Robert Paterson's Weblog

The Middle East and Israel - The Dogs are off the leash

The Middle East and Israel remind me of dogs.

I walk our dogs off leash. I only put the leash on when I see people and other dogs who are not socialized. Dogs on leashes tend to behave badly with each other because they can get away with it and in many cases are reacting to the fear of their owner that something bad will happen. But if you go to a park that has a leash off policy, you tend to find confident well socialized dogs and owners who share these attributes.

Israel has been on a leash - protected by a nervous owner. This has meant that it can behave badly with no real consequences. It can give power to its own fundamentalists and to the settlers who drive an agenda that makes any peace impossible. For on the leash, Israel does not need to be serious about peace.

Israel lives in a dog park that insists on leashes. America has had a leash on Egypt and Jordan and many other Arab states too. This too has had internal consequences for these leaders. I wonder if their own fundamentalists have been empowered by this?

What seems to be certain now is that the Dog Park Rules have changed for all. It is going to be a No Leash park.

There will be real consequences for bad behaviour. I don't mean that there will be no bad behaviour, I mean that it will come with a big price. 

And the "Owner"? The US is left helpless the other side of the fence looking in.

What to do?

Realize that depending on imported oil is where the power and the pain lies. America's greatest defence is to make itself less vulnerable to oil. Local resiliency is the path to freedom

The Fatal Flaw in the PEI Human Rights Act

So what is the problem? Do you see it? 

The focus here is on the individual. The act ignores groups. The act ignores consequences.

So I can be a Prof at UPEI or a Bus Driver for the School Board and have my right not to be denied work because of my age accepted.

But what about the "Rights" of people in a younger age bracket? By changing the "rules" of employment, the Commissioners have given a few individuals their "Right" but at the cost of damaging the rights of many classes of people - at UPEI and now maybe across all of PEI.

This is not the fault of the Commissioners but of those who drafted the Act. The structure of the Act ignores any idea of consequences and how one singular decision may affect others.

The Act violates the principles of all systems. Systems are interactions. The Act ignores the reality that every individual event reverberates and affects all else. 

What they have inadvertently unleashed by favouring a few, is damage to many.

By setting the individual precedent of the 3 staffers from UPEI, Pandora's Box is opened. Many other people and groups could suffer as a result.

So what to do?

Re-examine the Act! Insert the idea of consequences and of dealing with competing interests. Make the Act realistic.