Albert Einstein was a pretty smart guy, from what I hear. He understood a lot of things that most people can’t even begin to grasp.
But he also understood some things that seem pretty obvious, even to a simpleton like me. Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”
I’ve been watching the news a lot lately, and I’m wondering if humans are basically insane.
I’ve noticed that throughout history there have been groups of people who feel oppressed by other groups of people. When that happens, very often group A decides to murder large numbers of innocent civilians in an effort to get themselves more resources/power/freedom/land/oil/gold/trade rights/water rights. I can’t think of a single time in history when the killing of babies and children and old ladies has resulted in an increase in any of these.
And every time group A decides that it’s a good idea to slaughter the children of group B, the inevitable result is that the people in group B decide to slaughter their innocents to make the point that they won’t stand for such barbarous behavior.
This crap has been going on, as far as I can tell, since the dawn of time.
Insanity.
For example, the Palestinian people desperately want a sovereign homeland where they can live in peace and prosperity. A whole bunch of them have been blowing up and shooting and killing innocent Israelis in an effort to get that homeland. Hey, folks! If it hasn’t worked in the past 60 years, why do you think it will suddenly work now? Insanity.
And the Israelis have been bombing, shooting and blowing up whole villages of Palestinians, including women, children and old men, in order to retaliate for all of the violence. Why? Because the Israelis desperately want peace, that’s why!
Yo’, dudes! If striking back harder than they hit you hasn’t bought you peace in the past sixty years, why do you think its going to give you peace now? Insanity, pure and simple.
This lesson was true in Bosnia, in Ireland, in Nicaragua. Its still true in Syria, in Iraq, in Chechnya.
Einstein was a pretty smart guy. I bet he recognized the fact that humans are insane. I bet that’s why he looks so sad in this photo.
Empty Nest, Full Life 
Sadly it worked quite well for us with the Native Americans here in America and the Australians with the Aborigines in Australia and if you watch the movie Exodus or read the book you’ll discover that A whole bunch of Israelis blew up, shot and killed a whole bunch of innocent Brits in a successful effort to get their homeland. So while I agree with you that it’s insane people probably keep doing it over and over again because tragically it has worked, at times, in the past.
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I actually thought about the Israeli history; this is perhaps the one place where terrorism really did work. On the other hand, I firmly believe that it was the guilt felt by the US and England after what happened in Germany, as well as a desire by a lot of central Europeans to find a place to offload the Jews, that lead to the creation of Israel. As for what happened to the natives here, I believe it was much more a case of superior weapons and greater numbers (at least a greater unified force) rather than terrorism aimed specifically at the innocent. THAT’s what gets me so much; the idea that murdering each others kids is somehow the path to political success. What the HELL is wrong with humans?
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Remember that the Native Americans helped us settle and survive here in the new world. The Iroquois spoke six languages and had advanced farming techniques and lived in towns not teepees. Europeans started the wars and the natives fought back to avoid extinction because it became apparent that that’s what the European was after. Custer always attacked the villages at dawn and the policy was kill women and children not so much warriors because that was how you stop new warriors from being born and growing up. Don’t forget the small pox laden blankets and reservations on barren land with no water sources forcing starvation of the young and old. The Spanish imported African slaves only because the native South Americans had been systematically killed by disease, overwork, genocide and ill treatment. Anyway, we keep putting men in charge and men always glorify war and think that violence is always a good answer to problems. Look at our gun frenzy here in the US today. Gun advocates feel that if we can only kill all of the bad guys then there will be no more killing. It’s a senseless argument that men always find the sense in. I say We need to give women a chance to run everything and see how they can do but what are the chances of that happening? There’s always hope… I suppose!
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Welcome to the Village.
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