Adonis Diaries

Societies’ Blind Spots through the centuries and civilizations

For various reasons such as maintaining structural hierarchies, preserving privileges, class struggle, religious and ideological dominance, knowledge development, economic systems… societies through the centuries had particular Blind Spots that hindered its progress toward equitable and fair rights to all the people.

For examples:

1. In the French revolution of 1789, somehow the rights for women were totally forgotten in the equation of Liberty, Equality, and Human Rights. Historians prefer to attribute this neglect to the notion that women were not an issue in this struggle, since societies were patriarchal in their structure for centuries and women managed to tacitly navigate the system in order to maintain sort of a power balance withing the family foundation… Mind you that it was the women who marched on the Bastille prison on October 1789…

Prior to the French revolution there was the US revolution, independence, and Constitution and Bills of Rights… And still, women rights were no where to be found.

In the USA, women grabbed the right to vote in the 20’s after a long and arduous struggle of the Suffragists. This movement was successful as women from the highest ranks joined the fight. Women led the labor movements in the two decades 1840-60 https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/led-by-women-us-labor-movements-1840-1860/

The right to vote was secured in France shortly before WWII…

2. Slavery was an admitted way of life till the 18th century. Obviously, the darker the color the more evident it was that the person was more eligible to be worked as a slave, since the people Africa were theorized in religious circles to be denied the same kind of soul as the other lighter colored people… Giving the slaves the same rights as “free-men” was a “blind spot” that society could not fathom in any political discussion. The like of Spartacus movements were cruelly crushed as if bitten by rabid dogs…

3. The Industrial Revolution gave priority to hiring children for reasons entirely at odd with current laws. Children rights to safe and healthy environment was anathema in the political circles. Families would even encourage their children to go to work early on and supplement the resources instead of wasting precious time in school.

Fact is, through the ages, it was the tiny people, mainly children and drwarfs, who were used to dig tunnels in order to extract gold and silver: It was too time consuming to enlarge the passage of tunnels in the hard rock with hand tools…

4. Since the Industrial Revolution, the notion that environment degradation and air pollution were serious factors to consider in wealth generation was not considered. Commercial Whale Fishing went on for centuries before the idea that whales and fish can be depleted if marine life is not managed scientifically.

5. Four decades ago, the opinion that man is the main nemesis in earth climate change and degradation of water and air quality was not an issue in discussions.

6. Openly slaughtering animals was common occurrence and pretty natural to observe. Currently, laws and procedures are constraining how animals are killed and processed.

7.  The term “paradigm shift” in field of sciences and sociology is synonymous with “blind spots” in mankind march toward higher levels of dignity and respect for human rights…

7. I ask you to send me a list of blind spots that you are aware of in previous centuries, and the ones that were Not Blind Spots previously and are currently blind spots.

Essentially, blind spots are common behaviors once a culture is stamped as the normal way of living and thinking. Once a culture is chiselled in rocks and common laws, it is hard to deviate and consider other perspectives…

The main hindrance in spotting beneficial conducts for improving society behavior is the built in ideosyncraties that limit communicating efficiently with other cultures.

Every culture is endowed with facilities to spotting the blind domains in other cultures. If a civilization denies the right to its people to listen carefully and seriously study the trends in other cultures, then it is almost impossible to overcome the built-in blind spots in a particular culture.

Questions:

1. Have you tried to research the blind spots in your culture? For example, saying “How I came not to see this obvious shortcoming?” “How this natural right was oblivious to my mind?”

2. Many blind spots look terribly a matter of common sense a couple of decades later, and we failed to see the obvious looking in our face. What blind spots do you think will be uncovered in the next decade?

3. Modern quick, efficient and global mass communication facilities should generate mass contacts with other cultures. Do you think that this enhanced communication will greatly facilitate the uncovering of blind spots in many cultures?

4. Can you research the current blind spots that were not that blind at all in previous ages and civilizations? Spots that were not that blind or dark to the common people because they practiced what is currently viewed as anathema to progress? Think of these multinational companies destroying the livelihood of billion of people and preventing them from eeking a significant profit from their small family entreprises…

With humility for accepting other cultures as sources for breakthrough in mankind cooperation, and a flexible mind to comprehend other cultures way of life… it is possible to face global obstacles for a sustainable life on earth.