Questioning is an active process. The majority of people would rather be passive receptacles of information from electronic devices.
In our teen years we begin to ask, ‘who am I?’ This leads us to ask many questions and to test boundaries. ‘Who we are’ evolves as we age, from experiences and ideas we are led to explore.
In the process of growing, we begin to learn about society’s injustices, past and present. Part of defining “who am I?” is how we decide what to do about injustices of the society are living in. In this country the foundational injustices relate to what was done and continues to be done to Black, Indigenous and other people of color.
Those who benefit from the status quo usually don’t want to deal with injustice. Don’t want to put the effort into learning about injustice. Don’t want to risk the judgement of family and friends when we begin to discover the injustices underlying the status quo. Might be apprehensive about what the answers to the right questions might require of us. What changes we might need to make in our own lives.
My career was in medical research. The first thing I learned was the most important part of a research project is to come up with the right questions. You don’t want to duplicate research that has already been done. That requires knowing all of the existing knowledge in your field of study.
Asking the right questions
As I try to make sense of things as they are today, I find many of my friends think differently than I do. Many support actions that I don’t, and don’t support things that I do. I wonder what I can do differently to facilitate ways for us to move forward together.
The recent US presidential election really brought this into focus for me. Many of my friends supported voting for Kamala Harris despite her support of Israel and the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices. Their reasoning was usually the ‘lesser of two evils’ argument. Or the likely possibility that she would put more focus on justice issues. Counter to the ongoing oppression that will occur if the Republicans won.
The issue is the genocide and war crimes Israel has committed that could only have happened with the billions of dollars of aid and weapons to Israel from the US. The US is thus complicit in those war crimes. All of this happening under the Biden/Harris administration.
Global scope
What is different now is the global scope of the challenges we face. Our greatest global challenge is the rapidly evolving environmental collapse. What is also different is the whole world can see, in real time, the environmental devastation as it unfolds. Just as the whole world sees what is being done in Gaza and who is responsible for it.
Asking the right questions today involves focusing on the global, interconnected nature of our challenges.
Returning to the recent presidential campaign, I had hoped that Kamala Harris would be a leader advocating for the embargo of arms to Israel, which would end the Israeli genocide as the weapons were depleted. We need to do this immediately to end our complicity in the war crimes. Instead, the Harris campaign stated they would continue to support Israel’s war and their refused to engage with Palestinian supporters.
The incoming administration will perpetuate much hardship in this country. One question, then, would have been why not support Harris as the lesser of two evils idea.
I could not support Harris because of her continued support for Israel and shutting out pro-Palestinian voices. She didn’t articulate what she would do regarding the war if she was elected. She is currently the Vice President in the Biden administration, meaning she shares the responsibility for the continuing bombardment and deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian children, women and men.
“I can think of no greater failure of solidarity and no greater expression of privilege than prioritizing the preservation of our own rights and comforts over the protection of others from starvation and death.” Harold Page-Jamison
They underestimated how much of their base could not accept the promise of the protection of some of our rights, while witnessing gross violations of Palestinian human rights. –Janene Yazzie
We are living in a global civilisation, an empire that spans the entire planet. Every part of the world is inextricably linked.
Europe and the US rely on technology produced in China which in turn relies on minerals mined in Africa.
What happens in one part of the world affects every other part of the world. Wars are no longer just a threat to a single empire but to the entire global community.
A nuclear war could wipe out not just one civilisation but Civilisation as a whole.We’re Witnessing the Fall of the Biggest Empire in History. And it’s going to be spectacular by Pathless Pilgrim, Medium, Aug 3, 2024
unflinching 