When news media reports denialism, hatred, misogyny and contempt for all life on this planet, we need to ask ourselves what we can bring to the world to make it better.
This doesn't mean "saving the world" - it means looking and listening. It means feeling the pain that's evident in the world.
Why is there so much anger and alienation? Where does the brutality begin when we assume it's normal.
We are not isolated units competing for the most of what each of us wants. I remember a time when I thought I must be a success in order to make my mother's life have meaning. She struggled with depression and feelings of alienation during much of her life after losing her first husband in WWII and with an infant to raise.
How could anyone take away the pain of someone whose life was cut in half by loss and who also had to feed and nurture a new human. The current belief was she had to get married again and give up her daughter so as to make her fit into the needs of her new husband.
Why was her first husband not valued because the family left was encouraged "to get on with life" - not complain about loss and depression and acclimating ones feelings toward a new husband who demanded attention to his needs so he could support them.
Sounds fair doesn't it? But it demands things from those who have had their lives broken by things beyond their control. It demands effort from those who are not valued and whose condition is not recognized beyond what they are support to do.
Patriarchy found a way to rule over society by conditioning the mind to value power over the events that are very difficult to control. Those with the highest incomes are expected to control everything including what is beyond their control, and if they can't they must present "truths" to keep the masses in line.
So success demands the pretence of lies as truth, if the one who is in the top seat is not in control; if control is not achievable.
So "leaders" may start a war with a group who has less power. When "witchcraft" was simply a religious ceremony to help people believe they had a way to effect outcomes, King James of Scotland embarked on witch trials making it illegal to practice witchcraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Berwick_witch_trials. (1590)
Now there are more sophisticated ways of "proving truth" or at least presenting conspiracy theories.
The depth and breadth of evil is evident enough to call it human behaviour. (What happens if we are led to believe by an authority that's hard to dismiss, that we are isolated humans competing for the most of what each of us wants - sorry I can't find the name of the author of this) and now we have AI and the internet.
Is there a better understanding of the difference between evil and competition or capitalism? Part of our living existence is uncertainty, so all I can do is listen to those who have something to say particularly when they have been or felt harmed and do not further harm by stating statistics or popular beliefs. This doesn't seem to be enough but it can begin a relationship to another human being.
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