DanI

Essay
(I m not sure where it belongs though) Ideology, Conflict, and Thinking The world is full of different ideologies. The world is also run by these ideologies that fill it. Most of the time, the systems and concepts of different ideologies are in contrast against one another causing great distress; Thus, the birth of cyclical conflicts. These conflicts would then show that man is no longer thinking for he has failed to consider the existence of others. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ideology as a systematic body of concepts esp. about human life or culture. It is this being systematic that made ideologies persist throughout the century. It is this being systematic that guided and still guides man how to think. As a result, we have/had individuals that call/called for the imposition of democracy, communism, liberalism, nationalism, anarchism, socialism, fascism and so much more. Man promotes his brand of ideology because he believes it to be the panacea for his ailing society. Then, conflict comes in when a different ideology would trespass into the interest of the other. An Ideology might unite a certain society but there are also others who follow a different set of beliefs and concepts. Because of conflicting interest, these differences in different ideologies can breed contempt and distrust. History is the best witness, an ideology proves to be more than a panacea it is also a poison hemlock. Nations and brotherhood were built from ideologies, but nations and individuals also fought against each other because of the differences of their ideologies; As what happened between Bin Laden and the US, as what happened in the cold war, as what happened in the holocaust, as what happened in the crusades, as what happened between Abel and Cain. Conflict creates rifts in the society that ideologies had helped built. Just like in our country, ideology serves as one main reason

for some Filipinos to carry rifles and continue their fight in the mountains to combat democracy. It is ideology, also, that drives a politician to order his\her military pawns to protect democracy and hunt down those Filipinos who went up the mountains. Years passed and still conflicts occur because of different ideologies. Many tried solving the conflicts through armed struggle. These armed men should have known better. A war fought because of conflicting ideologies cannot be won by superior arms or number. It just can t because if it did, then the leftists in the mountains and separatists in the south of our country would have been long gone. But they re not. We should understand that conflict is the off-spring of the differences between different ideologies. And those ideologies are the off-springs of different minds. And that these minds are owned by a group of individuals called man! It is man s thinking that causes conflict! If such is the case then there are only two possible solutions for all the conflicts of the world either man is mandated not to think or man is urged to continue thinking. The former is a stupid solution for we cannot remove what is natural to us; we are, by nature, rational beings. Thus, the only better solution is for man to continue thinking. It is only through thinking that we can conceptualize better ideologies. It is only through thinking that we can understand compromise. It is only through thinking that empathy towards the victims of conflicts could be arrived at. It is only through thinking that we can feel that man, by nature, is good. If such is the case, then it is only through thinking that we can deconstruct old systems of concepts and beliefs and construct consentaneous ideologies; Ideologies that will be conceived by man that will take care of man. Ideologies that would lessen if not ban conflicts between utopias. The world is full of great minds. The world can also be saved by these very same minds that fill it.