Questioning The Status Quo
Ragnar Rant – Questioning The Status Quo
At its absolute core, this website is about questioning the status quo.
It’s about redefining boundaries that we all set ourselves without even realising that we’ve set them. And it’s about evaluating the boundaries that other people have put in place – especially those that are considered normal. It’s about encouraging people to ask “why?” or “why not?” repeatedly until we disenthrall ourselves with the idea that what is ‘normal’ equals what is necessary or right.
Like questioning, “Why can’t I walk around naked?”
No, really. Even this. If everybody else was doing it, then would it be OK?
There is nothing that grinds my gears more than the mentality of “doing things the way they’ve always been done because that’s the way things have always been done.”
Sometimes, looking at the laundry list of dumb shit humans still do makes it seem like we’re not making any progress at all. Killing each other over whose sky-fairy is true is a classic, slaughtering a bunch of whales because of “tradition”, or continuing to produce plastic cups and straws because of cheap, short-sighted idiots.
When this becomes overwhelming, it can sometimes help to look back through a little history and realise that at least, collectively, we’re not as stupid as our grandparents were. Maybe we are making some progress after all.
What Triggered This Topic?
The Boston Marathon was run last month. it had been 50 years since the first woman ever ran the famous race, but things were a little different back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO2ChjVGL7c%20
Isn’t it incredible to think that just 50 years ago, women weren’t allowed to run in a race… ?
That same year, in 1967, Australian Aborigines became “human” in the eyes of the law. Before that, they were classed as Australian native fauna… ?
Only 2 years earlier, blacks were first allowed to vote in the United States… ?
And at the same time in Africa, blacks weren’t allowed to drink water from the same water fountain as whites… ? (And it would be another 24 years till this changed).
It feels nice to see that we’ve actually come a long way in a short time.
HOWEVER… We Aint Done Yet!
- On this very day, there is a guy sitting in the second chair of the most powerful nation on the planet who refutes the theory of evolution & thinks creationism should be taught in science classrooms… ?
- There are STILL nations where people can be killed or locked up for questioning or criticising another person’s favourite story.
- There are STILL nations where young girls are forced into marriages and live out their lives more like possessions than equals.
- And there are STILL countries & people who place immediate money gains above the health and longevity of our environment. This, in most cases, represents a “False Economy”.
We may have come a long way – but we need to continue questioning ideas – and probably always will.
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In another 50 years, what will our grandchildren think when they look back at the absurdities of our time? I hope that they can look back with disgust in the same way we look back on slave owners, Nazis, and cigarette companies.
At least that will mean that intelligent people kept questioning and made progress in the war against absurd stupidity.
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