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Women of the World, Arise ! |
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Here is, in my view, an honest and unflinching look at the ultimate cause of war. It also contains the remedy, for war is not at all necessary; not in the least bit. Others have mentioned that defending territory and resources, imperialistic aspirations, the huge gap between the rich and the have-not nations, and grinding poverty are the cause of war, of terror and of external and internal strife. |
None of these other causes hold true. There are many other and very constructive ways to solve these problems. It is said that 2 billion dollars will feed everyone in this world for a year. And there is still plenty of food to go around. And although I do not know the figures, let's say ten billion dollars will house every one on this earth. Far, far more - in the hundreds of billions of dollars - are spent annually on armies, weapons and their equipment (please feel free to provide the actual figures, and I'll plug them in here) by almost all countries of the Earth. At a guess, about 10% of the current military expenditures by all nations will be sufficient to feed, house, educate and keep in good health all of the people of the Earth.
And the grinding poverty of so many millions of people around the world is due only to their governing regimes; either severely restrictive regimes, or regimes - often and accurately described as "kleptocracies" - whose primary purpose is to amass the country's wealth in the hands of the rulers, maintain a large and well equipped military and, if there is anything left over, erect a multitude of palaces and personal monuments all over the place. Saddam Hussein's 17 palaces could have easily been 17 hospitals.
All these though are the foibles of men, and of men only. Women have other priorities, paramount among them the survival and well being of their offspring - and in dire circumstances, to the extent of forfeiting their own lives so that their children may live. Women's priorities are therefore sufficient food, shelter, education and health care for their children, within a viable and peaceful social fabric.
I am convinced, if women were in charge of Israel and Palestine, for instance, that they would have established peaceful, cooperative, mutually supportive and thriving societies long ago.
This then is an attempt to get to the root cause of war - by far the greatest and most devastating inhumanity against humanity which so bedevils our civilisations.
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If women were in charge in the world, they would have never allowed the inhuman atrocity of the World Trade Center terrorist attack against the US - or any other terrorist and military exploits - to be carried out. Here are the reasons why.
Humankind has two profoundly different histories. The first was a 35.000 year-long reign of peace in which war was unknown, and trade and the arts flourished. In this our first history, woman was worshipped as the expression of the Earth-goddess for her ability to create new human beings, and she was the final authority in all things. Consequently, war was unknown, and none of the archaic settlement had any fortifications - none, zero, nada - up to and as recently as the still extant ancient ruins on the island of Crete.
Our second history began about 8.000 years ago, when the male rose to dominance, and it has been awash in blood ever since. Some anthropologist trace the beginning of male dominance to the domestication of the horse, giving men the first means of swift and wide ranging pursuit in the hunt. Naturally, sooner or later this would lead to a quick raid on a distant village to steal some women. There was retaliation of course, the whole thing ballooned and spread, fortifications began to appear in the settlements, and the male quickly rose to high prominence in the defence of the settlements, and then, to dominance. Others think that the advent of agriculture, and the necessity of guarding fields against poachers, led to the rise of the male to dominance.
With male dominance, first small and then reciprocally ever larger armies and conquest, in the interest of 'peace', soon followed thereafter. War made its first appearance, and our history has been drenched in blood ever since.
There are excellent and immensely powerful reasons why this is so. Nature has hardwired the males of all species - from elephants to sticklebacks - to compete with each other over 'possession' of females. The primary purpose of the formidable armament of the elk, for instance, is for fighting the other males of his species. And the human male is no exception. We just have to look at what excites the fervor of the males of our species so much. It is at is clearest in boxing, in hockey, in football, and in somewhat more civilized forms, in all the other competitive sports, as well as in the competitive nature of our business, economy, politics, in the international 'arena' - even in the 'adversary' system of our judiciary - as well as in the bloody mayhem which so dominates the movies, TV, and the arcade and computer games. Have a look at "Grand Theft Auto II", and the many millions of teenage boys who are enraptured by it, and then you'll know what the juvenile male psyche is like.
And although the human male has no natural armament, he has made up for it, beyond all measure, with his deeply ingrained fascination with ever more inventive and destructive weapons. Even in this mature male, and as Loren Eiseley described it so vividly in one of his essays, a well made weapon still stirs the blood - and so does a hard fought football game. It goes deep.
For all of these reasons, and by his nature, the male is totally unfit to govern.
Woman, on the other hand - and like all females of all species - has been hardwired by nature to nurture, comfort, protect and bring up her offspring - up to the full extent of her capacity. Without this deeply ingrained nurturing instinct, Life would not have risen above the level of worms. Even tiny, brainless fish protect their eggs and hatchlings to the full extent of their capacity. And the ferocity of a lioness or she-bear in defence of her young is legendary.
We have to add here that our sciences have now recognized that Life is a fundamental property of this universe, and consequently, that these universal dynamics of Life have the property of vast cosmic law. And woman has this on her side.
By her cosmic reproductive mandate, and consequent "family fabric", woman is also the foundation,
maintainer and driving force of the social fabric of humanity.
Consequently, and as we know full well, most women by far are not the least bit interested in boxing, hockey, football, and so forth. They find it boring, silly - grown men fighting over a ball - meaningless and senseless. True, there are some women who go to these games, even enjoy them, but they are there chiefly - God bless them - for their males. And women abhor weapons, and war is never a solution for woman.
For all of these reason, and by her nature, woman is perfectly fit to govern.
The bottom line is, as long as the male is in power, the world will be an armed camp - as it has been ever since he rose to dominance. And as soon as woman assumes leadership, she will make the world into a family - as it was when she was the final authority.
And this can be done very easily. All she needs to do is to go ahead and do it. Woman is in the majority to begin with, and she does not need any approval or permission from anyone, and not even any money to speak of. Here is how:
With a little publicity, which can be very easily obtained these day via the Internet and World Wide Web, all women need to do is get together and establish "The Women of the World Presidium" (WOW). One "Presidium" for the world, and one in every country of the world. Women can do that. There is nothing which prohibits or prevents them from doing this. And this "Women of the World Presidium" is the final authority over the affairs of man. It's prime function is to simply say "yeah" or "neah" to whatever the males are up to.
And this "Women of the World Presidium" will have the ear of the world. It will not only have the ear of all women, but also of all the media, as well as the support of about 40% of the males of the world. She cannot lose. She can only lose, as always, by not doing it.
For reasons of wisdom, balance and credibility, each "Presidium" should consist of 7 women. The only qualifications are that they have the interest, are over 50 years old, and that they have brought up a minimum of two children, and more is better, to capable, well adjusted adults. (Hint: the most reluctant women are the best candidates - i.e. "the Gandhi Principle").
For reasons of stability, continuity and competence, it would be best that one woman is elected into the WOW Presidium every year, while the longest serving woman leaves the Presidium. This assures continuity and competence, as the new member learns 'the ropes' as she rises in the hierarchy of the Presidium. This will also limit the time of service to seven years.
There, that's all there is to it. It can be started right now. A few emails to interested women to start the movement, the formation of a founding "Presidium", a clear and simple "mission statement" - "To bring about Peace in the World, and in view of the male's failure to do so, the women of the World have today established the "Women of the World Presidium" which is the final authority over the affairs of humankind. ...." a web site, and a statement to the media - which will make the headlines everywhere - and you're underway.
And the world will be on its way to world peace and prosperity - as it was for the first 35.000 years of humanity.
Just 'Do It', as they say; there is nothing that stands in your way.
Most respectfully,
Peter H. Weis
Addendum:
Lest the perception arise that I am into male-bashing, I am not. On the contrary, I revel in my maleness; I love it and would not ever want to be anything but male.
I don't think that there is a young woman who does not dream of her "White Knight in Shining Armour" - of her Glorious Gladiator, Valiant Warrior, or Conquering Hero who will stand by her side and protect and defend her and her offspring against the threats and vissitudes of life. And most males fit this bill, if not in some aspect of life, as in sports, or vicariously in the arcade games, then at least in their minds. Alas, Armoured Knights, Glorious Gladiators, Valiant Warriors, and Conquering Heroes are, by their very nature, unfit to govern. They always want to slay the enemy, gladiate the barbarians, kill the infidels, liquidate the communists, wipe out the capitalists, burn the heretics at the stake, crush the opposition - - - whatever they perceive as the opposition, the heretics, capitalists, communists, infidels, barbarians or enemies.
Nevertheless, I see males as constantly "pushing the boundaries of existence" - best exemplified by our recent entry into the space age and landing people on the Moon. In fact, I think this is the chief of several major steps in what I perceive as our current quantum leap in evolution - from Homo sapiens, sapiens to what I have termed "Homo nobilis, stellaris" in these pages.
It's the whole orientation of the male - beginning with his hunting instincts, the making of tools, making a better spear, wondering what lies beyond the next hill, inventing the wheel, taming and husbanding fire, smelting and working metals (which archaeic woman would go into a deep dark cave and hack away at rocks to obtain some strange rocks? I don't think so) - and so forth, and so forth - until rocket ships and flying to the Moon and back became possible.
And as is well known, the male is capable of pitting himself against adversity ("taking on all comers"), of taking great risks (women typically complain that "men think they are immortal"), and doing it all with great courage and valour.
Still, and because of his deeply ingrained competitiveness against all males, I do not think that he is fit to govern - at least until he reaches the perceptions and awareness of Gandhi or Albert Schweitzer, or better yet, of Jesus, Mohammed, Sri Krishna, Buddha or Lao Tzu.
Meanwhile, and in my view, if we are unwilling to look truth squarely and unflinchingly in the eye, and do something about it, the males will wipe our kind off the Earth. We almost did with the "Mutually Assured Destruction" of the nuclear standoff between the former USSR and the US; and almost again when India and Pakistan almost came to nuclear blows. And right now, the male leaders of North Korea and Iran are fondling their nuclear buttons. And it's only a matter of time until some crazed terrorists get hold of a nuclear weapon. Meanwhile, the male-initiated and executed atrocities will go on, and on, and on.
Far from being the only one holding this opinion, here is a concurring and just as clear eyed view from highly qualified sources:
"The Future of Men and Their Health" - British Medical Journal, Nov. 3. 2001
(excerpt) ... "Furthermore, there is a sustained increase in psychosocial disorders in men, including alcohol and substance abuse, mid-life crisis, depression, and domestic violence. Men's increasing aggression and autoaggression remain an unsolved health and societal problem. As you read this, over 30 wars and conflicts rage around the world, mostly created, maintained, and aggravated by men"....
Authors: Siegfried Meryn, professor of medicine and chairman and president of the First World Congress on Men's Health. Center for Advanced Medical Education and Health Communication, Institute for Medical Education, Medical Faculty, University of Vienna, A-1090Vienna, Austria (siegfried.meryn@univie.ac.at)
Alejandro R Jadad, director, program in ehealth innovation. Department of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University Health Network and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 2C4, Canada
"The Mother Principle"
Here is a recent news item which shows just how deeply engraved the nurturing instinct is in the females of the higher species. It is so deeply ingrained that it even transcends species - as is so obvious throughout Nature. Also relevant in this context is the well known fact that male bears are the greatest threat to bear cubs. If it weren't for the mother's constant vigilance, male bears, even the father, would eat the cubs. As is so clearly obvious, you, as woman, have all of Nature on your side.
Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2001 - TEHRAN (Reuters) - A mother bear appears to have cared for a missing 16 month-old Iranian toddler who was found safe and sound three days later in the animal's den, the Kayhan newspaper said Tuesday.
The child's parents, from a nomadic tribe in western Lorestan province, returned to their tent after working in the fields to find him missing, Kayhan said. Three days later, a search party found the baby, who they said had probably been breast fed by a mother bear, in a den some six miles away from the nomadic settlement. A medical examination showed the baby was in good health, the daily said.
On The Lighter Side: When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping.
Men invade another country. - Elayne Boosler -
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