About the death of Osama bin Laden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “Justice has been served.” Hillary made a nice speech defending this scene of death and destruction. But, I think a blogger, Jimmy Spencer Jr., asks a question that deserves consideration: “Whose Death Does God Cheer?” He writes:
Watching my Facebook friends, pastors and Christians strike their own chorus of revelry and revenge that somehow God’s will has been done and He has acted for us. He has delivered justice for us. He has delivered revenge for us. He has delivered our enemies to us because He is good and just—and God is on our side. …
Whose bullets carry the blessings of God?
Whose death does God cheer?A wise man once turned the religious and social world upside down when He said: “love your enemies.” Will I be brave enough to follow in His Way?
If this same wise man actually struggled and broke the cycle of death then God forgive me when I participate in the ancient lineage of the crowds who cheer not for the love of Jesus … God forgive me when I cheer the death of my enemies and thereby perpetuate the cycle of death—the very thing Jesus came to abolish.
The only hope for the future is that humanity, somehow, becomes transformed so that virtue becomes at the center of human attention and human progress.
There is a huge gap between man’s knowledge and man’s capacity to use that knowledge wisely. The coming explosion of technology will make that gap even more dramatic, and will make our response to decisions of life and death even more desensitized. When humanity has the power and tools to do anything it wishes, the question is, what will humanity wish to do? What are the values and virtues that guide our thinking and actions?
Even now, humanity has the capacity to produce all of the material wealth the world needs so that every human in the world could have a decent life — with a bounty of food, water, shelter — and where a culture of excellence could continually raise up humanity to new levels of accomplishment and enlightenment. Even now, we have the capacity to transform the planet, if we would only wish to do so. In the near future this capacity will be enormously larger, and the gap between what humanity is and what it should be will call out ever louder for an intelligent response.
The explosion of machine intelligence will force humans to define human intelligence much more profoundly than it is currently defined. What do humans wish for? Deepak Chopra writes about The Difference Between Wealth and Money. When we can have anything we wish for, signs seem to point to the conclusion that education, eventually, will become centered helping individuals acquire true wealth, centered on the development of what is called “virtue.”
Why virtue? Virtue leads to happiness and harmony — within the individual, the family, the community. Individual virtue leads to societal virtue. When computers are billions of times more intelligent than humans, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) work will be out of the human sphere. Future societies will want an educational system that will empower the development of virtue within every citizen.
Virtue leads to personal happiness because it is the development and fulfillment of personal potential, the fruition of individual purpose. Defining what is meant by a “whole person,” defining what is meant by virtue, will be at the center of schools in the future. This short contemplation is part of my writing project I am madly working on, “Kettering Public Education In 2030.”
See:
- When Computers Are Billions Of Times More Intelligent Than Humans — What Should Be The Aims Of Education?
- What Is The Educational System That Would Empower An Explosion Of Virtue?
How is virtue defined? Is it virtuous to use the power of government to steal from some people and give it to others, especially those who supported you?
They should be teaching these kids responsibility. Responsibility of being an American citizen.
Watching people cheering a killing as if their team had just won the super bowl says more about us and where we are than about the man who was killed. This appears to be a triumph of violence and payback, as well as relentless dedication and the casting aside of restraint. America has found and killed bin Ladin, a price he certainly must have expected and been willing to pay. It certainly looks like elements in the Pakistan military and security allowed his presence, and so this will be an issue but one will only get the US so far in its engagement with this volatile nuclear country of which we understand little. His death may make a significant drawdown of US troops politically feasible, reducing the unaffordable costs of war and leaving these countries to work out their problems with less direct in your face US military presence. He leaves behind unknown numbers of like minded allies willing to use his methods, and more importantly an equally unknown number of people who may admire or appreciate his memory. But what is the big picture? Did he succeed in provoking a larger conflict that will last for generations? Will the Muslim world’s democratic movements successfully bring a new way of life, or will they too be subject to the triumph of violence? The last 10 years have shown America the limits of violence, as we and the places we have gone have paid huge costs, but the chaos of the world has exceeded our ability to occupy it militarily. And as Spencer notes, the Christian religion that dominates America teaches that love is more powerful than violence, and in a real sense conquers it. Islam’s text is less pacifistic, but certainly limits the excesses of violence far more than either bin Ladin or his US pursuers have practiced. The world’s people call out not for bombs and drones and bullets in the head, but for lives with families and friends, sharing in the earth’s good things including the virtue and wholeness that Bock speaks of. Violence can be at best a small part of a solution of the world’s problems, and at worst a self defeating downward spiral that would destroy everything it touches. We have upped our investment in war, in torture, in surveillance even as we have disinvested in education, in opportunity, in health, and in community. That bodes ill for creating a world where conflicts over resources and culture can be resolved by peaceful means, without war and terrorism. But that is what is clearly needed. Where do we go from here?
…Whose death does God cheer? God, if you’ll pardon an old bromide, only knows. But about 300 million or so had a good laugh when Osama Bin Laden got to sleep with the fishes….
Mike, you state, “The only hope for the future is that humanity, somehow, becomes transformed so that virtue becomes at the center of human attention and human progress.” That will not happen in this world. I might counter with something like, “The only hope for the future is for government’s structures to be constructed in a way that recognizes the fallen and imperfect nature of humankind.”
“The only hope for the future is for government’s structures to be constructed in a way that recognizes the fallen and imperfect nature of humankind.”
Trying to figure out what that would look like. Can’t have a dictator but you can’t have a democracy either. Broad separation of powers is a good idea. Set it up so people stop and think about things at regular intervals. Do not depict your adversaries as evil. Assume the flaws in your own arguments and establish processes to look for them. Honor free expression at all times. Do not look for scapegoats. Do not have public degradation of others. Reward those who challenge the process. Be suspicious of messianic leadership. Beware of institutions that separate some people from others. Beware of elites and share material and psychological well being with all. Since a lot of Rick’s thinking comes from evangelical Christianity, remember that the first among you should be last, that the love of wealth and power are the root of all evil, and that retribution is to be avoided and not honored, and that what appears to be weaken is often strong. Remember that you too are fallen and imperfect. However remember also that fallen and imperfect people are also capable of good, (avoid concepts like “total depravity”) and are deserving of respect, that evildoing often comes from fear, anxiety and a lazy unappreiciation of the humanity of others. A lot of these come less from the system or documents of government than from the norms of the people that live under it and what they will and will not tolerate. You also need to reward what is done well and learn from what is not.
…virtue? How about the three Rs? The concept of teaching virtue should be the sole propriety of the family and church. And even then, the concept can be emotionally rejected. Naw, teach the kids the fundamentals and hopefully virtue will follow….
Stan,my thinking is informed by Catholicism,which shares the belief of the fallen nature of humnkind by most Christian denominations.
But where does “belief of the fallen nature of humankind by most Christian denominations” get you? Presumably no belief in an infallible human leader, social system, movement or institution, abstract “force” like progress or similar things. But people keep turning to such things to overpower the fallen nature of humankind, often assuming they do not share it.
Stan, great question. I believe that trying to put all one’s trust in a government, cult leader (unless that is me :>), movement, etc to perfect humans will result in a totalitarian government. Our found fathers had a good answer: limited government with dual sovereignties (state and federal), separation of powers, and a Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, we fallen Americans have screwed things up.
Sherrod Brown: “I did a roundtable at an Episcopal church right off statehouse square, and the leaders of the church and some of the volunteers of the church were there. Now, I don’t preach or wear my Christianity on my sleeve, but these people of faith understand that the Bible talks a lot about poverty and a lot about fairness and equality and egalitarianism, if you will, but for them to go against workers on behalf of the richest people in our country–and that is really what they are doing in the Governors’ offices in Columbus and Madison and Trenton and other places–runs counter at least to my faith. I will not judge their faith. They worship what God they worship and read what scripture they read. But when I look at what my faith means–and as I said, I am a Lutheran, I am not a Catholic–but when I look at Leo the XIII and what he said about what Catholicism means for workers and fairness, it is point, set, match. That clearly spoke definitively about this.”