Monday, April 10, 2017

Planet X-19

Sometimes things are hard to see when you are the middle of a situation. So let's step outside of our routine orbit for a moment, for the sake of perspective.

Here's an extended analogy: Let's take a hypothetical group of explorers/settlers from a random location....let's say...Western Europe.
Imagine they develop a rocket with the ability to travel to another planet, in another galaxy. When they arrive on this new planet, named X-19, they encounter people on the planet who all have two heads. They live among these people for years in peaceful coexistence and learn everything they can about them. Soon however, a systematic program develops where one-headed people and those who work with them dispossess the two-headed people from their valuable, natural resource rich lands. At one point they are hunted, killed and eliminated in large numbers. The two-headed people are increasingly degraded, lied upon and abused by one-headed people.









Scientists, journalists and academics join in theorizing on how two-headed people are not that bright because their thinking often gets confused due to having two brains whose thoughts often conflict, paralyzing them from taking any decisive action. They speculate that possibly if they had three heads, at least one of the heads would break the tie, enabling them to make efficient, cogent decisions. They postulate that odd number heads are most conducive to advanced thought.  At any rate it is concluded that since no one has three (or five) heads, people with one head are better. More and more settlers arrive.















Eventually, although two headed people have been living and thriving on this planet for over 177,000 years, they must now borrow money and pay interest and taxes in order to survive on their land under this new global system. Discrimination and hatred increases against two-headed people. Over time, protests and complaints begin to arise against this discrimination and prejudice. Soon some one-headed people, disturbed by what's going on, join in to protest against the discrimination and hatred endured by two-headed people. After years of elusive success, some two-headed people begin to angrily lash out against one-headed people saying "one-headed people all need to go back to their one-headed planet." These militant double headers are attacked and called racists for singling out one headed people.  Armies go into two-headed strongholds looking for these racist militants. In the process even more land is taken over and occupied by the settlers and the economic, cultural, spiritual, mental and health conditions of two-headed people continues to deteriorate across the planet.

By the time almost every facet of life on X-19 is controlled by the settlers, a new program of peace and reconciliation is launched. Scientists, journalists and academics now begin to point out how similar one-headed and two-headed people actually are, deep down.  They both have feelings, fears, worries, joys and concerns in equal measure. Any talk singling out people for how many heads they happen to have is labeled racist, and is prohibited and punished. Racism against one or two-headed people will no longer be tolerated by the authorities.

Is racism the real problem here?
...in this scenario?