Learning to Divide the World

As the Europeans began their exploration, their main discovery was essentially how wrong they were and how little they knew. You would hope they would use this shock to be humbled and learn from those around them. We know that was not actually the case and instead they saw it as an opportunity to proclaim they had discovered the “new world”.

In his book, Learning to Divide the World, John Willinsky describes them seem seeing this as a chance to “rebuilt a world that had been lost, and to build it with greater strength and integrity”. I found the language used quite interesting here – greater strength and integrity. This is something we are still led to believe the Western world have over the rest of the world.

Even down to when they implement new laws such as ensuring we all have “British values” – despite the very values outlined (democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith) are universal or can be traced to have origins in foreign lands. 

The good and the bad

What is it that makes you and I good people and him and her bad people? 

Can law abiding citizens equate to being good people? Laws are after all meant to upload societal values. But what if the law itself is structurally flawed?

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. 

And what about the people who are forced to break laws – steal from hunger, hurt for self-defence? People in desperation – are they bad people?

So maybe it comes down to ones intention? And here’s where it gets messy. Because even the terrorists think their intentions are right. They are striving for the what they believe to be the lesser of two evils. 

And with majority views on what evil even is fluctuating over time and space, differing so vastly around the globe – modesty, sexuality, responsibilities – how can humanity say what evil really is. 

So if we can’t judge what evil is – how can we judge what good is?

Iif we don’t even know what good is, how do we know if we are good people?