Lifeboat Mentality

So, how can we test this hypothesis? Let’s try an experiment right now. Here is the first shot at a pragmatic human strategy -- which if universally adopted would have a tremendous positive impact on our chances of survival at above the Mad Max level.

Lifeboat Mentality. We have to filter our every action before taking it: Is this action the right thing to do in a lifeboat?

Explanation: Back in the good old days of WWII, when we fought against enslavement, we knew that even if we lost, the species was likely to get things back in order someday. We had a lot of leeway then and especially since then, when most people have not been touched personally by war or violence on a daily basis (except through media) for more than two thirds of a century. We had the license to hate and condemn each other as much as we liked, and apparently many of us liked it a lot.

Those rules do not apply in a lifeboat. You should not yell "Fire!" in a theater -- or a lifeboat -- when things are in such dire straits. Keeping everyone cool is the first order of business.

Imagine for a second that the world bifurcates into the authoritarian league and the true freedom league. I use "true freedom" instead of "democracy" because a third of Americans now flinch at anything sounding vaguely like Democrats.

In the lifeboat, you should not form factions. The best way to survive in a lifeboat is to make sure everyone is on the same side -- at least until you get into safe swimming distance to shore. This is why we can’t automatically stop listening to people of the other party, and even if the world forms into two blocs, we can still speak in kind words and tones to those in the other bloc. Even if we refuse to sell them (or allow them to steal) our high tech, or to do trade with them at all; even if we have to rush support to places within their walls that don’t want to be within their walls; in a lifeboat, calm objective discourse is the most survival-oriented strategy.

The human race is in a big beautiful blue lifeboat called Earth. We have befouled the nest in every way possible, and cannot seem to give up the habit of hurting each other. 

In the downside scenario, we are not man enough and woman enough to stand up and do the right thing. Events continue in their present directions. 

In the upside scenario, the media community saves the world. After all, we owe it to them, we helped keep the ratings high by rubbing their noses in the disgusting messes people keep making with their lives every day. How do we amend that?

1. Search your mind, body, heart and soul and decide whether you can honestly adopt the Lifeboat Mentality.
2. If Yes, tweet Lifeboat Mentality and make it the next buzzword. Create your own images to go with it. Video or animation images too. Link them back to this article to explain the concept, when they wonder what that new phrase means.

It means we have to work together to take care of all of us before we can ever afford to think about being unkind to any one of us again.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.