# How to Achieve True Global Unity On Planet Earth

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 27, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287 "2013-08-27T11:27:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2

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### Author: ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/21 "2013-08-28T15:51:35Z")

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Here’s my answer- don’t worry about “How to Achieve True Global Unity On Planet Earth”, but rather work on fixing small problems that are achievable. Help the hungry in your community, help clean up what’s dirty, heal the sick, etc. The world is a far, far less violent place than at any time in the past- in general, things are getting better. I think the best way to do your part in helping the world to continue to improve is to be a decent person, help others, be involved in your community, fight bigotry, etc.

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### Author: ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/22 "2013-08-28T16:04:02Z")

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Unity? Easy. All I have to do is kill all the rest of you.

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### Author: ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/23 "2013-08-28T16:18:27Z")

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> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> Unity? Easy. All I have to do is kill all the rest of you.

Not so easy when you tell us beforehand. 😉

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### Author: ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/24 "2013-08-28T16:39:44Z")

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I think Genesis tells us all we need to know about global unity. One person was pronounced very good. Two people… well, they fell pretty quick. By the time you get to four people, you have your first murder.

In fact, even the OP’s own example:

> [@thepillar](#):
>
> Scientist have proved–through tracing our DNA to one individual long ago–that humankind is but one big family. The evidence is overwhelming and indisputable.

Find me any family (let along a big family) that demonstrates unity. If we can’t do it as a single nuclear family, how do we do it as a global one?

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### Author: ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/25 "2013-08-28T17:41:26Z")

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Stop blowing up other people’s shit?

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### Author: ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/26 "2013-08-28T17:45:02Z")

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[Buy each of them a Coke.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib-Qiyklq-Q)

We’ve known the answer for years. We just haven’t implemented it.

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### Author: ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/27 "2013-08-28T17:49:50Z")

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> [@thepillar](#):
>
> People should be able to understand that despite the apparent physical differences, we are all one.

But this is the problem. We aren’t all “one.” This is a nice little sentiment to give people warm fuzzy feelings, but it just isn’t true.

I don’t mean this in a racist or sexist way. I’m not saying that one group is better than another, just that there are real differences among people (and Hell, many of these differences are something that should be celebrated and encouraged, not waved away). The differences exist between groups of all sizes and descriptions, and are based on a multitude of factors. Then, when we throw the differences between individuals within the same groups into the mix, things get really fuzzy.

We are all one species, but we are not all the same.

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### Author: ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/28 "2013-08-28T18:40:21Z")

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> [@thepillar](#):
>
> My opinion for tackling this problem, I think, could rest with Philosophy. People should be able to understand that despite the apparent physical differences, we are all one. But that’s just my opinion. I would however like to hear the views of others, so please feel free to express them here. 🙂

It seems to me that the rise of mass communications (1000 channel 24-hour news & opinion TV, or internet message boards) has polarised folks, not brought them together.

IMO, most people seem to seek like-minded people and material to bolster the beliefs and biases they already hold, and NOT to have their beliefs challenged.

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### Author: ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/29 "2013-08-28T18:42:40Z")

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> [@Human\_Action](#):
>
> Considering all that, I’d argue that the linchpin is a powerful world government. With a global Leviathan, there’s no benefit to be had by betraying the peace of the rest of the world, as the Leviathan can exact terrible vengeance on behalf of the wronged.

So… a benevolent dictatorship?

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### Author: ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/30 "2013-08-28T19:10:57Z")

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> [@bldysabba](#):
>
> Hostile aliens.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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### Author: ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/31 "2013-08-28T19:21:06Z")

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> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Who cleans up after the janitors?

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### Author: ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/32 "2013-08-28T19:21:13Z")

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> [@mlees](#):
>
> So… a benevolent dictatorship?

That could work, I suppose, but it’s not what I had in mind. Democracies are much less prone to war than autocracies or anocracies are, so for the best result, the world government should be a democracy.

The people of the Western democracies are closer to the unity the OP is on about than anyone: they kill one another the least, they maintain the rule of law, and uphold Enlightenment values of liberty and equality. Because all humans are individuals with individual desires, hopes, ambitions, and wants, unifying everyone behind any ideology besides “Leave other people alone and do your own thing” is doomed to failure, and even that is pretty shaky. Given that the aforementioned Western democracies best embody that ideology, they should be the template.

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### Author: ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/33 "2013-08-28T20:03:05Z")

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> [@thepillar](#):
>
> … one would’ve thought that by now humans would’ve had began the process of understanding people from various cultures, ethnicities and societies spread across our planet in an attempt at initiating world peace and unity …

Really? Back in the 60s, we thought that long before now, Marijuana would be perfectly legal and accepted by society at least on the level of alcoholic beverages. It’s taking longer than we thought.

To address your larger idea, there are two major hurdles, and they are related. We’ve apparently evolved from hairy, murderous creatures who were jealous, controlling, and prone to gang up on their weaker peers. Fast forward a million years or so, and the most clever and most ruthless ape-people have devised a multi-faceted form of ruling their inferiors: Religion, Authoritarianism (government), and Banking. Parse that any way you like, the “have-a-bloody-lots” control the “I think I’m autonomous, except I’m subject to the authority of these guys and their army/ police who are making me do things I think are unreasonable” members of the tribe.

As long as the ruthless, wealthy cavemen control (at the point of a rifle, courtroom, jail) and attempt (with varying degrees of success) to brainwash, with media propoganda, the less powerful and afluent cavemen, there will be no world unity, unless you consider “unity” to be a World Totalitarian State.

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### Author: ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/34 "2013-08-28T20:43:52Z")

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> [@thepillar](#):
>
> So my question is: what are the viable strategies available to humankind for ‘reuniting’ with our ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ and when can they be implemented?

Every generation we get slightly better at it. Travel gets cheaper, so people mix more with other cultures. Education and child rearing gets better, so people aren’t violent by default. The world is becoming more peaceful and democratic little-by-little each year.

It’s a slow process.

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### Author: ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/35 "2013-08-28T21:01:16Z")

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What makes the OP think people of different nations or ideologies make war because they don’t “understand” each other?

Al Quaeda understands the West just fine- that’s precisely WHY they hate us!

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### Author: ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/36 "2013-08-28T21:14:03Z")

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> [@akennett](#):
>
> there are real differences among people

Not the least of which is the fact that when you eat, I’m still hungry, and when you rest, I’m still tired.

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### Author: ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/37 "2013-08-28T21:39:28Z")

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Easy, get rid of all the people.

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### Author: ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/38 "2013-08-28T23:17:32Z")

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> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Not so easy when you tell us beforehand. 😉

Challenge accepted!

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### Author: ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/39 "2013-08-29T04:58:23Z")

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> [@akennett](#):
>
> We are all one species, but we are not all the same.

We get to carry each other, carry each other.

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### Author: ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2013, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-achieve-true-global-unity-on-planet-earth/667287/40 "2013-08-29T09:27:37Z")

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> [@Human\_Action](#):
>
> Humans are basically rational creatures.

No we’re not. We maintain a thin veneer of rationality atop our irrational monkey brains and our instinctual lizard brains. You’ll get much further in understanding the human condition if you start from the standpoint of us as irrational, superstitious creatures than as enlightened beings.

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