Ethics – The Inner Voice

I am so angry today at the world at large but particularly angry with the people of the United States. Where are the millions of voices crying out with outrage and utter contempt for the actions conducted by their president who tramples on without any kind of impunity or accountability? Is America blind? Is America deaf? Where are America’s historically self-praised backbone and moral compass? Whatever happened to the constitutional principles of individual liberty and rule of law refined and polished by the hellish fires of a devastating civil war and hundreds of thousands of deaths? Can the American people truly go on about their daily lives every morning when they look in the mirror and see a human being who is allowing their elected representative to blatantly and unapologetically disregard centuries of lawmaking and law-abiding by countless nations which are trying desperately to preserve not individual but the world’s best interests? Teamwork has always made the dream work. When we are in it for ourselves and ourselves alone, we will invariably sell our souls to the highest bidder; we will throw the innocent to the lions, and we will turn a blind eye to the unthinkable: humanity turning on itself for the dominance, greed and comfort of a handful. America, you have become the very monster that you despise! A monster humanity can cope with, for as nations see it approaching, they can best equip themselves for battle and for victory. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, however, is a much harder evil to identify and eradicate.

Where are the marches on the streets of America against Trump and his minions’ infernal devastation and pulverisation of the very pillars that humanity has stood and built on for hundreds of years? If Trump & Co. can disregard and mock hard-won treaties amongst nations and laws established to preserve world peace and prevent tyranny, who is to say any leader in any other democratic country will not follow suit in the future? Trump is setting an incredibly precarious precedent in the word. It is one thing to have the likes of Putin start an illegal war and potentially bully his way through Eastern Europe. It is quite a different beast to witness the democratic leader of the most military able country in the world target nation after nation as a primal display of might and dominance. We left the violent ways of Neolithic tribes behind a long time ago or so I thought!

Where are the self-inflated and self-proclaimed INFLUENCERS (we careful what you wish for) of today? Are the younger generations so blinded by their own egos and pursuits that they cannot see they are missing a once in a lifetime opportunity to use their unique platforms as springboards to bring to account a bully whose actions are shaking to the core the very foundations of civilisation? Influencers, if you have such power over the youth of today, surely you have the tools to shape the world you wish to live in tomorrow. No point in mastering the art of skincare and weight training if you have no sustainable civilisation to thrive on. The time to denounce an evil and seek change is NOW!

I watch the news every day and I am in absolute disbelief at the lack of a public reaction by the thousands of influential public figures and celebrities in the USA. What good is it for a nation to be the most powerful nation in the world if such power is solely used to kill, maim and breed hatred; to turn us all against each other? Some power that is! That kind of power does not belong amid humanity but within the gates of hell. A man who can DEMAND a Nobel prize (did you ever hear of anything so arrogant and childish?) and in the same breath make up all kinds of hollow arguments to justify bombing and murdering thousands of people; blowing up into insignificance hundreds of children whose only fault is to aspire to an education that can provide them their rightful place in the world. Or are Americans more deserving of such rights and liberties than anyone else in the planet? And let’s please not forget what history has taught us repeatedly. This kind of drastic and apocalyptic actions which go unpunished have repercussions which will last for decades to come. Indeed, much of what is going on in Iran today was shaped by the actions taken by some Western countries such as the UK who in the early 1950s sought to control Iran’s oil supply. It is hypocritical and big-headed of certain world leaders to vilify certain nations’ attitudes when they are fully aware that history demonstrates their own countries’ leaders had a big hand in shaping what many of these countries are today. The human cost of this attack on Iran dismissed as collateral damage is blood-curling enough, but don’t even get me started on the environmental cost that Israel’s actions in the last week will bring for decades to come; targeting an oil storage facility in Tehran and in doing so ensuring that water supplies are compromised, not to mention the air that Iranians and their neighbours will breathe for generations. Dear world leaders who think you are so intelligent and mighty, it is blatantly clear you did not think this one through, for you are only shooting yourselves in the foot when you decide to poison the skies and water resources of the world. You self-centred fools! The likes of Trump and Putin may be long gone by the time their own flesh and blood will eventually suffer the consequences of their selfish and thoughtless actions but suffer them they will too.

Furthermore, is it possible this has nothing to do with righting a wrong and everything to do with economic interests such as controlling one of the richest oil nations in the world? Isn’t it a dead giveaway to see the leader of the most powerful nation siding with a deceiving master of genocide, Benjamin Netanyahu? But of course, Trump was intent on going all guns blazing (pardon the pun) and unchallenged from the get-go, and so he partnered with the one and only world leader who is mad enough, selfish and egotistical enough, as is he, to pursue a lethal campaign which is undoubtedly illegal and abhorrent to the rest of the democratic world. Wolves in sheep clothing, we see you!

I was watching Jesse Jackson’s memorial on the news two days ago. A number of very moving and insightful speeches were delivered. I particularly enjoyed the words of Reverend Al Sharpton who said the problem is not Trump but the inaction of Americans who know better than to go about their daily business when they know in their heart that the time to fight for the lofty principles their constitution stands on is NOW, not tomorrow when there will be more destruction and death; not tomorrow when we finally wake up from our slumber and comfort and have the guts to acknowledge that countries like Spain have shown in bundles the true courage needed to stand up to a Goliath, even when his might and power point to the fact that we only stand to lose. Military prowess and superiority do not come close to the power of nations that come united against immorality, illegality and frankly criminality. Has the world not just witnessed another Putin invading another land just because he can and he wants the world to fear and revere his power? Trump is already talking about targeting Cuba next. Hello, is anyone actually listening to his incessant verbal diarrhoea, promising one minute to bring peace to the world and not starting any more wars, and creating a magnitude 9 earthquake across the whole of the Middle East the next, turning neighbour against neighbour, and murdering innocent children and adults alike without even batting an eyelid?

I do not wish for a civil war in America but frankly, I simply cannot neither comprehend nor stomach the silence, submission, and shameful lack of action on the part of the good American people. We have had snippets of some individuals here and there standing up to Trump, but bearing in mind the gravity of the situation the world is in today and the war crimes carried out with impunity, one would hope the majority of America would be crying out in the streets ‘Enough is enough’ and doing everything in their power to stop this utter madness and this self-proclaimed saviour at its helm. American people, if you are crying out, we cannot hear you in the rest of the world. Please cry louder! One person’s actions can alter the fate of the world. History assures us so.

I leave you with one of my favourite poems by Pastor Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

The unthinkable has finally happened. The most progressive country in the world which has always looked down on the rest of the world from a moral high ground has finally been blinded by its vanity, like Narcissus, and lost its moral compass. The pillar upon which sacred values such as democracy, freedom, ethics, equality, and justice have stood for hundreds of years; that lofty blue, red and white pillar, which so proudly stood on that hill beaming its light upon so many other modern, forward nations, has cracked irreparably and collapsed calamitously. That exemplary pillar, that Holy Grail for so many other countries is now a mess of pulverised concrete that is good for nothing; from which nothing can ever be rebuilt with the same fortitude ever again. And yet, who knows? Maybe, just maybe, the world in its cosmic, natural wisdom needs such biblical cataclysm in order to create a better version of itself, like a forest consumed by fire which births its most luscious trees yet from such lifeless ashes. Sometimes the damage is so engrained, so deeply spread, that the only way forward is absolute eradication, and a historical event such as this is the catalyst needed to make it happen.

Humanity has finally reached that inflection point of no return. The sacred lines between good and evil have been erased; the ancient scroll of human dos and don’ts, which hundreds of generations have built their lives upon and which we have always relied on to tell humans apart from animals, has gone up in smoke. We have utterly forsaken thousands of years of world-wide ancient philosophies which are the backbone of modern society as we know it. We have trampled upon the sacrifice that millions of people have made before us so that we could lead lives that honoured truth, goodness, equality, humility, hard work, respect, love, and the best traits that any human is capable of and should strive for during their time on this earth.

It is tragically ironic that it is the very democracy that we so greatly uphold which has led us to this very delicate moment in human history. What hope does the world have, when a nation that has for the most part represented the gold standard of economic success, technological advancement, industrial progress, forward thinking, inclusivity, ethical superiority and freedom, deviates so far from its grass roots and chooses as its ruler a convicted criminal; when a nation exercises its fundamental right to choose and chooses to turn a blind eye to corruption, racism, sexual misconduct, misogyny, xenophobia, bigotry, greed…? The list goes on and on and on. One only has to do a little bit of research online to learn that Trump is a bad apple and the only way to stop rot spreading is to cut it out or it will infect everything and everyone around it.

Whether you are a believer or not, one must acknowledge that the Bible as so many other ancient sacred books, is packed full of wisdom and incredibly practical teachings. One of my favourites is ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Oh, how painfully true this is in today’s USA. If a man bypasses his morals to achieve his goals, that man has nothing. If a man bypasses his morals for a more comfortable life, that man has set himself to fail sooner or later. I categorically respect the political views on either side of this monumental divide. I truly do, but when the most powerful nation in the world bypasses its moral standards in order to rapidly secure a more comfortable standard of living, a better economy, a fairer society, more international control, more widespread healthcare, a better defence, etc, is no different to a man who needs a heart transplant to survive and in his desperation chooses to fatally shoot himself in order to make that heart available. A nation voting a criminal into office, refusing to look truth in the eye, openly disregarding impunity, culpability, evidence, justice, is a nation condemned to come undone, condemned to failure and self-destruction.

Worse still is the effect that the decision to put a criminal in such incredibly powerful position will have on the stability of the rest of the world. So many other nations currently observe these apocalyptic events unfold gasping in utter incredulousness, in utter terror. How will the rest of democratic countries, the Western World be able to look evil corrupt world leaders and countries in the eye and exert any kind of influence upon them to prevent further holocausts, genocide, wars, atrocities, when the biggest democracy in the world has put on its pedestal a man who is above justice, above the law, above any kind of morality; a man who says ‘Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness, and now we are going to fulfil that mission together.’? Be very wary of a man who starts his mandate, be it on national politics or any other public arena, by saying things along the lines of ‘God told me to….’ Be wary of men who claim to have God’s endorsement to get away with the most heinous of crimes, lies and corruption. Be wary of false prophets; of wolves that come in sheep’s clothing. They are ruthless, they will stop at nothing; they will trample and destroy everything in their way to achieve their goals and they will do it at any cost. They will do it because they know they have come this far and nothing and no one has been able to stop them. They will turn families against families; they will turn society against itself, and they will bring it down on its knees until there is not one person standing.

History is or should be the best teacher, but we are flawed as a species, and we seem unable to retain the lessons already learnt from the past. When we give unfathomable power to an evil man, we are fostering impunity and a free-for-all attitude; we are undermining the human rights which underpin societies and help them thrive and flourish.; we are foolishly and irresponsibly drinking the poisoned chalice that will ultimately bring about our demise.

The Inner Voice

Category: Ethics

Then they came for ME!

Love trumps hate but Trump trumps it all