Looking at some of the more thoughtful articles here I'm finding a common theme, a sense of disbelief in some of the stories that are being told and ideas which are being sold. A recent commentor said it is easier to bring things down than build them up, so perhaps I'm just being lazy, but the way I see it many of the things which are being built up these days are being built on a foundation of clay - if not something less stable and substantial.
Indeed, they are built on a foundation of belief.
Now I don't have any problem with personal belief. There are many things I believe. And really I don't have too much of a problem with people using belief to sell trivial things like iPods and underwear. Belief is great for these things and is the driving force behind branding and other marketing concepts. It is not easy to sell soap without it.
My problem is when the use of belief as sufficient justification extends beyond the personal and starts to affect societies, whether that society is a political or corporate one makes no difference. The point is that other people are affected.
If the belief is in concordance with the truth, then belief is a positive force. When it overshadows the truth or prevents the truth from being recognized or when it is cynically promoted as BEING the truth (the usual term for this is propaganda) then it is not a positive force. When belief dictates policies or procedures without examination of the real facts or when it buries the facts there is no ethical choice but to try try and stomp all over it. Unfortunately, there are many who would rather ride on its powerful back or cling to its belly like a remora.
