Howabout...
these pages?
WHY
The ultimate goal of this site is to become superfluous. The sooner, the better.
But in the meantime, I believe that in certain situations some people, companies,... on this earth show a serious lack of conscience. Since most of them, if not all, are more powerful than I am, it is impossible for me to become influential. I am not a king.
I cannot keep silent, as a witness of a lot of situations - sometimes kept continuing deliberately - or decisions being taken, that cause me to have a bad feeling.
M.L. King ever said that who does not react against injustice, is cooperative with it. I feel the same. If I want a clean conscience then I need to be zealous for a better world. For as long as I see people on this globe, that are hungry, sick or unhappy because of injustice done to them by others, deliberately or indirectly. I can't feel happy if my neighbour is in trouble.
WHAT
I want to make a lot of people aware of abuse, just by publishing it. Abuse from people, who are supposed to have a conscience and to show good leadership. And from organisations, like companies, that very often let financial motives gain priority over human, social or other aspects. By doing so, I hope these people and organisations get uncomfortable and that they change their behavior. Maybe it works, maybe not, but at least I will be freed from the feeling of having been cooperative, just by letting go.
At the very same time, I see other people that perform very well! I want to support them. So it isn't all bad news. See great things in our world here.
WHAT NOT
Other organisations already deal with certain aspects of abuse in our world. There are medical assistance, there are human rights activists, there are people promoting our environment. We also have organisations that assist developing countries, or that work for peace in our world...
So, I don't really want to focus on that... but they have my support!
It doesn't make sence to condemn people just for the fact of condemning them. Dead have no conscience. So don't look for Adolf Hitler, or the inquisition. I'd rather spend my time and effort on cases where there's a real chance to get things better.
YOUR PART
I realise that the right way to go, is hard to find. So I need a lot of help. Let me explain: if I post an individual on this site, then I do so because I feel she or he is acting wrong, in my perception. But I am not God, and I don't know everything. I am old enough to have learnt to tone down from time to time.
Also, I grew up in a West-European culture that features certain habits and practices, and I realise that things that might seem strange to me, might be perfectly acceptable to others. An example is polygamy. I don't feel unhappy just because of the fact that another man has more than one wife, as long as all those wives feel happy with it (and for instance, this would have nothing to do with forced or arranged marriages).
Next come uses that are common practice in certain cultures, but that involve physical or psychological mutilation. An example is female-circumcision. I can't imagine any girl that feels happy with it.
And then, there is the universal, ethical stuff. An example is the death-penalty. I make abstraction of the blunders that show up in the USA, executing innocent people or the way that China executes inhabitants in order to get rid of dissidents. The question here could be whether it makes sense to keep people in prison for the rest of their lives as a punishment, while some of these prisoners even ask theirselves to be executed.
I come to the conclusion, that I need feedback, a lot of opinions and motivations, in order to build some kind of a universal conscience. Even if there is only one truth, there will always be different people, at different places, with different feelings and backgrounds which results inevitably in different opinions about one sole item. It is not enough to throw them all together, and then leave them for what they are. This would only give you an idea about what opinions do exist out there. For this, please visit www.itshappening.com. They did a great job, but I want to go further. Why are there people on earth that want other people to die? I am not a philosopher, but I think if we all want to be happy on this globe, we need some kind of globally acceptable rules in the game. And that's what I am after.
I thought of two ways to collect feedback. First of all, you can send e-mail. It enables me to learn about other points of view, and to agree or disagree with them, and maybe I might modify my point of view. Please send your comment to peter@howabout.org. If you lack time to write down your opinion(s), then you can participate in the polls, that you can find on some pages on his site.
The third way to help me get this thing going, is to help me build, maintain and expand it. You could translate existing pages into other languages. It helps to reach more people. You could bring new cases and situations, that I am not aware of. Or you could even just spread the word...
I realize that it is not the perfect way, since not everybody in this world has access to the internet, but I suppose it is the most globally available means for now.
HOW
I just want to publish abuse on the internet. I might have written a book. But I am not an author. I pay for this webspace myself, and if you see an advertisement somewhere, I apologise in advance - I just want to keep things as cheap as possible, I am not rich. By means of the internet, I can reach a lot more people, a lot cheaper, and most important, since this is meant as a continously ongoing process, I can easily update my work!
I don't expect these pages to solve each and every problem. I am not a plumber. But they certainly cause my accused to be aware of the fact that they cannot just go on, without being watched. Whether or not their behavior will be influenced by these pages mostly depends on you, dear reader, particularly the number of you, visitors of this site.
If you just read on, and forget about it, I wish you have had some nice entertainment, and maybe a good laugh...
But if you send us an e-mail to show your support, you add to our issue. I am not asking that you make me a happier man, but you might confirm your support to this project. If I feel that this site does not put up or is considered a silly thing, I'll just stop it, and decide that mankind is not ready for it.
The choice is yours...
By the way... I am just me!