h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've not been able to find much time to spend here on h2g2. At least today, Sunday, I can do a little something. I'd like to write a little about my various interests. So, today, I'm just going to say something about the wars going on around the globe. I think they suck! I think they are unnecessary. I think this whole deal with the 'War on Terror' started by the Americans is something the rest of the world should be very, very worried about. By now the Americans have so much more power than any other country, they're undefeatable. They will win every time. But the problem is this - violence breeds violence. The more 'successes' the Americans achieve with their war efforts, the more they'll be sending a message to ALL PEOPLE that they CAN use violence to solve their problems. It's the royal road to a global nightmare. Watch how the culture of violence spreads around the world from here on ...

I'm sorry, but I think the really effective way to 'fight' against terror is by trying to figure out the underlying problems that drive people to violence, and then solve those problems. In the world right now, there's a dominant culture of extreme competitiveness. In this culture, things like interpersonal relations are not prioritised. In schools children are not taught psychology, or communication, or how to interact harmoniously with other children and adults. So they grow into adults that are socially stunted and isolated from other people. It is not difficult to learn how to get along with just about anybody ... but very few people learn it. Most people just don't know how to behave towards others in a way that will strengthen the bond between them and improve the efficiency with which they interact. The majority of people today are assholes ... in the sense that most of the people who know them well would consider them to be assholes. Most people today know very, very little about human psychology. They have just about no self-knowledge, and therefore they also know just about nothing about other people. They don't know how to solve interpersonal problems in the best possible way. Most people seek fast solutions, where no fast solutions exist. Violence is seen as a fast solution. It may solve some superficial problems, but it causes so many more significant, deeper-lying problems that over the long term it only makes things worse. This is true, but very few people ever learn this truth. Why not? Because the example they see is that violence works, that violence solves problems. The idea that violence brings success is too attractive.