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Laws versus culture (and #neveragain)

Laws versus culture
March 14,2018

And yet... we s.l.o.w.l.y move forward. The bad news? If we are fearful and/or follow a demagogue this progress can be undone... in a blink... especially if it's only laws and not a change of heart. Example: at the end of WW2, Japan had a massive heart attack. Laws were passed and a violent colonial culture had to face itself in the mirror. They gave up more than just guns. But, laws are just laws. What shifted was the culture. These days, Tokyo is one of the safest places in the world, safer than small town America. Or look at Norway... a culture of introverts who came together only when there was a common cause. In 1917 that cause was an urgent need for better health care. Farmers and laborers and fishermen united in what was at that time a very poor backwoods part of Europe to set in motion a national system of health care for all. One hundred years later the Norwegians are 'wealthy', modern but still introverts, yet no one wants give up to their communal health care. In both cases there was a shift in culture that has persisted. The USA, however, isn't there yet on human rights: sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, language, class, a woman's right to her own womb, universal voting... not even how rights cannot be overturned at the ballot box... We won't get there unless the culture shifts. This #neveragain youth movement feels like a small shift. We'll see.

© Kåre Enga (14.march.2018) Originally posted at facebook.