What a terrible week. As usual, there are folks quickly navigating to extremist positions (Thanks, Obama, for freeing terrorists!) (Thanks, Bush, for invading Iraq and creating ISIS!) (Not all Muslims are terrorists, but the “real” terrorists all seem to be Radical Islamists…)
Yes, I imagine this next week will see the inevitable debates between the extremist left and extremist right over where to lay blame for these recent attacks (in addition to those extremist Islamists of course — extremism and dogma are real problems over THERE).
I just want to make my plea for reason and kindness, and open minds. A problem can have more than one cause, and more than one solution, and laying blame seems to me more a cause than a solution. Understanding causes to prevent repeat of mistakes is one thing. Pointing fingers to score points for your team is another.
We should feel sympathy for the victims in Paris. And we should also take a hard look at why our feeds are filled with statements of solidarity for Paris but little mention of Beirut which suffered its own attack, or why the even more devastating terrorist attack in Kenya a few months ago was barely even noted, and certainly didn’t get a cool flag overlay for your profile pic. And we should question the reasons for the creation and the continued existence of ISIS. And we should question why all these white boys are shooting up schools. And we should question the burning of black churches. Doing one does not need to detract from the others. Pointing out one does not trump the need to do the others.
In the end, the real root of so many problems are divisions. Where compromise is viewed as weakness or unattainable, where tolerance fails, where some are more equal than others, where disparities in power and resources are allowed to grow unchecked, where extremists are allowed to direct the conversation and stir up the emotions of followers with inflammatory speech filled with rhetoric and spun “facts”, and where people surrender their morality to any external power rather than their own reason and compassion, things will continue to go horribly wrong.
If we cannot even discuss these issues as reasonable, caring human beings from the comfort of our internet armchairs, how can we expect those suffering starvation, abuse, war and exile to be any more reasonable in finding peaceful solutions?
There’s that bumper sticker: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” It’s a bit facile, and a misquote of Gandhi, but it is a start. The other half, of course, is actually working together with a LOT of other folks, even those who share different views, and a willingness to sacrifice in order to see that better world. It’s what Gandhi did. It’s what MLK did. It’s in the moral fables that inspire us from Jesus to Frodo.
And I guess that’s my thoughts on that.
