De Diversitate et Celebratione Differentiarum

A short treatise on the promotion of dissent and diversity as per the preservation of the human species.

    THE DIVERSITY OF MAN, and the sheer permutation of his delight, hatred, diversion, and fascination, are truly what make him human and alive. Basic functions and universals- eating, sleeping, and other basic elements have long been seen as simply that- primal survival mechanisms- and surely this is why such higher functions as reason, and from reason, enjoyment, frustration, free will, and the ability to postulate and hypothesise, are what set us apart from our other flesh-bearing brethren. However, unlike popular conception, it is not simply meta-thought that give Man his humanity, nor the full range of emotion, thought, and imagination that defines life; instead, it is what stems from the free-will, meta-thought, and further higher function that defines Us as a species--diversity. These differences which are so vital to Us as a race, which lead us to solve necessity through invention, to remedy social ills with careful consideration, to set up social guidelines and cliques amongst ourselves, should be celebrated. This said, society has long punished dissenters either actively or through subtle passive resistance. Such stifling of Man’s beautiful differences endangers both the accuser and the accused-- installing differences and forcing conformity, truly, we become little more than beasts, ourselves.
    What defines us from, say, the common insect, is exactly this: we do not share a mind. We should not share a mind, either. This is not to say the zeitgeist and cultures of now, past, and future are in any way evil- nay,in no way is this unhealthy or dangerous. A hive mind is what needs to be avoided. Man must function as a Herd of Thought and Reason, instead of and Amoeba of Consciousness, or hive mind, as mentioned above. In such, the key difference between the two is the ability of safe dissent and evolution of thought, instead of the blind following of orders and norms. Despite both working effectively towards a common goal (this is the case especially with the Amoeba of Consciousness, as is presented through communism and the forcing of total equality and monitoring of thought),the idea of a Herd instead of a Hive is to decide less how to achieve a goal (i.e. through cooperation, monitoring, and management, as the Hive might do), but instead, what that goal is, instead.
    In the Herd, humanity guides its own course.Throughout time, it has been the dissenters who greatly changed mankind and history through their dissent- rare is it that one archives new heights of thought and invention through absolute conformity, as this violates the very principles of innovation by nature. Many cases can be easily cited of the danger this dissent posed to the dissenter themselves whilst offering great benefit to mankind.Galileo faced the danger of persecution by the grip of the reigning Catholic church, as did Copernicus. Darwin, as well, faced criticism not only from those who strictly adhered to creationism (amongst other anti-evolutionary beliefs), but also by his own faith (in fact, it is often said that he set out on the Beagle to find evidence for creation, not refute or challenge it). This isn’t to say only the scientific dissent, nor that only the religious stifle such dissent- Socrates, famed for his principled suicide by poisoning, preached questioning authority, and thus many authority figures became inflamed and persecuted him for his teachings, asking him to desist or face execution.
    Of course, it can be said that dissent is harmful. This is in no way incorrect-- the dissent of Hitler and Stalin into genocide,the dissent of Emperor Qin Shi Huang against the great scientists and philosophers of the Orient, and the dissent and revolt of the Bolsheviks in Russia within the last century all characterise the harmful nature that differences and cause. However, despite these risks,suppressing such diversity is a much larger threat to humanity than any large-scale change of thought and action could ever possibly be. Despite the harmful potential threat, the real threat of lack of any change (especially in situations such as the aforementioned, where change is in Mankind’s best interest) as well as the real lack of innovation, invention, and progress, could be a true falling point for humanity as a whole.
    Thusly, it is to be proposed through this work that Man and his peers not only accept diversity and personal difference, whether harmful or not, but embrace it, and wish for it whole-heartedly. In order to be a true Herd, and not a Hive or simply an Amoeba of Consciousness, Man must first decide to embrace its own differences, dissent, and inherent diversity as a species, and then promote it. Its promotion should follow thus: the education of the masses on religion (and the lack thereof), world culture and its similarities and differences, and the differences in perspective between various generations of people worldwide. In order to accept differences, one must understand them, and be unafraid. In order to celebrate them, one must have excitement for diversity, and desire it as much as Man currently desires conformity.
    The beauty of diversity in Man as a species is what separates us from beasts and savages- the ability to not fear differences as our primal ancestors, but instead to desire them, to view them as keys to progress, innovation, and invention, and most importantly, not to see them as leverage for evil, but instead, for Man’s own good.