I'm sadly becoming quite used to feeling fearful and last night as I watched the news about the appalling attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, dread once again washed over me like a tidal wave.
9/11, 7/7, the death of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, the atrocious attacks on Mumbai in December 2008 and now yesterday's horrific events in Lahore. I fear the list won't stop there. Perhaps we're becoming inured to the fact that these atrocities "just occur" and we're meant to just cope with them, move on and not feel anything much at all.
I worry that we're being manipulated into blaming perfectly innocent people who have every right to call themselves British or American or French simply because of their religious or cultural beliefs.
Perhaps we should be thinking of the reasons why ONE man or certainly only a FEW men are planning world domination from the caves of Tora Bora in Afghanistan. Do we know why he or they want to dominate the world? Did we know why Napoleon did ... or Hitler? We'll probably never know but meanwhile it would help if we could just accept each other in our own countries and show tolerance to people whose beliefs or customs may not be the same as our own but who have every right to live here peacefully without prejudice being shown to them or abuse meted out to them.
Lack of acceptance of people leads to disenfranchisement. Disenfranchisement leads to weak spots and that's where recruitment to violent causes is allowed to occur. And the chaos continues and these men NEED chaos.
9/11, 7/7, the death of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, the atrocious attacks on Mumbai in December 2008 and now yesterday's horrific events in Lahore. I fear the list won't stop there. Perhaps we're becoming inured to the fact that these atrocities "just occur" and we're meant to just cope with them, move on and not feel anything much at all.
I worry that we're being manipulated into blaming perfectly innocent people who have every right to call themselves British or American or French simply because of their religious or cultural beliefs.
Perhaps we should be thinking of the reasons why ONE man or certainly only a FEW men are planning world domination from the caves of Tora Bora in Afghanistan. Do we know why he or they want to dominate the world? Did we know why Napoleon did ... or Hitler? We'll probably never know but meanwhile it would help if we could just accept each other in our own countries and show tolerance to people whose beliefs or customs may not be the same as our own but who have every right to live here peacefully without prejudice being shown to them or abuse meted out to them.
Lack of acceptance of people leads to disenfranchisement. Disenfranchisement leads to weak spots and that's where recruitment to violent causes is allowed to occur. And the chaos continues and these men NEED chaos.
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I couldn't agree more. I suppose though that history is littered with the few who have caused harm to the many.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the post financial meltdown era will be a little more humane. At least that's what I pray for.
I don't feel too optimistic ... I can't see an end to it and I think that's because none of us know where the true beginnings of it are.
ReplyDeleteHear hear!
ReplyDeleteAnother note on why I enjoy your writing. It makes me use my dictionary, as you have quite a few English words that are not too common in my American vocabulary.
Hooray for dictionaries! So few people use them these days ... the tendency is to Google or Wiki everything. Me? I like a good fat Oxford English Dictionary! I can loose myself in the two volume version for hours!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your sentiments. I think we have to address the soft treatment of certain favored regimes. You will all know who I mean. It is time that Western interests didn't rule foreign policy.
ReplyDeleteI have been following you (not in the stalking sense!) on Twitter for a while and saw the Bournemouth Echo post so thought I would dip in and see what you have to say in long form!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, however, do you not think that atrocities such as this, maybe in different forms, have been going on throughout the history of mankind? Is it not that certain humans feel the need for power or that one argument is better than another, or religion in most cases?
I would say though that we have become desensitized to it due to the media coverage that such events receive. I am not suggesting for one minute that these atrocities are not news but more that the media is often giving the said 'causes' a voice by displaying their barbaric behaviour!
Keep on writing