(Un-)Taking Sides

The more we humans need to act in shared purpose to preserve our chance of thriving on this planet, the less we seem to want to. This is not to say that shared purposes are always desirable. There are indeed times when aiming for a compromise is not an option: when one's country is invaded or threatened, when one needs to stand one's ground in a totalitarian regime, when it becomes an urgent moral imperative to speak out for the oppressed, the betrayed, the harmed, and the murdered. These are situations in which not taking the side of the weak is tantamount to allowing free rein to the strong.