Boundaries or not
International borders as rigid as they are present in our times was not the case for the major part of the time past. If international boundaries between nations are so important, why didn’t God put them there when earth was being created (statement, thought provoking for only those who have no doubt about existence of God).
Why do humans want to complicate their lives ? There were no marked boundaries on earth, we created them. Humans weren’t born with lethal claws or fangs, but they are nothing compared to what destructive machines humans have created. Humans can fly in machines and stay under water longer than even some mammals can and yet are naive enough to be destroying their own habitat at a speed no other living creature can even imagine. Humans worked their nights off to create industrialized cities and now are researching their days off trying to minimize their damages. Every human wants to live a peaceful life, yet most of them are responsible for some problem in another human’s life.
Humans are perhaps the most worried about future then any other living thing on earth yet we are screwing up the future like no other.
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The European Union is one way of eventually breaking down the restricitons that borders put on people. THe United States makes treaties with Canada and Mexico to make it easier to travel from one country to another, but the “war on terror” is slowing down this process.
While Western countries try to unite, the AMerican government wants to break up Iraq into regions for Sunnies, Shiites, and Kurds. People keep on saying that they have been fighting for thousands of years; they need to have their own countries. Western countries have been fighting for thousands of years, but they are trying to stay united. THe U.S. government and Western media ignore the role of the occupation in fueling the violence in Iraq.
International borders as rigid as they are present in our times was not the case for the major part of the time past.
Not true. The borders of today are very porous, compared to the religious, national and cultural boundaries of yesteryear.
These boundaries were usually made when people began assuming, as you do, that all humans share some kinds of similar traits.
Finnpundit > If you were living in 13th century and was required to travel from France to Arabia, you would not be requiring any visa of sorts to do that. That my friend was what I implied. Moreover, I think everyone agrees that humans do share some kinds of similar traits, but I fail to understand why would that constitute towards making boundaries ? Sharing traits are perhaps one of those reasons which should reduce the boundary structures.
If you were living in 13th century and was required to travel from France to Arabia, you would not be requiring any visa of sorts to do that
Not a visa, perhaps, but you’d need a sword, a retinue of armed guards (a few hundred would be good), interpreters, incredible amounts of money (only lords could manage that), and every time you passed into another bit of farmland you’d have to check with the local lord that it was okay, for fear of being captured and held as a hostage for money. And let’s not even start thinking about the notion of an infidel Christian trying to travel through Arab Muslim lands in those times.
Sharing traits are perhaps one of those reasons which should reduce the boundary structures.
But the converse is equally true: if the traits are unique enough, they provide a bond for the group that shares that uniqueness, to the exclusion of others, thus motivating the need for boundaries.
In that case, it is better not to assume human beings have shared traits. It is better to assume that human beings have mutual interests, the most important of which are business interests.