Society as a Whole Must Be Judged

Human society has grown tremendously, in many ways - but our moral abilities have not.

I'm sure this has been said many times before, but it needs to be said again - with an emphasis on our time, which is unusual.

But it is useful to back up a few years to the Thirties, and its Fascism. Which America did not understand - and still doesn't understand. Americans, it seems to me - have decided not to understand much of anything. All they can do is - go to war!

And this is one basis on which to judge them - as people who do not understand, and don't want to understand - and consider this one of their finest virtues. As they see it - they are letting bigger forces be in control - and this guarantees their superiority. To put this another way - big is better.

This was fine right after WWII, when America was riding high - but causes considerable anxiety now, when it is not on top of the pile.

America should change its tactics to - smarter is better. After all they have the Computer, and access to nearly unlimited information, about almost anything. But this would require a complete reversal of strategy - from not understanding to understanding.

Just this morning The Risk of Nuclear War with North Korea showed up in my inbox. This is an excellent article, a fine example of the information that Americans have access to. But I can hear them say "Not interested!" as I read it. They are not interested in a situation that could lead to nuclear war!

After taking the time to read the article, I feel like an expert myself - which I am in a way, since a lot of research went into the article. I now see two world leaders, one in North Korea, and one in the US - who are acting like kids in a sandbox - holding nuclear weapons in their hands!