Let’s begin with what we thought was an enlightened civilization, produced Aristole, Socrates, Plato, truly men of great intellect – now look at the speech Aristotle’s disciple Alexander the Great gave:

 

“IT IS MY WISH, NOW THAT WARS ARE COMING TO AN END, THAT YOU SHOULD ALL BE HAPPY IN PEACE. FROM NOW ON, LET ALL MORTALS LIVE AS ONE PEOPLE, IN FELLOWSHIP, FOR THE GOOD OF ALL. SEE THE WHOLE WORLD AS YOUR HOMELAND, WITH LAWS COMMON TO ALL, WHERE THE BEST WILL GOVERN REGARDLESS OF THEIR RACE. UNLIKE THE NARROWMINDED, I MAKE NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN GREEKS AND BARBARIANS. THE ORIGIN OF CITIZENS, OR THE RACE INTO WHICH THEY WERE BORN, IS OF NO CONCERN TO ME. I HAVE ONLY ONE CRITERION BY WHICH TO DISTINGUISH THEM, VIRTUE.

FOR ME, ANY GOOD FOREIGNER IS A GREEK AND ANY BAD GREEK IS WORSE THAN A BARBARIAN. IF DISPUTES EVER OCCUR AMONG YOU, YOU WILL NOT RESORT TO WEAPONS BUT WILL SOLVE THEM IN PEACE. IF NEED BE, I SHALL ARBITRATE BETWEEN YOU. SEE GOD NOT AS AN AUTOCRATIC DESPOT, BUT AS THE COMMON FATHER OF ALL AND THUS YOUR CONDUCT WILL BE LIKE THE LIVES OF BROTHERS WITHIN THE SAME FAMILY. I, ON MY PART, SEE YOU ALL AS EQUAL, WHETHER YOU ARE WHITE OR DARK-SKINNED. AND I SHOULD LIKE YOU NOT SIMPLY TO BE SUBJECTS OF MY COMMONWEALTH, BUT MEMBERS OF IT, PARTNERS OF IT. TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY, I SHALL STRIVE TO DO WHAT I HAVE PROMISED. KEEP AS A SYMBOL OF LOVE THIS OATH WHICH WE HAVE TAKEN TONIGHT WITH OUR LIBATIONS”.

 

In other words, in very clear words, he rejects Aristotle’s view that people can be subdivided based on race; slaves are not (perhaps he means this) as Aristotle believed, inferior – he advocates a very noble notion.

 

However behind this whole truly noble ideology of course rest the fact that he felt appropriate to conduct bloody wars to secure his leadership, he continued to be willing to conduct bloody wars, for though he truly desires the fellowship of mankind – as long as Alexander is the leader! so the bottom line is, as all people believed then, “might is right” – obviously under him, everyone had to keep laws, and live lives of brotherhood, but he being the king, was exempt.

 

The only nation to introduce to the world that there is no one above the law is Judaism.

 

Even the king was obligated to follow the law to the extent, he had an extra Mitzvah to always carry a Torah with him to remind him of his duty to be the purveyor of Torah law not his own imagination of right and wrong.

 

And it is this simple issue which is at the crux of all human fallacy.

 

For does power as in might-is-right, so does power entitle one to make rules?

Now obviously we have come to a unique period in human history where in America, the superpower, the belief is that No – the founding fathers who suffered abuse from the abuse of power from the King of England were very wary of power, hence they specifically created checks and balances against power, limiting the power of the President through setting up houses of Congress and a Senate and both need to adhere to the justice system as decided by the Supreme Court.

 

In other words and this something we Americans fail to perceive, our tradition belief that abuse of power is wrong, is not, again a millions time again, NOT the belief of the rest of the world!

 

The rest of the world can be subdivided into of course Africa where I have personally lived for over a decade and “might does make right!” in the best African country, South Africa all the politicians are one hundred percent corrupt and apart from Nelson Mandela I can think of no-one who can find an exception; in the other countries, most are brutal dictators who think nothing of killing any of their citizens on a whim – and as studies show, it’s not that they think they are doing something wrong, this is how they always lived! the chief make the rules! (in fact, a study shows that the more affluent Africans become, not the kinder they become, but the more evil they become; believing that as there are a little chief, this entitles them to rape and the statistics of rape amongst the more affluent are far higher, than the less.)

Asia seems to me also to not shed itself of this ancient notion.

Europe is a fascinating place, for it has a strong both Roman as well as Jewish (Judeo-Christian) influence, so it was always walking as the Jewish sages speak about, the pig, that its front legs are stretched out, saying “I am kosher;” while its inside (the chewing the cud) is anything but! – in other words, Europeans understand the notion of kindness, but beneath the surface (the holocaust being a good example) lies enough hate, to create world wars etc. etc.