Archive by Author | Anis Ettehadulhagh

There is something to be said about having high expectations be placed upon an individual, whether by others, or by the individual himself.

One glaring trait is the lack of expectations being placed on certain individuals, due to mental and/or physical incapacity, age, poor resources, etc…

However, when a group of individuals are in no way incapacitated, and yet are not held accountable for their thoughts/words/actions, simply by virtue of their biological identity, this is a recipe for long-term dearth of progress.

One such example, is the absence of acountability in a formidable segment of society; women.

Needless to say, we are equal in God’s eyes, in capacity and attainment, and are not to be held back, or discriminated against as a consequence of our race, gender, age, or nationality. This equality is,nevertheless, one of capacity and attainment, (as Abdu’l-Baha states), and not an equality of function. We are different. Equal does NOT mean identical.

One of the greatest enemies in outwardly achieving, and expressing fully this equality is the lowered standards upon womankind as a whol, by society as a whole.

Strangely enough, from the moment a female child is born, until she is a senior citizen, excuses are made on her behalf, as to why she should NOT step up and why it is okay if she fails. This lack of accountability is an enemy to female progress, just as brutally as downright active discrimination is.

If a female toddler trips and falls, she is ”nursed like a princess” for little more than a grazed knee, when she hits puberty, she is not held accountable for being irresponsible due to ”hormones”, should she be going through her menstrual cycle, it is deemed alright, and wrongfully so, for her to act unreasonably since she has ”hormones”, if she gets engaged, and is soon to be a bride, it is her ”prerogative” to be ”crazy” and when she is pregnant, it is also seen as okay due to ..well…”hormones”, and when she hits menopause, she is equally unaccountable for repulsive words and behaviour due to ”hormonal changes”. At every stage, from the cradle to the grave, she is not held accountable, and this kills any chance of proper progress, character building, responsibility, accountability, and true equality. Note that while hormones do have a powerful effect on everyone, they are never to be used as excuses for justification of unruly activity, as we are expected to rise above and go beyond our nature. Same way a man is not allowed violence or infidelity (which also involve hormones) a woman is not allowed the aforementioned either. Alas, lowered standards, and the first sufferers thereof are women themselves.

As Jong said (herself a woman), ”Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealized into powerlessness.”

IDEALIZED into powerlessness. For a porcelain trophy on the top shelf is practically useless, and cannot take care of itself, let alone another. This is what lowered standards does and is still doing to womankind as a whole.

If the same stringent standards to which most men are held were held to women-get up and dust your pants if you fall, failure is not to be had (even though it might be the easiest, most available and readily accessible option!), even though aggression is MORE rooted in your DNA as a male, still you are to curb it, for ”hormones” or circumstantial issues are never an excuse, etc…- womankind would progress even further than it already has. The same ardour used to reward and praise females, must be applied with punishment: female paedophiles, violent offenders, child-neglecting female parents, all deserve as much retribution as their male counterparts, and this is not the case in general.

Without wishing to pontificate, (believe it or not),keypoint: men would have it no other way. We love these lofty standards to which we are being held, we love being ”thrown to the wolves” from birth to death. This is how growth occurs; through the fire of trials gold is purified. The point here is, this furnace of purification must needs be extended to all branches, all segments of society, especially women, since they are a major segment thereof, and the first educators of humanity.

Inadequate fathers and mothers, and hapless people will be a thing of the past with the proper (moral) education of females, who are the mothers of tomorrow.

There are exceptions, and there are groups of people in every facet of society who are held accountable and those who are not. The same could be said about certain racial minorities, who are ”idealised” into helplessness, or certain age-groups, nationalities, etc..

But, due to the importance of women in society, and due to the fact that they are NOT a minority, it is more important to address the great expectations that can, should and will rest upon them.

Then and only then, when they are held brutally accountable as men are, and like to be, (worthy ones) shall we see true equality manifested.

With great power (and equality) comes great (and equal) responsibility (and accountability)…

July 19, 2015

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”…to each according to his needs…”

The problems afflicting mankind are numerous: famine, illiteracy, disease, war, environmental issues, etc..

But these are naught but diseases, with the basic illness being disunity. A skilled physician might pay some attention to the symptoms, but must treat the disease. In this case, we might pay attention to the aforementioned plights, but rest assured; nothing will be solved until we eliminate the underlying disease of disunity. With moral education from childhood, we become fair, and with fairness and justice, unity is achieved, because we realise, we live in one world and we are one.

Until this is established, nothing will be permanently solved, even though we can eliminate world hunger using only 30 billion USD a year, (defense budget of the US alone is 737 Billion a year, and Forbes.com lists 18 people as of 2015 with fortunes over 30 billion USD). In fact, if everyone in the first world countries alone, gave 9cents a day, and that’s barely 13 percent of the world’s population, that would be 33 dollars a year and would be enough to eliminate hunger! There are loads of statistics to revel in: 85 of the richest own more than the 2 billion poorest, there is not an overpopulation since we could all fit shoulder to shoulder in part of Los Angeles, we need the wealth of 5 of the richest to eliminate illiteracy, a man in the Kalahari uses 12 litres of water a day while a man in North America uses over 18 just to brush his teeth (with the tap running) and can exceed using hundreds of litres daily(thanks to the water cycle, there is enough water to go round, but simply, POOR DISTRIBUTION, and powers that be keeping it that way), the negative impacts of charging your cell phone or eating meat are nothing compared to the environmental damage caused by fighter planes, and tanks, and artillery, yet civilians are supposed to feel guilty for using daily gadgets, etc..the statistics show us the problem is not availability, or space, or resources, or time, or money, but rather of will! We do not have the will to help because we are not convinced WHY we should care about rainforests in Brazil when we live in Germany, or about the starving kids in Darfur while we live in Finland.

Baha’u’llah says to be as united as the fingers of one hand; as the parts of a body. One part shall not rest until the rest are at peace. Until we do this, there shall be no respite, even though we clearly have the ability to feed, clothe, educate and keep healthy every man, woman and child on earth, but yet we don’t! Simply because we are not united, and we are not united because we are not fair and we are not fair because we do not prioritise moral education.

Anyone who has effected a change did so with morality. Gandhi did not change the lives of nearly 400 million people with his law degree; he did so with his morality. Same with Mandela, or any other religious or secular civil rights advocate. Mathematically this means with a population of about 7 Billion, we need approximately 18 Gandhis to effect a change. This is feasible, but will not happen until we focus on morality.

The problems are not due to a lack of resources, but a lack of distribution (and people in power keeping it this way for obvious reasons), and the trials afflicting mankind are not limited to these symptoms; they are due to the underlying moral disease of disunity. Unite as the limbs of one body, and see the domino effect of problem-solving…

July 10, 2015

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”time-dependent bias.”

How much time must pass until one who evidently exerted little to no effort that wasn’t entirely self-serving, is practically deified?

To be honest, Alexander did little, though he is called ”The Great.”. Undefeated in major battles, conquering the known world at 25 is one way to put it. But another would be, widowing and orphaning countless, coming prepared to peoples’ lands, murdering them, pillaging, raping,burning, spreading carnage and destruction and terror, etc..all to fulfil HIS PERCEPTION of greatness. How is that different from the Mongol Empire, or Stalin, or Hitler, or sectarian violence among some religious groups? Him being younger, and undefeated, makes it more zestful and ”cooler” not more righteous or better.

As one of his generals put it upon his passing; ” yesterday the earth wasn’t large enough for him. Today, a hole in the ground will have to do.”

If enough time passes, even the worst man will be praised by simple minds. Every of the afore-mentioned figures have people today who swear allegiance to their memory. Hence borrowing a phrase from statistical analysis, ”time-dependent bias”. Though referring to placebo effect, it fits the idea of enough time passing by, causing us to give praise to characters we would shun, had they been our contemporaries.

One cannot go wrong if we give praise to righteous character and ideas and concepts. Not to people. For they shall always err…

July 10, 2015

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A moral compass…

So we hear a lot of questioning as to what is right and what is wrong. And how to know the difference. Even though truth is one, our understanding thereof evolves, and there are more ways than one to approach it. Truth is, the earth is a circular planet. It took us time to understand this. It went from being ’round’ to being ‘spherical’. Last I checked it is now ‘an oblate spheroid’. The falsehood is that it is flat. Therefore, a truth is a truth, and a falsehood is a falsehood, regardless of if and when we make the distinction, and certainly regardless of whether we recognise it or not. The earth retains its natural shape, irrespective of you and me.

Therefore, virtue, or any truth, must needs be independent of us. Though our circumstance may affect our perception, it remains independently true.

Accepting something, anything as true and/or positive,simply because we are in a society that does, has been an integral part of every societal debacle.

Succumbing to what our environment holds to be true, be it due to political/peer pressure, political correctness, the result of group-think, etc..would make it alright to engage in anti Jewish pogroms 70 years ago in Germany, own a couple of black slaves in the Americas 200 years ago, or subscribe to ‘unions’ of a bestial nature in some parts of northern India today, or paedophiliac ones in some parts of Eastern Africa, or homosexual ones in parts of Europe. Point being, geographically, and historically, humans have flawed and swayed, due to lack of a common base/an all-encompassing moral compass/a code of virtue.

My contention, which shall be referred to throughout these monographs if you will, is that nothing besides science and religion, is worthy of making up this moral compass. Science explains the technical aspect, and religion the moral one. We are speaking of unabused, and unadulterated science and religion here. For one without the other is incomplete, but together, they are the source of unending good. We cannot discredit science because two scientists had a conflict, anymore than we can religion due to so-called religious people having issues one with another. As afore-mentioned, the truth stands!

And according to these, I would be safe through time and space,throughout geography and history, knowing full well that slavery, religious prejudice, and illicit sexual practices are wrong, no matter WHERE or WHEN I may be! The fact that such firm and moral individuals always have existed, and always will, shows it is an uphill but feasible task. People like every scientist, and revolutionary, have held this attribute.

Simple people like this gent below,

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/august-landmesser

it is not okay, simply because it is accepted, or legal, or politically correct, or the norm, or society as a whole approves. Be a rock. Not a leaf. A rock stands for what is right, based on the common foundation that is made of science and religion,and no river however tumultuous can thwart its stance. A leaf sways wherever the trend blows…

God bless.

August 11, 2013

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Greetings unto you.

This is a forum to express views on various topics: current events, history, religion, God, science, art, sports, etc… whilst keeping in mind that the most important thing isn’t simply to have an opinion, seeing as anyone can and does have that, but rather to strive to have an educated, logical, researched opinion, which is, or leads to the truth, or at least part of the truth, and express it in a timely fashion, to those willing and ready to listen. It is a lot more than just ”freedom of expression,” which, though a laudable concept, is merely the beginning.

August 11, 2013