Volume 1: Exploitation, Social Justice, and Paradise
By JR Ballard
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About this ebook
Due to the fact that we have been living in an environment of scarcity for thousands of years almost every aspect of our society is designed to facilitate human exploitation. The defining reality of 21st century life is that such exploitation is not as beneficial to humanity as it once was, and it is becoming less so every day.
Humans living in an environment of scarcity was once a fact of life, now it is not. While we do have the ability to adapt to our new reality, we are continuing our subpar existence due to our own change-resistant natures, as well as the greed, and/or fearfulness, of those who hold positions of power.
Human society is changing much, much faster than it ever has, and our inability to adapt to our new reality is the biggest problem our species has ever faced. Being exploited, when there is a reason, is acceptable, but when people are faced with a situation that they are unable to rationalize trouble is bound to occur. People being used, manipulated, and oftentimes downright violently oppressed just so that a small portion of our society can amass more wealth than they need, or can even utilize, is something that is very hard to rationalize.
Any valid reason for continuing such exploitation is exponentially becoming more scanty and nebulous. This is a much bigger problem than anyone could guess because our inability to rationalize human exploitation will continue eroding society’s stability, at an ever-increasing pace. This book seeks to do battle with the beliefs, practices, and thought processes in general, that perpetuate illogical human exploitation.
I have informally divided this book into three sections: children, individuals, and society in general. Enabling children to grow up to their own version of perfection is fairly easy. Changing your life for the better is achievable. But it is very difficult to change human society in general. It is so difficult that one of the smartest humans to have ever lived, Plato, wrote in The Republic that his ideal city would have a much easier time existing if everyone over the age of ten were expelled from it. Personally, I feel that such an action is not an acceptable solution. I like to think of myself as an “accept the things that you cannot change and change the things you can” type of person. We are entering a marvelous new era. Seize the day!
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Volume 1 - JR Ballard
Volume 1 - Exploitation, Social Justice, and Paradise
J.R. Ballard
Copyright 2015 by J.R. Ballard Jr.
Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/deed.en_US.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Change
Logic
Communication
Virtue
Fulfillment
Potential
Education
Empowerment
Government
Law
Protection
Money
Inequality
Closure
Introduction
We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a person changes their own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards them. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.
– M. K. Gandhi, The Collected Works of M.K. Gandhi
Our world is changing. Changes in our surroundings, our social interactions, and human culture in general have always occurred, but humanity has never experienced the complete and rapid transformations that we are currently experiencing. This rapid transformation necessitates a reminder of the human race’s ultimate goal. If we lose sight of our goal at this unequalled point in history, we, like a car on a freeway, may miss our exit and travel far astray. The ultimate goal of the human race has been – for many thousands of years – to create an environment that is hospitable to humanity.
Since the dawn of civilization almost every aspect of humanity has been entirely focused upon using the majority of humans as tools. The select few who have been able to live their lives without worrying about their own safety, having enough food and clothing, and having adequate shelter, were only able to do so by the exploitation of the multitude. For a long time this was the rule of the land, but then the Industrial Revolution occurred. The Industrial Revolution has increasingly given the majority the ability to enjoy a life akin to that lived by the ruling classes throughout history. That major stepping stone for humankind changed our world very slowly at first, but can now be seen to be behaving as an exponential development, i.e. the societal changes that humanity has recently been experiencing are occurring faster and faster. Nowadays, after a very long time of taking two steps forward, and then one step backward, we are running along with finish line in our sights.
When the Industrial Revolution has fully matured an environment hospitable to humanity will have been created. What does hospitable to humanity
mean though? Many currently believe that humans will end up being like the people portrayed on the Disney movie WALL-E. Thinking that we will turn into lazy, consumerism-obsessed slugs when we have machines to do all kinds of menial tasks for us is an insult to humanity. When a person is a slave, being lazy is living the good life. An environment that is hospitable to humanity does not use people as slaves though. If a person has not been used as a slave their entire life then being lazy is not living the good life; a life like that is just as unsatisfying as being a slave (many popular musical entertainers are living examples of that fact).
An environment that is hospitable to humanity doesn’t put the needs of the few above the needs of the many. It doesn’t even put the needs of many above the needs of the few! Such mentalities are not relevant anymore; for the first time in human history our productive capabilities are able to provide basic necessities for everyone, without causing insurmountable difficulties to any person, group, or society.
An environment that is hospitable to humanity is an environment where humans are not pressured into behaving badly, or unnaturally. It is a place where individuals do not have to worry about their own safety, having enough food and clothing, or having adequate shelter. It is a place where people are not forced to act as mindless tools. It is a place where people are enabled to develop as their own unique nature dictates. Sounds like paradise doesn’t it?
Change
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed,