Blame

I try to be responsible so I am surprised at how so many blame others for problems of one's own making. The more power one has the more responsibility is required. Remember the line from Spider man?

But it often is not so. The biggest example was my few months in Berlin during the 80's where a wall and East Germany surrounded the city. Huge space ship like radars pointed towards the enemy. East Germans have been shot trying to enter the West. Subways that run under the East are inspected for stowaways constantly. Border guards in watch towers were all over the wall. Land mines aplenty created a dry moat in no-man's land. Each day I would climb towers next to the wall that mirrored Eastern ones manned by soldiers. As I peered into my telephoto lens, the soldier would peer back by binoculars each and every time.

So much wasted resources to safe guard power of a few at the expense of real lives. People became pawns as they escape to freedom but labeled as traitors, observed like lab rats, oppressed into submission.

The powerful try to escape responsibility by vilifying dissent. There is always a good excuse. Order, Dignity, Wealth, Power seem to justify blaming the weak masses.

What puzzles me is how people refuse to see that the only competition in the world is of our own making. To "win" we can either destroy the enemy or actually find compromise. Both require a lot of pain and complexity. But compromise is the more responsible way. Something that is rare in history.

For all it's slow, painful, imperfect weakness, democracy which was first systematized by the Greeks 2 and a half Centuries ago, around the time China went through splits and unification under an emperor, the opposite of a democratic system that seeks compromise between opposing powers and opinions. One major difference besides the different ways of dealing with dissent, is literacy. China was mainly illiterate ruled by language experts while the Greeks had a more proportionate literate elite trained to reason, argue and meet.

This divergence in how power is used underlies Hong Kong's protests of 2014. Only the information, knowledge and rhetoric no longer require a court, a formal meeting or centralized plan. Discussion, sharing or ideas, arguments, compromise happens online where it is mostly visible.

The powerful still depend on the formal institutions to prop them up and their power is secure for now. However like the knowledge and communication that has always fueled governance and progress is now available to the masses. For the first time, the masses seem to have the upper hand in the generation of common goals, cooperation and direction that the elite cannot control.

So the powerful resort to blaming the undercurrent (though perfectly visible on the Internet) as conspiracy and an enemy. All the while the overt planning and oppression that make up conspiring enemies reside with the powerful themselves. They evade responsibility that is desirable with great power, and choose to blame the weak, attack them, vilify them and attempt to starve them to submission.

I submit that the powerful have only themselves to blame for not being able to use the vast resources available to them. By drawing invisible lines in the sand that prevent intelligent people from crossing, and using so much wasted resource is not only irresponsible but a sure way to use up all that fuels their power and control.

In the past, illiterate masses contributed by their labour. Power came from communication, language and planning. These tools are now free of charge, instantaneous and therefore even more powerful than before. The intelligence, resourcefulness, efficiency and will of those who use them cannot be stopped by blaming them for using technology so well.

The old guard of formality, connections and vast wealth will continue to blame the technologically nimble for disruption and dissent, but the truth is that the only responsible option is engagement, thoughtful policies and embracing the knowledge economy they want to invest in.