Ideologies

Can we live without ideologies?

Are there good and bad ideologies?

For me, personally, socialism, communism, capitalism, nationalism are all terms with a negative connotation. But the monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) are also kind of ideologies.

All of these ideologies have brought terrible misery to mankind.

The time has come for us to live without ideologies and seek pragmatic solutions for living together.

All ideologies claim a monopoly on truth. That is why people with different ideologies can never live together in peace.

Nor can a convinced ideologue be a democrat, for he is more committed to his ideology’s truth than to the rules of democracy.

Lots of people who support a weakened form of socialism do not realize that they are followers of an ideology. This form of socialism is the most widespread ideology in the developed world.

I call it the rose-colored ideology.

How much longer can the ideologies that dominate today survive?

Children usually adopt the ideologies of their parents. A child taught in the Christian faith will keep his conviction, a Jewish child will most likely remain a Jew and children in Islamic countries will become Mohammedans.

Is it permissible to indoctrinate children in such a way that they only manage free themselves from their acquired bonds after years of inner conflict? Isn’t it time to stop supporting schools that are shaped one-sidedly either religiously or politically?

          Parents should live by example when it comes to their ideology, but they must not indoctrinate their children.

Matthew, Luke and John would turn in their graves if they found out that babies are currently being baptized in Christian churches. According to the New Testament, those who turn to Jesus of their own free will should be baptized.

Genital mutilation of any kind should be prohibited or proscribed.

Isn't religious freedom a precious thing? No, by their very nature, religions are intolerant and there must be no tolerance of intolerance.

The Quran was written by Mohammed and Mohammed was a warlord in the second half of his life.

The books of the Old Testament were the basis of a state religion, and this religion had to hold the Jewish people together and was the motivation to conquer land by force.

The Christian faith came into being under Roman rule. If the Christian faith had directly or indirectly called for resistance against Rome, it would have promptly been fought radically. The Christian faith only had a chance because its nature is defensive. The New Testament does not call for violence at any point, but it often quotes the Old Testament, which does not distance itself from violence.

The three holy books cause violence all over the world, because all three claim to be the only true ones, which means that their followers cannot live together peacefully.

Far-sighted Christians, Jews and Mohammedans should sit together and agree that all passages in their holy books that call for violence have no more meaning nowadays.

Communism and socialism are pseudo-religions and both call for a class struggle. Fighting and peace do not go together.

Can you be against all ideologies and religions? Doesn't selfishness get the upper hand then? I'm sure we all agree that man should stand up for more noble things.

After the French Revolution the motto was: Liberty, equality, brotherhood. The terms fairness and justice are also important to me.

We shouldn’t strive to find the truth, but the best ethics.

Muslims are influenced by their Islamic culture, children of socialist-thinking parents are influenced by socialism, but all should clearly distance themselves from any intolerant aspects of their parents' worldview.

Islam, socialism, various forms of nationalism and neoliberalism are the worldviews that are most intolerantly propagated by their followers today.  

Islam

(in German published 2017-09)

Islam is still seen as a respectable religion in Europe.

The Quran is the foundation of Islam.

There are more than a hundred passages in the Quran that could be interpreted in a way that calls for violence to be committed under certain circumstances against Jews, Christians and people with other beliefs. Islamists refer to these passages.

In my opinion, you cannot view Islam as a respectable religion and condemn Islamists at the same time, for they refer to the Quran and the Quran is the foundation of Islam.

The Mohammedans rightly point out that there are also passages in the Bible that can be interpreted in such a way that under certain circumstances they call for violence against people of other faiths. Hasn’t the time come for Christians, Jews and Muhammadans to explain which parts of their holy books should no longer be taken literally? Passages that deal with violence should especially be mentioned.

We should speak plainly. When translated from the Arabic, Allah should not be translated as God. God is God and Allah is Allah.

Socialism

(in German published 2017-09)
Which worldviews dominate in Switzerland?

Most Swiss residents are Protestants or Catholics. However, you can have two or more worldviews at the same time. Hence most have a worldview based on the Christian faith and many are simultaneously influenced strongly by socialism and do not realize that they are steered by a light form of socialism. I also call this attitude to life a rose-tinted worldview.

Socialism is an ideology that intends to abolish all territorial borders. Every human on earth shall be permitted to live wherever he or she desires. For example, a person from India, Cameroon or Canada may settle in Switzerland, and no one may stop him. The intentions are good and sound well enough, but it is not feasible in the real world.

Socialism wishes to prevent conflict between nations. Socialism focusses on the conflict between the social layers (classes). Progress occurs when the lower classes prevail over the upper classes.

The nationalistic forces focus on horizontal conflicts, while socialism looks at the vertical ones.

Socialism is positioned to the left of the center. Anyone who politicizes pragmatically and attempts to solely be guided by reason assumes that his or her position is in the center. However, he or she is slightly to the right of socialism and is pushed to the outer edge on the right.

Socialists use this strategy to go against anyone who thinks differently. Socialists hardly engage with groups that position themselves to the left of socialism. Groups to the right of them, however, are fought with great dedication. Since socialism is an ideology that also exhibits the traits of a only-one-true, pseudo-religion, socialist-minded people politicize with incredible efforts against all those who, in their view, are to their right.

Many young people who have adopted this rose-tinted worldview, wish to spread this worldview and try to become journalists.
 The conservatives usually do not have this missionary zeal and thus it is not surprising that leftist views prevail in the media.

Only people with a thick skin can resist the rose-tinted attacks long-term and are thus often perceived as ruffians. Ruffians are easy to attack in the media and thus the strategy is successful.

An argument could be made that, without socialism, no one would fight for the economically weak. I will return to this topic in a later post.

Nationalism

(in German published 2017-09)
I discovered the following definition of nationalism at the Federal Agency for Civic Education in Switzerland:
Nationalism describes an ideology that exaggerates the characteristics of one's own ethnic community (e.g. language, culture, history), defines it as something absolute and leads to the overstressed (in general aggressive) desire for the unity of people and territory.
Of course it is only natural to loves one’s home and to feel most at ease in one’s own country, but when the love of one’s country is exaggerated and inflated, it turns into nationalism and can become a dangerous ideology.
Here, too, an excessive sense of superiority leads to conflict with minorities or groups of people with different views of the world or ideologies.
As soon as nationalism acquires an ideological character, sooner or later it leads to war.
However, replacing nationalism with socialism is not the solution. One shouldn’t replace the devil with another.