and women’s relationships and mental health.  She provided statistics on suicide for men in the United Kingdom, and addressed a number of other topics, to do with both genders.

What she didn’t do is address them from a general standpoint. She discussed all of these points from a feminist viewpoint, all of this while claiming not to be a ‘man hater’, and still imploring men for their help and participation as a tool in aiding female equality.  This is where she was wrong.

The National Center for Men founded in 1987, and located in Coram, NY, fights for and supports men’s rights for equality.  They say that, men are targeted by law for crimes more often than women, and often found guilty when innocent.  They claim that men are unjustifiably responsible for unwanted offspring more than women, and yet more often denied custody over their children when they are wanted even if the mother is not capable of caring for the offspring. The NCM states that an overwhelming number of men are homeless, many more so that women. They declare that circumcision is an assault on male sexuality.

What the NCM doesn’t do is visit the challenges that both genders face daily in their own individual lives and this is where this organization is wrong.

Men are often portrayed in tv shows advertisements on daytime and prime time television as imbeciles, angry, frustrated, and even plain clueless to world issues, their households, and families.  These portrayals are almost never accurate.

We aren’t fighting for equal rights for females, or males, or children, or adolescents, we’re fighting for equal rights for humans.

Men and women are targeted, more often by race and religious, and sexual orientation than anything.  Despite all this men want privileges that have been provided to women in the work place for years.  Flexible schedules, more vacation time, more sick days, all to help deal with their families and personal issues.  Women want all this and equal wages.  Everyone should be able to choose which bonus to take from their employer, I doubt any one person would get more than one or two if this were an option. Custody of children should be provided to every person judged equally for their skill, compassion and desire to provide.  Financial aid and other forms of support for offspring should be judged and provided based on the level of involvement in that child’s life, both of these approaches should be taken with all people.

Mental health and medical aid should be provided to all people with mental health and medical challenges and disabilities.  Education should be available to all people who want and work for it.  Apart from medical intervention to save a life, each individual, no matter their race, religion, gender or identifying gender should have full and singular right over their bodies.

This all being said it is wrong to rape and kill a human being, it is wrong to steal or cheat a human being. It is wrong to be an adulterer or an abuser of animals, children or people.  It is just as wrong to rape and kill a woman as it is to rape and kill a man.   It is wrong to discriminate against a human for his or her race, religion, sexuality, political alignment age or gender.

An example, while extreme, given to me in discussion on this topic is that; if I were to walk through a neighbour-hood with an ethnically targeting and discriminatory t shirt on, declaring my distaste for the racial majority in the region and was shot to death, would it be wrong of me to have been killed? Yes, but was it wrong and ignorant of me to have worn the offending article of clothing as well? Of course.  Don’t ask for trouble.  People can be quick to anger as easily as it is to find people who are mentally disturbed.  Another good example is of women’s clothing.  Since the dawn of time, if you are peacocking in revealing clothing it is typically to advertise your availability as an individual.  In addition to this, we have always had criminals and the mentally and emotionally disturbed, with this comes of course sexual predators.  By dressing in revealing clothing, you make yourself a target for such individuals.

This is not to justify the action of the few, but to say, take responsibility for yourself and respect yourself enough to protect your person from being targeted in such a way.  It is wrong to rape and kill for lots of reasons, it is wrong to discriminate and it is also wrong to dress inappropriately for lots of reasons.

Do yourself a favor, take responsibility for yourself, for your choices, respect yourself to make better choices, and more importantly stand up for everyone, not just the bullied, the children, the less fortunate, the women, or the men.  Stand up for humans.  Our humanitarianism is the only thing that keeps us from destroying the planet, and it is slowly failing in a world where communities are slowly degrading into technology hubs.

I’m asking you to stop fighting for the ‘men’s rights movement’, I’m asking you to stop being a ‘feminist’.  I’m asking you to stop being complacent.  I’m even asking you to stop fighting.

Instead support humanism, global equal access and rights.  So that our poor countries can eat, our prospering countries can continue to prosper and our biodiversity as a species can thrive.  So that we can live in harmony without international wars and conflicts.  Support humanitarianism so that we can live in peace and prosper globally.

Do yourself and your neighbour a favour, jump onto a new bandwagon, to help the people, to support the people, to bring equality to the people.

If we are going to sit down and say that both genders are going to be equal, there would have to be a lot of things put on the table for both genders. So lets stop this petty battle of pitting the sexes against each other.

Join me, become a Humanist.

Aren

Goodbye

We all have heard by now that two weeks ago Robin Williams committed suicide. We have each reacted differently, some with shock, some with anger. But most reacted with sadness for the life of a comedic genius cut short. All of us are struggling to understand why someone who brought such joy and laughter to others, felt such despair, such pain, such fear, that he felt it would be better if he ended it all.
     What would cause a man, who seemingly had everything to live for, end his life? We all know he suffered from bi-polar disease, but do we really know what that means? Robin joked about his kids telling him he didn’t always have to be “on”, that he didn’t have to be crazy funny ALL THE TIME. But he battled depression and anxiety as well. Those were dark days. Days that exercise took him out of himself for a little while.
     There was a secret that Robin was keeping from the world because he wasn’t yet ready to share it. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a condition in which the brain stops making dopamine, and was starting to show the early signs.  Some of the early symptoms are shaking, dizziness or loss of balance, and facial expression changes. It also affects your mood. Robin used exercise, particularly bicycle riding to battle his depression and anxiety. Parkinson’s would take that away from him. Imagine what that would mean for a moment. Trapped in a body that doesn’t respond, locked in your own mind, where, to quote Imagine Dragons’ song, Demons, “It’s where [his] demons hide.”  Few saw him at his lowest, when sleep didn’t come because he couldn’t stop thinking how useless he was going to become, because his last couple of movies flopped at the box office, or his new TV show was cancelled, or how much of a burden he would become to those whom he loved. He told himself that his time was done, that he would never get another movie contract, that TV wasn’t a medium made for his brand of humor, that his best years were behind him, that he had done all his best work already, and that he wouldn’t be able to do the work he so loved. He couldn’t fight the fear of what was going to happen to him and thought that the future would be hellish. He chose to go out in his own time, in his own way, on his own terms.
     There is a world of 7 billion people who will miss him. His family struggles to go on without him. There are piles of tributes, flowers, and cards at his home, and his Walk of Fame star. There are tributes on his Facebook page, from his 9,169,322 followers! Yes, over 9 million followers! But he will never see these. He will never see this out-pouring of love from people all over the ENTIRE WORLD!
      Robin’s suicide brings to light mental illness, invisible as it is, and how it can affect anyone, even a man who brought so much joy and laughter to others. How could he possibly have been depressed, this man who touched so many?
     Too often we look to our celebrities to lead the way in everything from what clothes to wear, what books to read, and even what our bodies should look like. We look to them for how to behave, and what lifestyle choices we should make. We forget that they are human too, that they go through the same challenges we do, some have had horrific experiences in life. Some have had wonderful lives but their brain chemistry is wrong. Did Robin not appreciate his success? Did he not appreciate his legions of fans? Of course he appreciated it all. How could he not?
     Until he looked into the dark place those who live with depression have to fight constantly, a place I call the Abyss. Nietzsche wrote “And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

It affects how you feel about yourself, and everything in your life, everything you have, can, or will do in your life. It affected how Robin thought and felt about himself and his life. He couldn’t let go of the negative thoughts going through his mind, like a song on endless repeat. He couldn’t fight the demons that plagued him. It was more than he could handle, the pain and fear was too much to bear and he could not go on.
      We don’t know his pain so we have to forgive him for leaving us too soon. He went out on his own terms, in his own time, and before Parkinson’s did its worst. The world is a poorer place for his leaving it. Goodbye Robin.

 

Aerie

A sustainable world

Somewhere out there, amidst all the scrambling people, winding roads, technological infrastructure, there is a sustainable world.  A world where we don’t need GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) anything.  A world where we can choose what parts of technology and scientific advancement are worth it and which ones are not.

Hardly a day goes by where I don’t think I really should just chuck the cellphone, ditch the TV, and stop this constant attachment to the electronic Eco system we have developed.  But its way too convenient to have a super computer attached to my fingers, too easy to turn the TV on for entertainment or even the news, and way too fantastic to give up the contact I have with family and friends all over the world that I wouldn’t have without all these convenient pieces of technology that keep us all connected.

But what does all this mean?  The industrial age really did give us development and advancement that effected our imaginations in such a way that we have, as a species and a society, made advancements that truly are amazing.  You can even say that the Stone Age, and the Bronze Age allowed us to move forward in ways we never could have dreamed.  Human innovation is an amazing thing. The materials, resources and technologies we have access to today allow basically anyone with enough money to make anything.  The best way to supply people with the skills to be more innovative and industrious in their lives all over the world is to educate them.  I recently watched a documentary “Schooling the world” that has really stirred some curious reactions within me.  I didn’t know how to take it at first. How could we, a benevolent society (as I thought), look to educate people and yet still cause so much harm?  In this documentary they discuss the “educating” and “industrializing” of the masses all over the world.  While yes progress has caused a lot of harm, it has also influenced a lot of good too.  But we’re approaching it ineffectively.  We’re not encouraging people to become educated to sustain the communities and places they live in.  We’re educating children so that their worlds can be turned into ours.  What is so wrong with this?  A lot is wrong with this.

Here’s why, these children are taught nothing about their culture or their small knit societies.  They are taught nothing about sustaining their communities.  They are taught nothing about their family traditions or histories.  If we educated these children with innovation and industrious ideas about how to help their communities do better and provide more, make more, we would continue the trend of sustainable everything; food, jobs, culture, societies, communities; all over the world.  In “Eastern” countries they are being forced to industrialize, all the while “Western” countries are becoming desperate to cultivate food self-sufficiently because food costs are horrendously high and the economy continues to inflate at a grotesque rate.

So why are we forcing countries and communities to follow in our footsteps at the same time that we are backtracking so fast we can’t even see how we got here in the first place?

It’s not just about education, industrialization, innovation and development, or progress.  It’s about the people all over the world that are incapable or unable to resist.  In our search for perfection, for absolute progress, that we believe it to be essential for all people; humans; everywhere that we have forgotten there is a better way.  We have forgotten that some things are important and others are not.

Health care, while important yes, has failed us time and again in the last few years.  An example is the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, another is cancer, and even further down the rabbit hole is the list of learning disabilities like autism, dyslexia and many more.  In regards to the Ebola outbreak, I’m terrified, not because I could contract it, because I live in a first world country with loads of resources and full access to medicare. I’m terrified because whole communities in some of the last sustainable places in the world are being decimated by a disease that is not being handled well at all.   A raid on an Ebola clinic took place last week, and you can read about it on CBC.ca, that is going to cause an explosion of disease around the country.

Housing, clothing, clean water and food are the most crucial resources for our survival. There are projects, upon projects, and hundreds of non-profit organizations that are working to provide these basic necessities to people all around the globe. A select few include the following; Housing. Clothing. Clean water. Food. And yet, we fail every day to supply our global community with enough food, water, clothing, and shelter to survive.  These things are necessities that are frequently unavailable to people all over the world. In some cases the reason is lack of resources due to location and access difficulties, or in others active negligence.

Persistent and constant entertainment is not a necessity. Computers, while convenient, are not a necessity.  Branding is not a necessity.  Conflict, in the face of anything, for any purpose, is systematically pulling apart our global community so much so that you could go as far as to say we need conflict like we need cancer. I’m talking about conflict in the sense of political issues, religious issues, human ‘rights’ issues, all causing conflict that, until we fix the umbrella of poverty all over the globe, is the most unnecessary factor in our world today.

War is affecting at least 10% of our world every day. People behind the front lines are too afraid for their safety and that of their families to have control or a grasp on their lives enough to provide themselves with the basic necessities from day to day.  People at the front lines are blindly following orders and being herded like sheep. People all around the world are too busy being complacent and worrying about their day to day lives to bother protesting or even to write a letter to their government or global organization to enforce some action against these warring communities.

All the while living in developed countries we spend so much time worrying about politics, equality, living more economical friendly lives, and providing excess for our families to bother being involved or helping these people all over the world. The fictional Star Trek world leaves nothing to be desired. It is perfect, everyone is living in global harmony, practicing tolerance and within a sustainable world that leaves no one person in need.  Does it really have to be only fictional?  I have a dream that we can all live in this harmony, in a perfect world, where no one person wants or needs or struggles.  It is possible if we can only eliminate the greed and help the destitute.

As a new mom, I do my best to provide for my family on a minimalist basis and occasionally indulge.  I do my best to minimize my environmental foot print.  I provide for my son, for my husband and our pets, and for myself. We use cloth diapers, we make our own food and if we had the space we would grow our own food.  We shop locally when possible, though I believe strongly in supporting the global community.  I spend a lot of my own time, money and resources helping non-profit organizations, donating and supporting groups that in turn support and provide for people and animals all over the world. The result is that sometimes my family is without its own want or needs and thus cannot provide, as we are only inches above the line of poverty, when we have to choose, once in a blue moon, who in our family to feed.

So blame Monsanto, blame the oligarchy, blame the governments or whatever you need to blame to get by day to day.  Whoever or whatever you choose to use as a scapegoat, keep in mind that it is the complacency of the masses, of our “benevolent” society, that ultimately is the problem.

We have the resources to feed every human being on the planet.  We have the resources to house and clothe every human being on the planet.  We have the ability to treat all illnesses properly for every human being on the planet. We have the capacity to educate and nurture every human being on the planet. We have the resources to protect our planet, and change how our industries run.  We have the ability, the skill, the resources, the capacity, and compassion to end poverty and maintain a sustainable world.

So why don’t we?

Only you can answer that.

Aren