Could a change in thought change a country?

Question

The world was once seen and thought of as being flat!

Answer 1

Yes definitely, Our world, our society, everything that you can see are the product of our conglomerated thinking.
We think and we made it physically manifest.
All the physical manifestations of greed, anger, pride, exclusiveness etc. originated from thought.
If we can see this blatant horrors of our stupid thinking (means we are not enjoying the destructive effects) Then we stopped these thoughts.
If majority of the people see this and immediately change course, our world will never be the same again.

Answer 2

This I presume would mean that a change is not caused by or consequented by a chain of historical events but was sudden -a standalone transformation in the destiny of a country, or a nation. There can be seemingly insignificant sequences of past events intertwined leading up to one significant change - a gradual evolution culminating upon a revolution. All developments in fact take place when things happen in the in the life of a country or a nation. The examples are numerous and everywhere. There are nevertheless few instances where the change was revolutionary and not evolutionary.

Religious thoughts have always been part and parcel of human psyche in one way or the other, but never before human being were actually placed at the centre of the divinity being in direct communion with God Almighty. In this regard I would cite the dawn of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula however is one of the very few events in human history that change the nation, the country and people for all ages to come. The emergence of monotheistic divinity has in fact been the most significant revolution in human thought ever.

Another example can be the Renaissance period in Europe that paved the way for all modern development. It happened relatively suddenly and the effects of this rise of age of knowledge have been outstanding.

Answer 3

I guess it would depend on what the thought was about, but it is true that political correctness and people's way of thinking do affect a lot of things, for example evolution, nobody believe Darwin when he first suggested it but now not many people doubt it, the only thing is it would take time, people do not generally like change, it is seen as something new and perhaps something to be fearful of. but all in all i think a thought, over time and with enough persuasion could change a country

Answer 4

Look at the Supreme Court rulings. These cases I'm about to describe is a rare occurrence in the United States Supreme Court not following precedent/stare decisis. That means the USC did not follow their previous rulings, which is again very rare. There is a heavy burden among the majority opinion to prove why they decided the way they do. These cases, I argue, were overturned due to the changing society, thus changing the laws that affect us more than you know.

In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was "separate but equal." Their reasoning was the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of the US Constitution was meant to deal with political and not social equality.

Then in 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas ruled that the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson, holding for the first time that de jure segregation in the public schools violated the principle of equal protection under the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The in 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick was a United States Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law that criminalized oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults.

Seventeen years later the Supreme Court directly overruled Bowers in Lawrence v. Texas, and held that such laws are unconstitutional. Lawrence explicitly overruled Bowers, holding that it had viewed the liberty interest too narrowly. The Lawrence court held that intimate consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

These are two cases I think you should come up with your own societal reasons to why the courts overturned their own decisions.

You'll find that the changing public opinion, and although technically Judge's do not have to listen to public opinion since they are not elected, affect the way laws are made.

The changes in the thought of the country changes the laws in which we live by, and how the constitution is applied.

Answer 5

Yes, as long as that change in thought spreads among enough people. We know that emotions and behaviors are created by thoughts. So if your thoughts are very negative constantly your emotions will be depression, sadness, maybe even rage. You will start to express these emotions in behaviors in words and actions that may be hurtful, rude or even violent. That's why everyone's always spouting off about the power of positive thinking.

A change in thought could lead to a new world vision. Just like the manifest destiny vision of the colonists helped them rationalize stealing the Natives land and pushing further and further west to settle and found the USA.

New world visions are constantly emerging as thoughts and being played out as behaviors and lifestyles.

Answer 6

Absolutely Yes. One thought, One man, can change a country.
Glaring examples are Gandi in India, Hitler in Germany. Mao in China. Marx and Lenin in Russia. Idi Amin in Uganda. Washington and Jefferson in the United States.

The list can go on and on. These men all had a vision of how the world should work (whether right or wrong) and gained the power to either force their thoughts and beliefs on others (wrong) or to be so persuasive in their beliefs that a nation followed them believing in their rightness (sometimes right sometimes wrong)

One man got it right but we're still waiting for the outcome. His name was Democritus and his followers were Plato and Aristotle among many others. These are ancient thinkers who not only could change a country with a thought but have molded the WORLD you live in today

Even though their thoughts were put down before the advent of Christ their thoughts and teachings are concurrent with His teaching That all men and women are equal and each one of us has certain rights and obligations as human beings that makes it our responsibility to ensure (and defend) the autonomy of the human spirit.

Answer 7

(Sighs)

Why do I get the impression that you're asking this thoroughly simple-minded question because you assume I'm a moron, and that this will somehow get me to start thinking for the first time in my life?

The answer is, a change in thought will only change a country if conditions in the country are such that enough people will change their behaviour in order to conform to the change in thought. Practical illustration? Nazism would never have taken off in Germany if there hadn't been a lot of Germans who felt hard done by, and wanted someone like Hitler to come along and provide them with a focus for their grievances.

Answer 8

A change in thought not only can change a country, but by the nature of change, it already has, and continues to every moment. What is political revolution, other than thought acted upon? Or voting? Or war? With this awareness then, would it not help this country if our thoughts were noble, true, pure, and Godly?

Answer 9

A change in the way of thinking and in mindset can and will change the world. It has to do with examining what you know, and questioning that information you have been given. When the astronauts took the picture of our planet from the moon and sent it back to earth, we were confronted with a picture of the only home we have from a completely different viewpoint, which forced some of us to reassess how we regard our home, and which eventually led to the creation of organisations such as Greenpeace and the WWF. And see how that's changing things ...

So to answer your question - yes. Absolutely.

Answer 10

Of course! Henry VIII changed his mind about religion and we became Protestant with all that entails. China are emerging from darkest communism and look at them go! Russia had changes of thought both in the revolution and back to a freer system more lately, both with phenomenal consequences. I think a better question might be "could a change in thought FAIL to change a country...?"