Universal Responsibility - What's it good for?

The Dalai Lama opens his essay discussing globalization and how connected the global economy has become. He discusses the complexities of this new world and how we need to be accountable to each other and redirect our hearts and attitudes toward this end. However, the means he suggests we use to achieve this end are those of utopian thought and sound as if Lenin himself was discussing economics while Michael Moore was talking about peace and the dangers of war.

For example, Africa, the most miserable and sad and dangerous place on earth, is a perfect example of where this school of thought goes from insane to dangerous. Africa is not in the situation it is because pollution in Europe, or the capitalist Americans. Africa has become hell because people like the Dalai Lama and others like him assign “universal responsibility” to everyone, decide who should drive what, who should spend what, and how you should feel towards others. Never have people been impoverished because Americans drive SUV’s or the fact that the west lacks “contentment”. Quite the contrary, messages of peace and brotherly love allow dictators and oppressive regimes to gain strength (i.e. Neville Chamberlain appeasing Adolph Hitler prior to WWII.)

When the reality of what the Dalai Lama is preaching is realized it is often achieved through appeasing those who would do the most damage. If the ends the Dalai Lama is seeking are an end to poverty (such as that seen in Africa), and peace to spread throughout the world, he had better take a path different from those who have never achieved either. True prosperity and security come when oppressive regimes are turned back and replaced with free people. This is the means to achieving the Dalai Lama’s end.