Harmful groupthink is a major source of suffering for many innocent people. It has caused numerous wars, genocides, ethnic cleansings, persecutions, and other atrocities that have left hundreds of millions dead, injured, traumatized, orphaned, tortured, and other kinds of innocent victims. Therefore, it must be fought in order to build a happier world to live in.

Read LIVE WITHOUT HARM: Let us avoid harmful herd mentality

The best antidote is open-mindedness and mental openness.

LET US ENCOURAGE OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Without giving up what is local, let us promote a more universal outlook, for example in the following ways:

1. World history: teach it in schools instead of national narratives, while at the same time including the historical particularities of the municipality or area where each school is located. Obviously, these must be presented with the objectivity of a good historian and not with the epic tone of a nationalist.

HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT HARMING? Let’s question nationalist narratives that cause conflicts

FOR A WORLD WITHOUT HARM: Let us undo identity-based indoctrination that distances us from others

2. World literature: give preference to teaching it over local literature, since the true cultural heritage of all people is not only the latter, but the sum of all literary works.

3. Other cultural expressions: do the same with art, architecture, music, etc. Instead of distinguishing between what is ours and what belongs to others, let us tell the truth: intellectual property belongs only to the author of each work, and the enjoyment of it is the heritage of all humanity.

4. English: promote its teaching as the lingua franca of the entire world, so that it is mastered at a native level, while at the same time respecting local languages. Let language be:

• No obstacle to relating to anyone in the world, since its function is to communicate.

• No identity-based border that distances us instead of bringing us closer.

• Not a problem, but a solution.

Read “Schools oriented toward happiness”

Read “Politics oriented toward happiness”

Let us learn from countries with a high level of English as a foreign language: the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. It also helps a great deal that on television, films and series are usually in the original version with subtitles.

5. Do not indoctrinate in identities, but rather let each person choose those they consider appropriate.

THE ART OF LIVING WITHOUT HARM: Let us think for ourselves and avoid toxic indoctrination

6. Cosmopolitanism: promote it so there is a more global outlook, while at the same time respecting each person’s identities, so that there is a balance between civic spirit—wanting what is best for the place where one lives—and being, at the same time, a citizen of the world.

7. Interdependence between countries: encourage it, as well as free trade and the integration of states that have sufficient similarities.

8. Immigration policy open to those who come to contribute, but closed to those who come to take away. Being open is not incompatible with a selective immigration policy, choosing those who will contribute the most to the country. No country can take in the entire world, so the logical approach is to screen based on rational criteria—not race, nationality, religion, etc.—but rather those who will contribute the most to making the country functional, safe, prosperous, free, tolerant, civilized, and with the greatest possible well-being.. read more…

LET US BE OPEN-MINDED AND AT THE SAME TIME SELECTIVE

Let us be open to other ideas and ways of doing things, while also questioning the beliefs and practices of our own group, being selective both with the cultural heritage we have received and with that of others. With what is native as well as with what is foreign, it is advisable to take what is positive and leave what is harmful, with an orientation toward excellence. Let us strike a balance between preserving what is good and changing what can be improved. To begin with, let us be open; but when we detect harm toward innocents, let us close ourselves off to it.

LET’S BUILD A BETTER WORLD!: Let’s strive for excellence to achieve it

THE REVOLUTION OF LIVING WITHOUT HARM: Let us be conservative about what is good and progressive about what is harmful.

Going abroad for a period to study or work, as well as making friends from different backgrounds and origins, also helps to open the mind.

Let us open up like a flower instead of being ignorant fools who keep stumbling over the same stone again and again—repeating the barbaric atrocities of the past, whether ethnic, racial, religious, nationalist, ideological, or stemming from other kinds of groupthink—if what we want is to spare suffering and live in a happier world.

LET US AVOID HARM!: Raise awareness of the harm caused by racism, ethnicism, and nationalism

LET US LIVE WITHOUT HARM! Let us not be racist, ethnicist, xenophobic, or ultra-nationalist

LIVING WITHOUT HARM: Let us look at the harm caused by religions

HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT HARM?: Let us move away from the Decalogue of Evil

Let us replace tribal closed-mindedness with greater openness to the world, small-town provincialism with a more universal outlook, and narrow-mindedness with a broader perspective that is also reasonably critical and demanding.

If you believe these tips help prevent conflict and suffering and achieve a more peaceful and harmonious world, I encourage you to share them.

Thank you,