© Gage Skidmore
Here's a sobering thought for the idealists among us: Even if we someday achieve a truly fair and just society, that society will nevertheless be inhabited by the same species that produced the Holocaust. "Humans are capable of many things," as author Noam Chomsky
once told me. "Some of them are horrible, some are wonderful."
Knowing that the human animal's behavioral capacities cover a spectrum from the horrific to the kindhearted, it seems obvious that
our challenge going forward is to create social structures that lead to the more desirable outcomes. There's plenty of room for debate over details, but the basic framework of where we want to go shouldn't be very controversial: general prosperity, a healthy and educated population, a
government free of corruption and responsive to human needs, a sustainable natural
environment, and a safe and free social environment.
Most would agree that the political realm is an important component in achieving such a society, but if that's so we should be concerned about the state of affairs in America today. That is,
the country's political dynamics—the interactions between candidates, the policy proposals being considered, and even the conduct of ordinary citizens—increasingly reflect a complete lack of human empathy, a view toward others that is willfully insensitive, if not outright contemptuous. The objective observer is left wondering whether the United States, politically and as a society, is sliding toward ominous realms on that aforementioned spectrum of potential behaviors.
Comment: The humanitarian crisis in Syria was created by the US and its allies, and without Russia's intervention there would be no ceasefire or possibility of return for all those displaced in the conflict. Russia continues to show her decency and goodwill with the many humanitarian aid deliveries made throughout the world.