HOW I WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD
In my childlike abandoned attempt to grasp the nature of pain and suffering on the Earth; I developed a degree of indistinct sympathy and as I grew up, I wondered how I could make the world a better place, my intellectual aging, aged my ideologies, as well. Chances are you’ve wondered how you would change the world, and if you’re like me, you’ve grown to wonder if true change was really possible. I refuse to give up hope on the subject, and I’ve realized that some changes are going to have a much more powerful and effective impact than others. Just like the effect of stopping a pandemic at the source. Changing you’re focus from the effect, to the cause is obviously the most efficient way to maximize your equitable gain from an action. What is not obvious is, how to maximize your energy when it comes to; mass starvation, economic depressions, warfare, inequality, genocide, human labor exploitation, human trafficking, environmental rape, and the list goes on, to which the ails the world. Most people don’t want to consider it all at once, and for good reason, the encompassing nature of the world’s crisis is exhaustingly overwhelming. I think that when sociologist’s foci are on particular problems, it is imperative to consider the macro, bigger picture, in synchronization with the micro. Each individual problem has its own specific needs, and set of causations, however, the result and its impact locally and globally should be considered, to find an unprecedented yield. Again this may seem obvious to many, but is less obvious is what exactly it is that can eliminate or alleviate the host of the world’s problems. I think that the cause of many or all of these issues are the result of human greed, and the ability of the few in power to dominate, the majority who are in a place of vulnerability. So how can we displace the assembly of power from the avaricious to the principled? This is the philosopher’s concept of democracy, which was beautifully put by Aristotle, “In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.” Supposing the indiscriminate observations on the weighted nature of modern democracy, I’m going to venture out on a limb and say that Aristotle’s idea of democracy is not a reflection of our current application of democracy.
I’ve drawn some conclusions on the ways in which we as philosophers and sociologists can maximize our efforts or energy to better humanity, save the planet and aid the disadvantaged and impoverished. The ardent nature of some of my fellow humanitarians, to better the world has lead many down various paths to success and humanities most lucrative gains. I would only say that an adoption or agreement with my perspective, presently unnamed, could only be a positive and assisting one. To clarify I want to come from place of congratulations rather than criticism, which, could be misinterpreted from my assessment.
My perspective affords a view, of the alleviation, of feminine oppression, as being the method most efficiently maximizing the efforts of humanity. This being an element of consideration when approaching a social issue, which may seem like an overly simplified ideology on the reasoning of global disharmony. Agreement is found in shifting the position of power from the financially zealous to the principled, is more than likely going to bring balance and harmony.
In my efforts to use my overly simplified macro assessment, I will also use three concepts to prove my point. The first basis of my argument being the highest degree macro perspective which, being that if you agree that displacing the power from the avariciously dissolute to people of neglect, then more than likely a degree of harmony will be found. The most general grouping of people that fit that description is that of women; the main inequalities vary from culture to culture and from continent to continent but one universal truth that spans the globe and crosses all borders, nationalities, times, and religions is the oppression of women. Women have been more oppressed than any race or religion that has ever conceived a complaint, of social injustice. “Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent women, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites,” Thomas Jefferson. Women are abused physically, emotionally, and sexually, as well as, every other form of human exploitation, for every feasible cause. Currently there are over 100 million women missing between China and India alone, according to estimations of Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Amarty Sen. Every act of genocide, slavery and extortion bears the largest weight on women. “The Nazi regime targeted all Jews, both men and women, for persecution and eventually death. The regime frequently subjected women, however, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to brutal persecution that was sometimes unique to the gender of the victims,” Holocaust Encyclopedia.
Perhaps, this vague description of the weighted feminine nature of human exploitation is agreeable, but still not perceived as one of the strongest remedies to world’s travail. During times of warfare the women are abandoned and bereft to care for the wounded, the old and young. During times of starvation, sociologists note the “feminization of famine,” where the women are most deprived of nutritional needs, for example consider the Great Chinese Famine that took 30 million lives, “girls were around 7% more likely to die than boys. They attribute this to a general neglect of female health and food intake during the famine, reflecting a cultural bias towards boys. They suggest that girls bore the brunt of the excess deaths caused by the famine,” Tue Gorgens and Xin Meng.
Second basis to my argument is that women’s caring nature would vastly assist the political, religious, racial and human disharmonies, and balance the psychology of the male/ female egos. Even an all male rock group, Tool agrees with me in their song Aenema, their description of the global social corrosive state is going to be a healed by mom’s.
“Some say the end is near.
Some say we'll see Armageddon soon. -
Mom's gonna fix it all soon.
Mom's comin' round to put it back the way it ought to be. Tool.”
I would say that using the basis of women’s specific nurturing psychology as a global aliment, is an over generalization, and fabrication, if attempting to explain the extensive nature of human suffering. However, if you stop and imagine women on a global scale, instantaneously receiving social, economic and political equality, what type of world do you imagine? I see a world where women are universally equal, as being a world where; wealth is more even distributed, where starvation is significantly decreased, education is universal, warfare is far less common, if not entirely absent, the maternal instinct to protect the planet is exhorted, and a philosophical degree of compassion is extended in politics.
Goldenberg (1998) discussed the connectedness, nurturance, and care giving in women's memoirs and stated,"... such bonding was not exclusive to women but is difficult to find consistent evidence of men's caring about one another to the extent that women did" (p. 337). During times of warfare and famine, women show the most amounts of unity and compassion. The caring and nurturing nature of women would vastly assist all global political positions.
My third and final point is that women alone can’t save the world from its current state of chaos, nor would I profess that women are solely victims of male suppression, in all circumstances. I will say that if we as a society create an element of awareness revolving around the feminine nature of global suffering then we can use that as an item of consideration when addressing the vast array of social issues. I vehemently deny the nature of my opinions bearing a consequentially masculine flavor or solely impugning men for global unrest. Society as a whole has caused our global gender imbalance. The resolution of the situation takes a focus on the remedy, rather than focusing on culpability.
The method of greatest attack is to educate women of all ages but to have a specific focus on the young. The rising generation can rise out of the ashes of subjugation and the ensuing revolt will be one of equality and peace. I would reiterate after my little tirade, that the methods best prescription of feminine oppression is that of education. Each educated young woman will find confidence in her community, hope in her future, intuitive understand of her intellectual contribution to society and assurance in her role as a mother and wife.
Krista Huff
