Your reference to people like Timothy McVeigh, who was brought up with what you call "a normal upbringing" must be subjected to a more critical analysis. What you refer to as "normal" is a society that is nationalist and takes by force or violence whatever it needs. It makes laws in its own interests and breaks them when they no longer serve those interests. It also limits education, especially in scientific and critical thinking. Its people are not medically cared for and aren't cared about at all when the bottom line is profit. This is true not only in the US, but in all countries.

Behavior is generated by culture. McVeigh was reacting with tools he found appropriate to situations in the culture he felt were unjust--mainly the bombing of the people at Waco. Our nation reacts in similar ways to countries we take issue with, but on a more massive scale. It is not the case that a certain number of people are born as "malcontents or agitators", as you claim. Rather, they are reacting to conditions in the culture that they regard as unjust or inequitable. In apartheid South Africa, Nelson Mandela was considered an agitator but later became president. Hundreds of such examples can be given.

I often wonder why there are not millions protesting for an end to war, poverty, crime, homelessness, and scarcity when it is certainly possible to do so. It is easy to see that established governments have done a very good job in dumbing down the public so that they accept the status quo, along with philosophical explanations to keep conditions as they are. We are trapped with inappropriate terms like malcontents or agitators when we should be looking at conditions in society that generate these behaviors. We should look for ways to change society so it could outgrow them instead of just suppressing them.

It is not the business of The Venus Project to attack the belief systems of other cultures, or to attack the way they treat women, or their values regarding other nations. This has accomplished very little. In our own nation, we mistreated Native Americans and down- graded other belief systems without sufficiently analyzing our own shortcomings. Over the centuries, nations have committed crimes against one another based upon nationalism, propaganda, and inappropriate descriptions of different sovereign nations. Since our identity as a nation is viewed in many different ways due to many years of propaganda and indoctrination, we have not evolved an objective viewpoint about our behavior or the behavior of other nations. I have often mentioned that criticism of one's country without offering a workable alternative accomplishes nothing.

We can not solve our problems with the same type of thinking that got us into the situation in the first place. The only true measure of a workable system is whether or not it achieves its objective ends.

For centuries, nations have abused one another to the point that trusting other nation's intentions is viewed with great skepticism. We and other powerful nations have not come together to really help one another. Instead we remove valuable resources, exploit the labor, pay off leaders to do our bidding, assassinate those who don't conform to our wishes, and use our military to enforce our economic advantages. These are some of the reasons for the difficulties.

If powerful nations were to assist undeveloped countries without exploitation of resources or cheap labor, they would not be seen as a threat. As long as we continue international agreements that serve our interests only, we will be looked upon with skepticism by less developed nations. It is our national behavior over the years that has generated skeptical attitudes about our intentions.

What The Venus Project proposes is to join with other nations in restoring the damaged environment to as near a natural conditions as possible, and to assist nations in overcoming scarcity. The process for accomplishing this will in and of itself generate more appropriate behavior in our own and other nations. If you have difficulty agreeing with this analysis, let's examine some scientific principles accepted by all nations. For example, when engineers in any country wish to build a bridge, they use scientific methods and calculations to determine the design characteristics. With continuous improvements in technology, the scientific method appears to have been a saner approach. All nations use scientific methods to achieve the benefits of technology.

In our present state of social development national interests have subverted, to a large extent, the true benefits of the methods of science. This is due to nationalism and short-sighted self interests. When scientific methods are applied intelligently for the benefit of all with human and environmental concern, these methods will eventually alter the way we think about ourselves, our country, and the world around us.