When I was a lad my father warned me of the danger of getting embroiled in political or religious debates and as I entered manhood and beyond, there were times when I reflected on his warning. People's views often defy logic particularly when individuals sharing a set of cultural values regard themselves as superior to other individuals who have different values. Now although it is common for competing religions to be regarded as a principal cause of discontent, in my advancing years I have become more convinced that it is politics that is the root of most evil, albeit often using religion to fuel the fire. Seneca the Younger said: "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful".
I am someone who spent a large chunk of my working life in the defence industry, so it might sound like heresy but I do wonder why such an intelligent species like human beings, regards military might as both necessary and glamorous. Look at typical state occasions in most countries in the world and there will be people (mainly men) dressed in decorated uniforms parading themselves and usually accompanied by an array of sophisticated weapons. Proving what? They they can kill others with different uniforms and weapons? That one nation is superior to another nation? Well the weaponry might be amazing but at the time of writing this post, the technological might of many nations can't find Malaysia Airlines MH370, which disappeared with 239 passengers on board! So when military technology is directed towards a peaceful and extremely worthwhile endeavour, it fails miserably. That said, the latest breaking news is that even though the aircraft has not been found after 17 days of searching, satellite analysis of flight tracking data suggests that there is a high probability the plane was lost in the Indian Ocean.
Another hot topic in the news, is the Russian annexation of Crimea to protect the ethnic Russian population from the 'fascist' Ukranians. But hang on a minute, if this is justifiable on the grounds of historic origins, Africa was apparently the home of the early human species, the cradle of humanity, so does that give the African military forces the right to march into the rest of the world and 'protect' ethnic Homosapiens? Although I am not sure what they would be protecting them against!
Now I could fill each of my blog posts with current affairs that defy logic and question the sanity of those who supposedly govern and protect their nations' and the world's interests. But it would be a pointless exercise and no doubt support my father's warning of entering into fruitless political and religious debates. I have admired for many years the now deceased management guru, Peter Drucker, and I still come across some of his extremely insightful quotations. The one that grabbed my attention the other day was "culture eats strategy for breakfast". Anyone who has had responsibility for introducing new strategies into organisations will know that the biggest barrier to success is often company culture - "that's not the way we do things around here". I think Peter Drucker's words of wisdom could be extended to the behaviours of nations or, indeed, the global community. A strategy for people to exist in peaceful harmony, is not rocket science, but implementing such a strategy would require seeking solutions to the world's conflicts, which in turn would be dependent upon a collective willingness to break down outdated cultures, rather than fuelling them. But every nugget of strategic common sense is usually devoured for breakfast by culture!
Will sanity ever prevail? I doubt it, so I'll return to less contentious blogging next week!
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