God to Humans: “Just Pick the Tallest Guy”
Governments are a fallback for when community and compassion have failed
I’m enjoying our monthly Team Human “Kibbitz Room” sessions a lot. They serve as a cross between a Quaker meeting hall and a Reddit ask-me-anything, where our community members bring up the issues and ideas concerning them. What makes them so special for me is that they provoke ideas I wouldn’t normally have, or even bring long-forgotten experiences and stories back to the surface.
This week we discussed a whole lot of stuff together — local currencies, ballot initiatives, citizens councils, and other strategies for local resilience and civic participation. Someone asked what sort of governance model will work, especially right now as so many people seem to be leaning away from democracy and toward one form of authoritarianism or totalitarianism or another.
And while we were discussing that question, someone else asked about the way our online networks create the sense that we have to conform to other people’s expectations of us. Many people are demanding that the rest of us make very particular statements on one issue or the other, or else risk their condemnation. It’s as if we are not allowed to bear witness in silence or, worse, reject inflammatory responses in favor solidarity. Only one set of words will be accepted.
