Martial arts and film star Bruce Lee once said, “Knowledge
is fixed in time, whereas knowing is continual.” To on knowledge is to retrieve a memory from
yesterday which may or may not still be relevant today. It is our reliance on accumulated knowledge that hinders our
present knowing, our struggle to arrive at the truth.
With
ancient generations, it was their “knowledge” that the universe was geocentric
that prevented them from knowing that the Earth revolved around the sun. New and better systems cannot come
into being if incorrect systems that prevent them that prevent them are not
first identified and removed. The best
way to accomplish this is to question everything, especially the conventional
wisdom.
Bruce Lee
also said that every system is a cage and that to embrace a particular style is
to exclude all others. This can be true
in fighting, such as when a person holds that a particular style of karate is
the best, and refuses to learn useful techniques of kung fu, wrestling, and
boxing. The style that does not adapt
becomes ossified and is limited, not by the opponent, but by the self. The worst enemy is that which comes from
within.
Something
similar happens in politics when people say that a person of color who identifies
as a Republican must be a sellout, and another person chooses to believe it. This tactic was used against Supreme Court
Justice Clarence Thomas. But when you
really stop and think about it, what could be more limiting and racist that you
must vote such and such a way because of the color of your skin? Who in their
right mind would trade shackles for a straight jacket? This is not critical
thinking. It is not thinking at
all. It is following with the blind
devotion of a pig being led to the slaughter.
We must
stop being led by the politics of the past and begin to question the
conventional wisdom. Instead of asking
why other countries hate us so much, we should ask why we are choosing sides in
bitter disputes overseas, spending billions of dollars to arm Israel, inviting
the wrath of other nations in the region.
To those
who might think this position is unpatriotic, I ask you what is so patriotic
about propping up a modern day apartheid on the other side of the world,
instead of applying that money right here at home? What is so patriotic about
helping to deprive the Palestinians of their homeland by supplying the very
weapons that are used to gun them down? What is so patriotic about involving
ourselves in faraway disputes when every time you turn around another nation in
those areas either has or is suspected of having nuclear weapons?
And to
those who say we should nuke those nations and be done with it all, that kind
of logic is like throwing a grenade at a mouse in your living room. Sure, it’ll do the job, but consider what
you’ve done to your own home.
Every
problem in the world today can be traced to an action that preceded it. Rather than follow the conventional wisdom of
meeting violence with more violence, perhaps it would be wise to acknowledge
that the United States has about as much business making policy in the Middle
East as Iran has making policy right here in the United States.
The
United States has a Monroe Doctrine so that other nations do not interfere in
this part of the world. Is it that hard
to understand that the Islamic nations of the world might want the same?
This is
not a question of military might. One
can accumulate all the fighting skill in the world, but sometimes the smartest
fight is the one not fought.
