SIMULTRY: a form of oppression that arises from differing stages of development
"Simultry” (pronounced sigh-mull-tree) is the exploitation of simultaneous evolution, that is, when a more advanced person or group takes advantage of a person or group not as advanced in the on a scale of development. Examples include relations between developed and developing nations, child and adult, teacher and student and more.
In our world, everything is in evolution, and individual representatives of the same entity may be at various stages of evolution — infant, young, mature, old, dying. This poses conflicts amongst the various individuals about their needs and creates possibility for bad things to happen as the simultaneous evolutions impact each other.
Simultry is the bigotry of the advanced, of the modern. It opposes mutual solutions, it refuses to wait for the slower, and it uses differences to its gain. The result of simultry is a larger gap between the developed and undeveloped, leading to conflicts that eventually obstruct the evolution of even the advanced, creating misery for all.
Simultry is a general concept that can be applied to any situation, where a more advanced entity takes advantage of a less advanced one, such as in relations between teacher and student, parent and child, manager and employee, leader and follower, and nation over nation.
The one who fights this oppression is the person who prevents simultry, who gets the advanced and the less advanced working in a constructive relationship of respect, mutual benefit and convergent development. The “simultrist” is the one who perpetuates simultry.
The forms of simultry are varied and are beyond just the relations between nations. The abuse or neglect by a parent of a child is simultry. Here the problem is that the less developed entity is innocent, weak and an easy victim of selfish adults. The very word “family” is a term that should stand against simultry in the treatment of the young.
The relation between teacher and student could also develop into simultry where the more advanced teacher does not help the student evolve. The dynamic of leaders and followers are also about two entities at differing stages of evolution yet coexisting. The danger is that a leader will exploit followers and keep them in a state of need, that is, in a state needing a leader, and then not be able to think or act independently like a leader does.
We can even see the relationship between managers and workers in this light, where the worker is not allowed to develop her or his potential to think like a manager even if she or he does not have a managerial post. The forms of simultry are many.
What should motivate the more advanced one in a relationship with a less advanced one? It should be principle, the principle that the less developed must not be exploited.
Self interest is also a motivation, for in the end, not allowing a child to become a healthy adult does not help adults, and not teaching students does not help teachers or produce new teachers. The interest of the less developed nation is of concern too, we should want them to grow and become like ourselves in all ways, to join the higher community. And developed nations benefit through trade and investments.
Lastly, our motivation should be love — we should love children, love students, love the people of less developed nations, love workers and love followers. This is why simultry is really an issue about “families” in the larger sense. Love overcomes the differences and puts them in the correct perspective. Love requires obligation, care, respect, leadership and preparation for the future. It sees the eternal cycle and everyone’s place in each phase of the cycle.
Look around yourself and you will see simultry everywhere. In diverse philosophy, this a major grouping of injustice, manipulation and abuse. It arises because an individual or group at a higher stage of evolution takes advantage of those at a beginning stage of growth.
Cage Innoye