Intentions Without Delivering Results are Meaningless

In the wake of countless events of public hysteria, mass protest and moral panic it has occurred to me that I should finally write down some thoughts about the current state of affairs in the world and the way in which so many people choose to think and operate and how often these thoughts and actions are actively counter productive and harmful to the very causes they claim to support. 

In essence: intention without results is at best meaningless and at worst actively harmful. 

This is not exactly a new idea, the old adage: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," essentially says the same thing. Yet I feel it is important in this day and age to go into more detail on this subject and break down why exactly the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In short, just because you feel good about what you are doing or mean well does not mean you are actually doing good things. It is very easy to join a cause it is a lot harder to actually see that cause through to any kind of productive or positive results. There are countless causes that mean well but not only do not solve the problems they claim to address but actually make them much worse. 

The problem stems from the modern obsession for action without pausing for thought or reflection. To act is seen as moral whether or not that action actually accomplishes anything at all. In fact not only is immediate action considered morally good but any doubt, skepticism or questioning of the demanded action is all too often seen as immoral or even dangerous. To doubt is to deny the seriousness of the problem, to question is to harm the productive efforts and to be skeptical is to display moral and intellectual failing. Yet there is no moral failing in questioning accepted dogma, whether that dogma is religious, academic or scientific. A wise priest will accept questions on faith as a religious discourse and answer those questions as best they can in the expectation that faith and the righteousness of their faith will sway the doubter. An academic of any credible intellect accepts questions as not only positive but necessary to weed out bad ideas and an opportunity to strengthen academic theories and concepts through discourse. A scientist accepts questions as a critical component of science for critique and repetition are the basis on which scientific principles are founded, a study that is never tested, data that is never scrutinized and theories which are never questioned are not science. To oppose without thought is stubborn and intractable, closed minded and counter-productive tub to accept and defend without thought is equally stubborn and unproductive. Too many people in the current day accept whatever concepts are handed down from institutions, authorities or "experts" without question and then not only negatively judge but at times react violently to anyone who dares question those concepts or the authorities and figures who presented them.