The road to hell is most of the time paved with good intentions. We humans tend to see ourselves as good and those outside of us as wrong. Thinking in good and bad is a dualistic perspective that only exists in the human mind. Especially if the other person does not think like us, we humans tend to define that as wrong. However, what starts with a well-intentioned idea, can quickly turn us into monsters that even can unleash a world war. How can it come that far?
The most talented, ambitious, and eloquent people can unleash this terror when they get fanatically possessed with making their idea come true. Even the most warm-hearted human beings between us can unleash the most unimaginable terror. An idea as erasing poverty in the world, solving global environmental problems, improving globally human physical and mental health, sounds worth to strive for, and really most of us will agree that it is, but when that idea turns into a one way solution, serious and dangerous circumstances arise.
How can an innocent idea where most people agree upon turn into world war? It is not that difficult at all! We all can fall in that trap and nowadays with social media at our service, it is easier than ever, despite also a lot of wonderful things that happen on the socials. By spreading your idea on the socials, you can get a lot of tracking. People who are interested in your idea will push it forward. That way you can become mainstream. You start to get attention, not just from your neighbour, family, or friends, but nationwide, and maybe even from people around the whole world. People like your idea, and with that you can surround yourself with likeminded people, not only in private, but also at work, and in public. You might get a promotion and/or become famous. That is the point when you start to create your own echo chamber. After that you may even get elected as a politician. With that you also gain access to law, legislation, and policy and can initiate new laws and regulations that support your idea. You surround yourself with likeminded people, who are likely less critical in assessing your bill. Regulation to reach your goal gets implemented. It starts with good intentions, and although regulated now, still mostly voluntary. Your idea is turned into policy objectives, and the future looks bright! You feel very hopeful about the future. But then policy objectives fall behind. So, you implement incentives like for instance subsidies and enable funding for companies who support your idea. Your policy objectives even fall more behind, and members of your political party get impatient, while your political opponents make use of this situation to undermine you. An originally good idea slides unconsciously into an ideology, which becomes increasingly unrealistic. Under pressure you decide to implement legal control mechanisms, or even coercion. Your original idea turns into a rigid doctrine. You even make it legally possible to define healthy positive human behaviour as illegal if it does not support your idea in the way you dictate. But still, you fail to turn your idea into reality, and you even fall further behind. Your position is wavering and other less well-intentioned people rise to take over the baton with even less orthodox measures. You have problems handling the pressure. Under high pressure you introduce censorship and lose sight of your original idea. Within the group of like-minded people some start to act illegally or even harm other human beings. You ask yourself how you became part of this mess, but you do not see any way out anymore. You are searching for a way out, while more and more companies offer you products and services, promising you that it will help to reach your initially well intent idea. Before you know it, you even create momentum for all kind of control systems that increasingly violate human rights. Under pressure of your peers, you start to blame one specific group, legalise raids, increase taxes to purchase weapon systems, and before you know it you end up in a world war.
All this started with one idea based on good intentions, because you allowed yourself losing in an echo chamber, eliminating every critical voice. It was not your idea that was bad, actually almost everyone supported your idea. The problem was the path you choose to make your idea reality, ending up with a world war to solve poverty, environmental pollution or improve human health. Was it worth it? Most critical voices were there not to stop you from turning your idea into reality, but rather to support your idea by helping you to prevent you from taking the path to hell. In the meanwhile, you lost yourself in the labyrinth of your own echo distorted by the echoes of biased likeminded people.
Was it just the fault of the one with the idea, that the world lost itself in a world war? Was it because this person lost him-/herself in an echo chamber? Because (s)he hanged on to his/her idea without listening to critical voices, including his/her own critical voice? Because this person started to believe that (s)he could not ask for help, because (s)he was culturally indoctrinated with the lie that asking for help would be proof of weak leadership? Was it because of the like-minded people pushing the one who initiated the idea over the edge? Because they lost themselves in despair over the possibility of not realising the idea, or even because they lost themselves in hunger for power? Were it the companies who provided the goods and services that made it possible to initiate war? Or were it the blind followers who believed in the necessity of one strong leader instead of searching for leadership within themselves? Was it the fault of the people that kept looking away and not intervened? Were it the opponents who were as much possessed with the rightness of their ideas or was it because of their undermining way of communicating? Did we all end up in echo chambers? Do world wars actually arise because we all lack leadership within ourselves, not taking responsibility towards ourselves, and with that not towards our social and natural environment? Before pointing at someone else to blame, what is our own role in it? Can just one person escalate a world war, or is it all of us who allow it to happen, by blindlessly following instead of taking responsibility over our own thoughts and actions?
Is it ever too late to admit that you are on the wrong path? Is it ever too late to say sorry? Is it weak leadership to ask for help or set a step aside? Is it ever too late for all of us to take responsibility over our own lives?
What benefits the world most? Just a few leaders, or all human beings taking leadership over their own lives, and with that securing ourselves a mentally and physically healthy future, which is the foundation to be able to make healthy decisions for ourselves, and our social and natural environment.
Does change for the better starts with looking at yourself in the mirror and admit that work must be done, and you are the most suitable person to do that? Is life not too short to not live in peace and the earth that can provide us in all our needs not too precious to ruin it? Think twice before you act! Before you know it you end up in a world war just because of a single good intention.
© FPM
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