Whenever I remember my days with the navy, this is what comes to me first. An issue to confront us, almost every day, used to be something related to mutual disagreements. Headaches like interdepartmental rivalry, ego clashes between naval branches, or other differences fueled by the socio-educational background of each one of us, were always there, ready to flare up at the next spark. In the beginning, as young and inexperienced, we could not solve such issues in full, and had to take advice and instruction from our superiors.
I found one thing common in all such advices, more so, in the instances where we could succeed instantly, convincingly. 'Remove generalizations as much as you can, and bring down the issue to certain specifics. You will find much of the issue evaporating away during the transition itself.'
I think this is what is missing, when we deal with ourselves, particularly about contentious issues like social harmony and peace. Firstly, we are not paying sufficient attention to specifics of any issue. As a result, what appears to us is a version that is unrecognizably clouded by whatever are the current priorities. Moreover, we vitiate the prevailing atmosphere by shouting out with all our might, whatever local ripples or undulations, one may happen to notice, as far as the social fabric go.
Why?
Because, not only that it is easy to do so, but also there is no danger of a retort from someone who gets blamed in the process. Also, it is not an easy, straightforward job to locate the specifics of any issue. More often than not, one will find oneself only, at least as one of the reasons for the same. If corrective or punitive actions follow, naturally, one will have to be ready for the same too.
This perhaps is the most significant issue, the early humans faced, and which we continue to face. How to escape from blame, when logically, one is blameworthy? Perhaps each one pointed to the other one as more blameworthy, which, over many such iterations, metamorphosed into what we term as generalization. Here, everyone gets blamed without putting the blame on someone.
Over time, generalization, and its root, abstraction, have taken over the heart of the human intellect. We overlook everything else, leaving the vitiated atmosphere, as it is.
How else but violent, human society will be? Being a thinking animal, we should have known better. Empiric and specifics, we need to address, while viewing all abstractions as nothing else but distractions.
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