Ideas

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NEW WAYS OF LOOKING AT OLD AND CURRENT PROBLEMS

 

Trying to understand the world we live in is a hard business. We want to change things, to make them better. But we cannot know everything and it’s easy to go up blind alleys. Sometimes we just have to write down our thoughts so we can work out what we think. Then again, a lesson I learned from my father is that ‘if you cannot find the answer, try asking a different question’. I try to do both here.

Without consensus nothing can be achieved by peaceful means. So, when it comes to the big issues of our time, we need narratives we can share – that cut through the PR-speak of our politicians. I hope you will find these narratives worth passing on to others trying to make sense of this world, and to those who can do something about them.

 

Consumer Choice Democracy

Instead of asking ‘how can people with conflicting national identities – in Ireland, Bosnia, Cyprus, Spain etc –  live in peace with one another?’, I ask ‘what will it take to remove the fear felt by both sides of one side dominating the other?’ Then I find it opens an unexpected opportunity for Northern Ireland to capitalise on Brexit.

 

The Population Mechanism – Why We Must Depopulate And How

Previously, I posted two separate essays – entitled How Love Actually Can Save The World and Free Lunch Capitalism – which I have combined and developed. The Population Mechanism is now a book that offers an explanation of how the rate of population growth around the world increased by 69 times in the last 500 years compared with the rate for the previous 2,000 years.

Instead of asking ‘how can governments intervene to reduce the human population?’, I ask ‘is there anything that would motivate us individually – freely and voluntarily – so the effect is that we have fewer children?’

 

Same Sex Marriage – The Missing Argument

Same sex marriage is one of those very difficult subjects that need to be written down first in order to sort out the pieces. Like most people, I found myself unprepared to consider it – and torn by the matter. In the research process I discovered that the rights of children have been ignored in the detail by every legislature around the world that has passed a Same Sex Marriage Bill. So the question I ask is ‘Should the rights of same sex couples take precedence over the rights of children?’

 

You can contact me via

garvincrawford@btinternet.com