Conflict Resolution

      Several years ago I studied Conflict Resolution at SSU and revised my final paper for that course as an essay on my website. Here is the link to that essay:
World Peace
Stay tuned to this blog!
March 6 I will be writing about "Why Peace, Why Not War?"
--Buck Moon

True spirituality

      It is true that I cannot see World Peace happening as long as governments remain theocracies instead of secular democracies, but I have heard some convincing arguments from truly spiritual people (not theocrats) so I am posting some links to some websites that I think are not part of the problem.
Sonoma Mountain (California) Zen Center
Unitarian Church, Petaluma, California
Save Tibet
      Truly spiritual individuals know that secular individuals can be just as moral and ethical as they are, without subscribing to a government sanctioned superstition. Stay tuned to this blog!
Feb. 27 I will be writing about conflict resolution.
--Buck Moon

More links to World Peace Organizations

Here are some more links to organizations involved in World Peace.
Friends for Peace (The Quakers)
Iraq Veteran's against the War
A Force More Powerful This group has published books and videos about the histories of various successful nonviolent movements.
Waging Nonviolence.
International Peace Bureau.
Peace Quotes.net An anthology of quotations from famous people in history about peace.
The Albert Einstein Institution This organization carries on the mission for World Peace that Albert Einstein began.
Doctors Without Borders
Amnesty International USA
Conflict Resolution magazine
Antiwar.com (from a Libertarian point of view)
       I also recommend to everyone who is interested in World Peace, the following books:
"Waging Nonviolent Struggle" by Gene Sharp.
"Unarmed Insurrections" by Kurt Schock.
“The Politics of Nonviolent Action” (in 3 parts) by Gene Sharp.
“A Force more Powerful” by Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall.
"Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha)" by M. K. Gandhi.
“Civilian Jihad” edited by Maria J. Stephan.
("Civilian Jihad," by the way, can counteract the right-wing propaganda that Muslim = violence, because it tells the history of nonviolent actions by Muslim communities in the Middle East.)
--Buck Moon

Peace on you, buddy!

      Recently (Feb. 13) I posted a comment on the blog "Daily Censored" concerning an article by Dean Walker,"Right Wing Denounces Democracy."
       My comment was supportive of Walker's article and I added my support for the popular uprising in Egypt, accompanied by a list of books about nonviolent insurrections, including nonviolent strategies in Muslim countries.
      Thensomeone named "Carl" posted the following reply to my posting:
Carl says:
February 15, 2011 at 1:58 pm

Wow what a bunch of nut cases you people are. These people are not like minded democracy patriots looking to free their people. This country like other countries in the middle east wont become democracies like us. They will be taken over by the religious nuts that hate us and our freedoms. Helping anyone in the middle east for other reasons then to save our oil price from going throught the roof is useless. These people dont like us because we are free to worship any way we please and our female population has equal rights. They dont wont equal rights for everyone just for a few. I love how you liberals always bash Fox because they dont march lockstep with what your views are. You can bash Bush and Cheney to no end on the liberal networks yet you dont say a thing about it but when Fox takes on the socialist democrats and Obama on you get your dander up. You Buck Moon are a joke.        (end)

      I do not like to waste my time trying to argue with anybody who gets their disinformation from Fox news, so I did not reply to him. (NOTE: I later changed my mind and did reply to him.) But for the record, nonviolence does not necessarily always translate into democracy, and the situation in Egypt is not a done deal yet, but nonviolent strategies are still a better alternative than terrorism, especially for Muslims. So, my support of nonviolent insurrections against dictators has nothing to do with my feelings about organized religion. Those are two separate subjects.
Stay tuned to this blog
      Tomorrow I am going to post a list of weblinks to nonviolent organizations that might be helpful to those of you who are sincerely interested in World Peace, along with a list of books on the subject. My website has many more articles that I have written on World Peace, Philosophy, and Psychology; the subjects I have studied in college.
      After that, my next post. scheduled for Sunday, Feb 20 "True Spirituality," goes into more detail about the separation of church and state and why I believe that truly "spiritual" people should have no problem with secular governments.
I hope to hear from you then.
--Buck Moon

Critical Thinking

Since I am a philosophy major first, and a political science minor second, I think it is important that we all understand what critical thinking is and what it means to our political climate. I don't mind getting into heated debates with intelligent people who do not necessarily agree with me, but I just have to quit and walk away when I am confronted by ignorant and intellectually lazy trolls. In order to keep a broad mind and an open perspective, for instance, I refuse to watch anything on Fox News. If anyone does not understand what Fox News is really all about, then maybe they should go back to school and get an education in critical thinking and logic. I cannot waste valuable time and energy dealing with arguments that have no meaning or basis in reality. That said, here are some good links for my good readers who I know are not intellectually lazy.
Critical Thinking
THINKmagazine
Wikileaks
Fact Check.org
--Buck Moon

Current events in Egypt

My major at SSU is philosophy but I am also minoring in political science, and I would like to introduce you to one of my professors, Dr. Cynthia Boaz who is very active in the international nonviolence movement. She has some very good observations about the democratic revolutions going on in the middle east. Here are some links to her social networks.
On Huffington Post

Dr. Boaz's Facebook page

Dr. Boaz's Twitter

Dr. Boaz on Youtube (Part I)

Dr. Boaz on Youtube (Part II)