Is it time for a Declaration of Interdependence?
Asked by
ETpro (
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July 15th, 2012
We’ve had the Declaration of Independence, and I’m not suggesting in any way that it has become obsolete. It’s thoughts seem as valid and powerful today as they did in the late 18th century. But much has changed between 1776 and 2012. Do you think we need more independence, more Randian Objectivism? Or is the new, interconnected world of cell phones, GPS, computers and rapid transit pushing human social animals ever closer to being a vast hive intelligence? Are we capable, collectively, of achieving things that are so wildly beyond the reach of even the strongest, or most brilliant among us when they operate alone. Is it time to recognize this with a Declaration of Interdependence?
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13 Answers
No. It’s like the airline attendant coaches you. If the cabin pressure drops and the yellow mask comes down, the grownups have to use them first, otherwise nobody will be left to tend to the children. You have to take care of yourself (the Individual) first, otherwise there is no such thing as helping others.
We are more interdependent. Technology let us do more, but it makes us rely on others more. 1800 farmers could be independent. We aren’t like that.
Rather than make a big production out of it, just let it alone. If we’re going to be (more) interdependent, we’re going to.
The problem with interdependence is that the other guy won’t always be there to pick up the slack, or he won’t want to, or he’ll be miffed and passive-aggressive about something and let his end drop. I’ve seen all three in the last week at work, just in my three-man sub-department. Yes, with great teamwork come great accomplishments, but teams are tricky things. We ought to be able to get back on our feet without help, in case we have to. Plus there’s the committee problem: the more people directing a project, the less likely it is to go anywhere, and everybody will want to direct, and drive this great big boat of people to their own particular destination.
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You might say that we already have such declarations in the form of a web of treaties and trade agreements and alliances.
Probably going to go that way without officially declaring it. Just declaring it would ruin it. It’s just nature.
@josie I take your point, but what would you think of a fellow who put on his oxygen mask, then grabbed the two that deployed for the kids seated next to him, and kept them for himself just in case his failed to work?
@Adirondackwannabe Very true. The Wright Brothers managed the first heavier-than-air flight in 1903 managed to go 100 feet on a downhill slope. Just 66 years later, we flew a crew to the moon and landed them there. Yeah, technology lets us do a lot. But alone, we’ve got nothing on those 1800s farmers. Most of us wouldn’t know how to survive alone in the wilderness as well as they did.
@Nullo Very good point. What will be will be.
@hiphiphopflipflapflop Also a good point. Acknowledging what sustains us isn’t necessairly a bad thing.
@woodcutter I don’t think it would. The Declaration of Independence didn’t spoil freedom. Course, if we hadn’t kicked Lord Cornwallis’ butt at Yorktown, things might not have gone so well for the fleeting hope of freedom. So there are potential downsides to declarations.
@ETpro Declarations are polarizing things. Sometimes you want that, sometimes you don’t.
@ETpro I don’t see that happening, but I will play along…In that case, I would pull his mask off, and while his hands were busy frantically putting it back, I would take the kids masks away from him and give them to the kids. But the principle is exactly the same. I would do all that AFTER I put mine on.
@ETpro What I was getting at by not formally “declaring it” out loud ,is the way the right has become all butt hurt with the health care deal and the Supreme court suggesting it could be a tax. You can’t even say that word (tax) in front of a conservative without them busting a vessel. It’s just a word but they jump all on it as if it changes anything in the law that was, or wasn’t there before. So now they are over energized over that one word. Whether it’s a tax, or a penalty, the semantics of the thing is hilarious as if they have been blind -sided by something new.
So we wouldn’t even want to get them started on anything remotely resembling interdependence because they are the strong independent types and don’t need it.
@Nullo This would be one of those times you don’t? The American Dream is going down the toilet, but no worry, we have good plumbing. Well, not so good. Yeah the sewers are over 100 years old and rupture all the time, but they can eat the American Dream. It ain’t that big anymore, anyway.
@josie Sounds like a reasonable set of actions.
@woodcutter Copy that.
Yes, absolutely. Here’s an example
http://www.weltethos.org/data-en/c-10-stiftung/13-deklaration.php
”... We Declare: We are interdependent. Each of us depends on the well-being of the whole, and so we have respect for the community of living beings, for people, animals, and plants, and for the preservation of Earth, the air, water and soil. We take individual responsibility for all we do. All our decisions, actions, and failures to act have consequences. We must treat others as we wish others to treat us. We make a commitment to respect life and dignity, individuality and diversity, so that every person is treated humanely, without exception. We must have patience and acceptance. We must be able to forgive, learning from the past but never allowing ourselves to be enslaved by memories of hate. Opening our hearts to one another, we must sink our narrow differences for the cause of the world community, practicing a culture of solidarity and relatedness. We consider humankind our family. We must strive to be kind and generous. ...”
@mattbrowne Thanks so much for that link. It’s excellent.
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