A Community is as Strong as its Members
Can you help?
Communities of geography, communities of economy, communities of genetics and race, communities of belief, communities of culture and communities of values.
Communities come in different forms. The community of geography binds those in a certain locale. History teaches us that this is a fragile grouping, liable to internal squabblings and tribal hatred.
Communities of economy are compelled groups. Money, ambition, need forms these and they are as resilient as you might expect a conditional satisfaction. Little more than shared carpet.
Communities of genes and race are perhaps one of the stronger communities. Family, tribe, we are pre-disposed to the identify with these and are shaped by them. But look at the fractures, the intestate hatreds, the deep-seated resentments and betrayals.
A community of belief is vulnerable to narrowness and a dizzying set of interpretations. Christianity has both St. Francis and Stalin insisting on the same set of beliefs. (Stalin often quoted St. Francis.) Belief can incorporate the billionaire and the homeless. They just interpret the belief differently. Despite similar clothing, do they have anything in common?
Cultural communities are united by practices and stricken by intolerance. To not practise they way others do is to leave the community.
Communities of value - this should be the strongest community. People that value the same thing, if they do so honestly, will have the most in common and the strongest bonds, as there is an acceptance that differences in belief or practise, race or culture, money or geography, should not factor into what a person shows they value - demonstrated by their actions.
Valuing courage or kindness unites in a way more intimately than any of the more superficial modes of uniting people together.
In the pro-freedom movement, of which Common Knowledge is a part, we value freedom, humanity, courage, responsibility, action, generosity, integrity and more. These are values which we are trying to build a community around. But we need a community, an active community that shares these values to do this.
On the 22nd February, Saturday, in Edinburgh, we are holding a conference (ticket here) to raise once more the issues of how our values were run roughshod over by a constellation of actors in multiple ways. We want to give people the truth, raise awareness and facilitate understanding. Then, we’ll move to action. We need YOUR help to do this. There a few technical positions that need to be filled and we’re looking to the community to help out. We need:
Projectionist (showing slides and projecting film)
Sound Engineer
Four Stewards
And we would like to make this a success, which means packing the venue out, and generating the sort of energy that we can carry forward to achieve change.
Contact: commonknowledgeedinburgh@tutanota.com