Does anyone know how to set a post to be hidden until the date that it is listed as being posted?
This post started as a debate in my mind on the way home when I recalled the Gulliver’s Travels stories about Big Endian and Little Endian lilliputians fighting a war over which end they should crack open the soft-boiled egg. I didn’t imagine I’d have a story to attach it to when I got home.
In any case, the root causes of a lilliputian style conflict are as follows
- When one or both sides believe that the way they do something is the one and only correct way. This doesn’t necessarily lead to conflict without the next step though.
- When one or both sides believes that either anyone who does it any other way is offensive, or otherwise must be stopped from doing it because of their own belief that it is wrong.
- In reality, it doesn’t matter which side is right because they aren’t actually hurting anyone by everyone just doing it their own way.
There are several ways that people resolve these kind of conflicts.
- War, you fight until the other side gives up their position or you eradicate them all.
- Totalitarianism, a variant of the above, but structured differently, with multiple variants of its own.
- Dictatorship, one person has the power and makes the decision for everyone, enforced at the point of a gun.
- Democracy, you have 99 people, and 50 of them believe one way and make the decision, and force everyone to fall in line at the point of a gun. Ultimately it is more like a dictatorship than freedom because it becomes rule by those who make the best speeches, appeal to the right emotions, and have the most followers, and it’s still at gunpoint.
- Compromise, in many cases this is a stupid option that shouldn’t be considered. Have you tried cracking a soft boiled egg right down the middle? The same is true of compromise on many other issues. It’s just not workable and ends up making nobody happy.
- Freedom, in my opinion the best way to solve it. Live and let live, they’re not hurting anyone. You can continue to open your egg on the big end, and just ignore them opening their egg at the small end. No point in fighting about it when you can agree on other, bigger matters. This is what we originally sought in this country, but have since strayed from the path by enacting larger and larger governments with more and more power.
Here’s the story I found…
(Link Dead)
Certain muslim countries have pushed through a ban in the UN on defamation of religion.
This fits nearly all of the qualifications of Democratic Totalitarianism. 23 countries voted with 11 opposed and 13 abstaining to force everyone (Happily not yet at the point of a gun, but the UN is clamoring for this power) to shut up about their religion. Free speech hurts nobody, and if people just had the maturity to live and let live on the issue like we tried to do with this country’s founding, then the world would be freer and less violent. Unfortunately one group within one side of the issue has done the War thing, they’ve done the Totalitarian Dictator thing in many areas, and they’ve now done the Totalitarian Democracy thing.
And what would compromise accomplish? They’re still upset over what you can say, and you’re still being muzzled and aren’t free to speak.