Every person is different than one another, some in more ways than others, some in ways they do not choose, and others in ways they do choose. But as a species humans are above all other known creatures, and within the human species it is unacceptable to extend negative, harsh, unfair, or unjust treatment on people of any sort. Differences of any kind should be celebrated, and if not celebrated, then ignored. Those are the only two courses of action a rational, reasonable person would take when faced with someone different than them.
Unfortunately, human history from it’s very beginning has been a bloody struggle for survival, and when basic survival needs were met, it became a struggle of greed. Empires rose and fell, causing death and destruction for the sake of stability and prosperity. The wondrous achievements of early Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, China, the Aztecs and countless more beyond were built on rivers of blood. Any early society that refused to subjugate it’s neighbours was eventually subjugated by those that could and would. But yet we celebrate the great achievements these horrible acts brought us. Irrigation and masonry were the beginnings of engineering and architecture. How can we not? Yet almost every early civilization was built by subjects who spent their entire lives toiling in break-back labour with no respite or reward. Our entire lives now are based upon thousands of years of forced labour in various forms of feudalistic/monarchical societies. They called their workers serfs, peasants, slaves. Some had worse conditions than others. Some had little homes and families, some lived lives that anybody reading this would shudder at the thought of, but none were free.
These historical trends have led to a modern world that is unbalanced. In many parts of the world certain people are treated poorly by other people, not because they have committed a transgression or done something unlikeable, but because of who they are, or what they believe in. Some are beaten, some have their possessions and their homes taken from them, some are killed outright. This cannot be allowed in any society that seeks to call itself modern and progressive. Any society that seeks to call itself just and free cannot have sections of its population ostracized and oppressed.
Therefore, wherever forces of oppression exist, for they exist across the world, they must be stopped. Peace is an ideal. Ideally the forces of oppression should be stopped by internal, peaceful political means, but the very nature of oppression implies that the oppressor holds the power and the oppressee does not. If the oppressor rigs the election, if his cronies are in all the courts and the army, what can be done? If the oppressor brings violence down on their unarmed victims, what can the victims do?
The imperative then becomes to undo history. And as we careen into the twenty-first century, new tensions and challenges abound faster than we could have ever imagined. The challenge of our age will be to achieve true human equality. With equal opportunity and justice for all.
