Give peace a chance

1311: 

A new world seems to be arriving, one that is post holocaust, post atomic bomb, post factory farm and post animal experimentation - it is a prospective world of peace.  It suggests something very brave indeed - that we might be ready to give peace a chance.  But presently, the world is too violent for such ideals to survive for very long, let alone grow strong.  The human mind still works in a clumsy way when it comes to ethics - a first question leads to the absurdity of a second question - don’t we still need some violence to survive? and don’t we need to use some violence to force people to accept peace?

And this is how it plays out for those of us attempting to raise awareness, of both social justice and the rights of animals.  Perhaps it goes something like this: I must hit people hard with the facts, to make them sit up and take notice. In order to survive in this harsh world, I must be pragmatic and not too idealistic.  Surely, there’s nothing wrong with some violence?  (Can you hear some faint cheering from the lacto-ovo-vegetarians?)

This line of thinking deteriorates into something like this: If I get a bit rough with the kids they'll learn not to take advantage of my kindness.  If they fear punishment they won’t run riot.  Or: A few harsh words to my next door neighbour will keep his noisy music quiet.  If he doesn’t like what I say, too bad!  Without a little assertiveness I won’t achieve the results I want.  I just want a bit of peace.  (Which is not quite the same as giving peace a chance!)

Why do we start to think along these mutated lines? Perhaps we accept that we have to have some rules, some punishment, some violence, to make this whole difficult world operate.  And we know all this because the authorities have taught us that way.  When we are young we follow the accepted way.  We follow without question.  Educational and religious institutions show us how double standards work.  For example, they may say that it is okay to exploit animals because they are a major resource at our disposal, and it would be a pity to waste this resource; if everyone stopped using them it would threaten the stability of our society.  The indoctrination of children is essential, and to this end, it is important to keep the connection between animal treatment and violence away from them, since they mustn’t know what really happens to the animals they’re going to be eating for the rest of their lives.  So far we've drifted a long way from giving peace a chance.

We like John Lennon and we like the song, but we think it just applies to war.  It's simpler to think this way.  And for the rest of the violence-saturated world we live in, it's better that we just follow 'the rules' and do as we've been taught.  Society determines the moral codes we must abide by.  And admittedly, we might think they seem a bit dodgy, but we're told that the alternative is anarchy - just imagine how dangerous it would be if we tried to make up our own rules of right and wrong, based on instinct.  Imagine if we all started to apply such instincts to daily life. For a start, it would play havoc with the food industry.  The abattoirs would go broke.

In our Western world, during the 1960s, there were a lot of people beginning to think independently.  They dared to reject what they'd been taught, because they saw how Society's moral codes were falling apart.  The counter-culture laughed at the moral codes of the day.  The morality bubble began to burst, but unfortunately the baby was thrown out with the bathwater.  Nothing was certain, and revolution was everywhere. Everything was being thrown into doubt. No one could make confident choices or launch new attitudes. Only the superficial things changed, whilst the fundamentals remained in tact.

Fifty years on our choices are more confident, and we don’t need to refer to Society for our codes of conduct.  We apply our own codes to relationships, eating habits and how heavily we choose to tread on the Earth.  In this way we are broadening our definition and application of peace.  And only now, we're on the threshold of giving peace a chance.