Think For Yourself

EDITORIAL

We humans are paradoxically creatures of great good and great harm to ourselves and the planet.

The drumbeat of modern history is neither unique nor certain as to the outcome of humanity’s present and future.

Today’s political drumbeat is just one more noise which drives humanity, like cattle, in one direction or another.  Increasingly, individual thought must compete with the digital beat and megaphone of modern day influences. These are self-appointed modern soothsayers who compete with our individual thoughts which are deeply-embedded within the ancient human instinct of fight-or-flight, and challenge the prism of our modern day experiences.

The modern age of original thought must increasingly compete with the recent arrival of always-on digital influencers. A strange mix of information and  misinformation with a one sided mission. This cacophony of human instinct and individual thought is now showered with a mix of digital information and misinformation of our own interpretation and connection.

We humans still find comfort in family, friends, religious belief systems, and we have historically shared thoughts with others within these circles of our own choosing. That is, beliefs and experiences with a select group of others who think (or believe) often like ourselves. In today’s world, we humans also seem to find debate increasing hard or frustrating with anyone outside our own circles of conversation and with those of minds wide-shut.

Sharing our thoughts and beliefs increasingly does little to resolve today’s growing social and self-reinforcing political divisions. We also find ourselves today in a disconnected (yet connected) world facing true problems with select and predetermined solutions; and often based on reasoning and statements absent truth and reality. All these changes are coming at the expense of intellectual and emotional discourse among and between people with different beliefs, and based increasingly on information lacking facts and unfounded beliefs, and most importantly honest debate.

Who would have guessed that a popular Beatles song would today provide the perfect analogy and response to a world increasingly aligned with leaders as purveyors of false information — a 60 year old song appropriately titled with a message for this moment in human history:

“Think For Yourself”…    

I’ve got a word or two
to say about the things that you do

You’re telling all those lies
About the good things that we can have
if we close our eyes …