What can we do to stop people from harming others?

When I see people from all parts of the world being involved in international conflicts, I wonder what I could do to help. What could the people from other countries do to make themselves be felt by unfortunate people from countries with violence? What do the international organizations do? Do they have the responsibility to do something to save the world?

There are two basic ways to stop people harming others. One is the political way where force is needed to do what is needed to accomplish their goal of promoting peace. Even though sometimes I think that they exert harm to stop people from harming others, I still think it’s needed. It may be ironic. But there are things that need to be turned around to get what is for the better of the world. Another is the legal way wherein laws were made for the welfare of people. I think this is an indirect way of making people do what is wanted and needed in the world.

Human intervention is often needed when two countries are in conflict with one another. This is because they only have their own interests in mind and it is hard for them to consider other countries’ needs as well. So with a mediator that is of the third party may help the conflicting countries resolve their issues with one another. But I can see that when these situations arise, the third party seems to be the mediator because of certain hidden agendas. It makes me wonder if any country will really help another if there are no benefits for them.

I think the international organization for maintaining peace and order should be able to prevent anything wrong from happening rather than waiting for something to happen then resolving it.

Good and evil

The nature of the human person is good. It may seem idealistic but I believe that the human person is born good. It is natural for us to do pleasant things to others. We are born compassionate to our fellow human beings. We know that we need to survive but sometimes, survival is second to being compassionate. People think that they can do good because they are naturally good. It would be inborne in them to do good things because they are made to be so. Desire for things in this world that is not originally ours is the main root of our evilness. With that desire, we feel urges to do whatever is needed to get what we want even if it means to hurt and step on other people along the way.

Conflict is justifiable when it is to fight for the betterment of the general good. World leaders cannot completely end global conflict and violence because I think it is impossible. As long as people are capable of bad thoughts and greediness, there will be a beginning for conflict and violence. Peace can be promoted through being "human" in the natural sense of the world. Since I believe that humans are born good, I know that when we go back to who we originally were, goodness and peace can be attained.

Why do politics turn to violence?

This question is very much suited to what we have this year in the Philippines. The upcoming elections had been very controversial because of the celebrities running for certain positions and other issues being brought up in connection to them. This got me thinking how dirty and disturbing politics is. Everyone seems to be wanting something so badly that they are willing to do anything and everything just to get it.

What do they do when they want something? They turn to violence. There have been reports on extra judicial killings and other government related killings in the past years. These had been thought of as to benefit some people. Some think that it would be for the government, to avoid other controversies that may affect its power. Some think it is for some important person only that is very much influential that his favor is important to some powerful group of individuals. Sometimes diplomacy is not an option when it comes to complicated things. And it looks like some politicians see violence as something helpful.

It is hard to stop all these killings. It straddles more on the morality of the people. I think the Church has to emphasize morality more especially now.

The Internet

The internet is now a very important part of our daily lives. Some people can even say that they cannot live without having to go online every single day. As a student of a university that encourages globalization, it is essential for me to be in touch of the international affairs. The easiest way to get the access to those things is through the internet. It is very much user friendly. A user can readily say that information is on his or her fingertips, just a click or touch away. I can say that the internet is very useful to me. It is like having a portable library that I can open and browse over anytime and anywhere I want. It also gives me a chance to be in touch with people that I know and to maintain close social relationships with people I don't often get to see.

With the positive effects I mentioned above, I cannot deny that there are also disadvantages in the wide use of the internet. It discourages people to effort or work for information. This leads to data which are sometimes unreliable or invalid. The internet also becomes an avenue for unpleasant things such as exploitation of women and children in porn sites. Another disadvantage is the digital divide. Not everyone can afford a laptop or a cellphone which has the latest applications at hand. This increases the gap between the poor and the rich. Just like in the previous topics I have made blogs on, various things that a certain group of people have and enjoy everyday becomes a source for a kind of divide. This is, in my opinion, inevitable but it can be lessened by education. People who cannot afford technology can still study how to use it. They may not always have it but when they have the chance, they will know what to do.

Internet is a fruit of globalization. They are somehow similar in a way that I can compare it to fire. It can cook good food yet it can burn down houses. Meaning, both has good and bad sides to it. People just need to be more critical with what they do with it.

How can we end poverty?

Poverty is something we see every day. I think we see it so much that there was a time that we already became used to it. But now, there are a lot of movements and organizations being made up to eliminate poverty. Policies on debt forgiveness, fair trade and development aid are being made to help the poor. This got me thinking, can we really do that? Is it a systematic process? Why don’t we just try to reduce it for the meantime then work slowly towards eliminating it?

I read that the neoliberal solution suggests leaving the problem of poverty to the functioning of the market by removing obstacles for its smooth operation. Since the market is used to serve people for their own self-interest, people could go out and do things and mutually profit from those. I agree with this suggestion but it can be a bit difficult. People have the tendency to be selfish and greedy that the solution cannot be completely pushed through. There will always be someone who gets the upper hand in things and benefits more from the market exchange. But this looks possible and is worth a try.

Why are some people better off than others?

As I watch the news every single day, I can see reports about extremely rich people getting robbed or having a loss of shares then extremely less fortunate people struggling to have food on their plates for the day. There are two extremes in such a fast movement of the news. I saw such a great unequality being emphasized between the rich and the poor. This made me think that in this time, in our modern world now, the concept of unequality seems to take over. I am talking about an internal unequality.

Countries are slowly coping with the modernization and globalization of the world through global capitalism and reducing the gap between the most powerful countries and the developing ones. However, when we look inside these countries, we can see the huge difference of its individuals. The income is being concentrated on the top percentage of the people of the countries which leave the last, lowest percentage still poor and unfortunate.

If we come to think of it, an increasing economy is equal to decreasing equality between its people. I think the policies being made in the country affects on why some people are better off than others. As capitalism dominates, the unequality gap of the individuals increases

People from a certain country seem to be “luckier” when they migrate to another country. They earn a lot more than they can if they stayed behind. This just shows that people are in search of better lives for themselves in other places than being stuck somewhere where they cannot rise up due to the huge unequality.