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Running as a thread through the piece was the idea that all of us – from one side of the planet to the other, from all walks of faith, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation and age – are born with one specific similarity, an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Also included was the concept that no matter where we are, no matter what color, nationality or sex, no matter what school we went to or where we were raised, all of us are entitled to “fair treatment.” Then the other shoe is dropped!
The idea of universally fair treatment has not often been welcomed, particularly among nations who have legitimate axes to grind regarding the West, whether those axes are honed on colonial miscarriages of justice or on preconceived notions learned from ancestors – that those who are different are wrong, misguided, evil, and unappreciative of the way “we” do things. Perhaps most alarmingly, they are against “our culture.”
Yet it should be made clear – just because certain Western nations emphasize democracy, freedom of speech and human rights, it does not necessarily make these things “Western,” or “anti-us.” Also, if Western advocates are gaining a foothold in our own countries, through proxy or directly, and pushing for human rights protections and freedom of speech, it does not mean they are doing anything wrong.
It does mean, however, that they are addressing values that we hold dear and that we employ to demand sway over others who must, by hook or crook, abide by our values and not by these newly introduced – and widely accepted as wrong – foreign innovations.
Although there is already a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, replete with various protections for each and every one of us around the globe, our rulers and others who hold influence over us are not generally enamored of such “interference.” Why advocacy of the freedom of speech, of protection of human rights, of the right to equal pay and equal opportunity should be a threat to our leaders is at first enigmatic, and yet, when viewed in the proper perspective, it is amazingly clear and simple.
To wit, our rulers are upset because they cannot stomach the idea that you and I might be their equals, and should be given equal opportunity. To provide such opportunity, in fact, would mean such a dramatic change in legislation, in perceived cultural values and in education that the degree of change needed is in itself tantamount to an affirmation that such change is destructive rather than constructive.
When I look at a white, black, Oriental, Occidental, African, Latino or anyone who is a mix of any or all of these and more, what I hope I am looking at is another person with whom I can have a relatively honest relationship, someone I can trust and who can trust me. Yet currently there is a cross-section of humanity, in different corners of the earth, that does not engender trust or trust others. This is most often because they have been dishonest with others and others have been dishonest with them.
It sounds overly simplistic, perhaps, but we may transpose this concept from the ordinary man or woman on the street to leaders and to those whom we hold up as role models. If most of these people are finding it impossible to be honest, or find it a disadvantage to be honest, then those with whom they interact will suffer the consequences.
That, in a nutshell, is what the FACT article addressed – the idea that while different, we are the same, that while divergent we are unified, that while apart we are together. This is a Native American concept; indeed it is a basic concept of coexistence among any of hundreds of indigenous peoples around our planet.
If we, as a so-called modern society, can understand this concept, and if we can apply it, as it so dearly needs to be applied, then we will promote not just a better understanding of mankind, but a better mankind.
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(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post – www.thekoratpost.com – he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)
