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14.
DD in the Family Males dominate most families in the world today. Males decide the main issues and most women and children obey even when they oppose the males’ decisions. This means that most women and children are not free as they do not live by their own decisions. Tradition and Religion support this setup. Many women, conditioned by Tradition and Religion, accept - and justify - this arrangement. As long as women are not free, men cannot be free either. They are dominated by their obsession with domination. The Domination Setup conditions its adherents to dominate or be dominated. Many try to change from dominated to dominator. This leaves the Domination Setup intact. The struggle against the Domination Setup is not against men but against domination. If women become dominators they merely exchange roles and retain the Domination Setup. Some become addicted to the Domination Setup, either as dominator or as dominated. Domination of children by adults (at home, nursery, school or college) is part of the Domination Setup. It creates a servile character that tries to compensate for being dominated by dominating others. This perpetuates the Domination Setup in the family and in society. Families organised by a Domination Setup condition their children to become citizens accepting domination by Bosses, Experts, Union officials, Politicians and the State. Such people seek to dominate others. Only by dithcing the Domination Setup can one break this vicious circle. Direct Democracy abolishes the Domination Setup by establishing an Autonomy Setup in politics, at work, in education and in the family. ‘Auto’ means ‘Self’, ‘Nomos’ means ‘Law’. ‘Auto-nomy’ means ‘living by self-made laws’. In the Autonomy Setup one rules only oneself, doing so by respecting autonomy of others. Within the family this means that parents respect - and cultivate - each other’s autonomy and that of their children. This does not mean children are left to do whatever they like. They are guided to respect the autonomy of others. Respect for others is not inherited but acquired. Adults with more experience have to guide children (the level of guidance depending on the child’s experience) to become autonomous. Guidance must avoid domination; it should set limits to the child’s wishes and cultivate the child’s ability to decide within these limits. Cultivating the child’s autonomy and its respect for autonomy of others will create responsible individuals with anthropocentric priorities, capable of creating a society run by all its citizens for the benefeit of the community, of society and of humanity. |
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