It's Systemic you know

 

How often have you heard that recently?  Every problem, it seems, is systemic.  Our treatment of Indigenous people is systemic.  Discrimination against Blacks is systemic.  Unequal pay for women is systemic. Police brutality is systemic.  Sexual crimes within the military are systemic.  Ingrown toenails are systemic.  It is the fault of the system.  This kind of description tends to suggest that the problem is unsolvable and that it is out of the hands of mere people.  It means that we just have to live with it. Only the system has failed. And everyone seems to be in consensus with this assessment.

“Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.”
  - Michael Crichton

On the other hand, you might notice a different situation.  When things go right it is people; individuals or groups that get the credit.  When a sports team wins, it is the players who have succeeded.  When a medical breakthrough is made, it is the scientists and doctors who have made it.  When a battle or war is won, it is because of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who have overcome the opposition.  People win.  Systems lose?  People can think and make decisions.  Do systems have no such capabilities?

“That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.”
  - Paul Valery

But wait a minute, systems are made up of people are they not?  Whether governments, companies, organizations, military forces, or society as a whole, they are made up of and run by PEOPLE.  What a wonderful discovery.  So, if this is the case, why can’t people solve so-called systemic problems?  In fact, why can’t people be blamed for these problems that seem to run through societies?  Maybe the answer to these two questions is because people would then have to take responsible; would then have to actually do something about them. 

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”
  - Abraham Lincoln

One of my favourite sayings in “there are no problems, there are only challenges”.  So maybe it is time for us all to not consider systemic weaknesses as problems but start treating them as challenges.  Challenges means setting goals, finding solutions, and taking responsibility, either individually or collectively, to work to solve these challenges.  Let’s get rid of the stigma of systemic.  It should only apply to mechanical or electronic systems, and even there, fixes can usually be found.

Peace through Chess

Peace through Chess

“The most persistent sound throughout man’s history has been the beating of war drums.”

- Arthur Koestler

Peace.  What a wonderful concept.  But will we ever see it?

Peace through chess may seem like a far-fetched idea, but there are precedents.  In 1972, Russian Boris Spassky defended his world championship against American Bobby Fischer.  The match was played in Reykjavík, Iceland at the height of the Cold War.  It was considered by both countries as a match with much political implication.  The win by Mr. Fischer was seen as a win for the west, but it had the great advantage of opening up the Soviet Union to more cultural exchanges in the years ahead.  This went a small way to reducing the tension between the two spheres.  So maybe chess can play some part in promoting peace.

Chess is, after all, a game of strategy a little like war.  As in war, you are trying to overcome the opponent ‘s leader, in the case of chess, the king.  Gambits and guile are used to advance your cause and victory is unmistakeable.  Many games end in a draw like many wars do.  But there is no bloodshed in chess, no ravaging of the countryside and no mass murders.  It is a benign form of competition.

 “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”

-Jeannette Rankin

We must recognize that modern war is a bloody, messy thing.  It may come under many names such as a war between nations, insurrection, civil war, terrorist action, peace making or even the Korean War’s police action.  They all have one thing in common, men, and now women, trying to take as many lives of the enemy as they can.  And there is no doubt that the means to accomplish this goal are available in abundance. To the conventional weapons that are so prolific there must be added the ten known or assumed nations equipped with nuclear weapons.  With so many potential trouble spots in the world, most notably in South Asia and the Middle East where there are four of the ten nations so equipped, a conflict could result any year.  With the possibility of political instability in Israel, is there a chance that some of the powers there, probably led by Iran, could try to take advantage of the Israelis?  Or how about the ongoing squabbles between India and Pakistan?

So, there is a real need to find some way to defuse these conflicts.  So why not chess?  Chess matches between the leaders of opposing nations or factions with the ‘winner take all’, with the possibility that all of the matches will end in a draw.  Surely it is worth a try since nothing else seems be working.

“If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.”
  - George C. Marshall