Topic: Existentialism
1 : disproof of a proposition by showing an absurdity to which it leads when carried to its logical conclusion
2 : the carrying of something to an absurd extreme Meridian-Webster
Sigh...
When a member of a gang wrecks havoc, if that gang member is African American or Hispanic, the entire community is expected to condemn the act. Part of it is a self-defensive posture so as to not allow the label to define the entire culture.
When a terrorist attack happens in the world, the entire Muslim community worldwide reflexively condemns the act in the strongest terms for the same reason.
Never mind no such reflexive posturing occurs when the sins of the inquisition or American slavery/Jim Crow/lynching is pointed out during a prayer breakfast, or the killing of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder (his ex-wife accounts when he went over the edge in an interview); the bombings of abortion clinics and gay nightclubs by Eric Rudolph (another stable looking fellow). No, those were "bad actors"; aberrations; individuals, similar to the NRA legal dodge: "guns don't kill people, people kill people" (with acid, knives, screwdrivers, ice picks, bombs, hammers, wars...and sometimes guns). Lest we forget the still-existent (somewhat) Buddhist doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.
Now, another "winner" from my home state: Craig Stephen Hicks has murdered in cold blood three Muslim students - two of which recently married to each other and the sister-in-law - students at UNC Chapel Hill, over a parking lot dispute. How does one dispute a parking space in a rental property (that the apartment manager already resolved as not his)? The caveat: he's admittedly an atheist. Perhaps he listened to Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Bill Mahr, or perhaps not. I doubt either man supports his actions. I covered on them last in my Other-ing post in October last year. There were shots fired in a free speech rally in Copenhagen, similar to the reasoning for the Paris massacre of admittedly controversial and purposely aggravating cartoonists.
I'm a proponent of free speech, but many of our number can't and don't do nuance; they can't read or hear it, disagree with it and go on with their lives since prior to their instant fame, it was probably insignificant in their minds. As I alluded to in Terms of Indifference, certain groups of humanity have a Utopian notion of perfection in their minds, and when your other fellow humans feel we've violated that perfection, like weeds in a garden, there is no compunction whatsoever apparently in mowing us down like grass (or, weeds). Many of them are unstable, unlucky and looking for meaning to their predicament. Any slight can be taken as personal; any cause can suddenly become a crusade. Adrenalin is within us all; it is intoxicating, "runner's high"; it is a euphoric rush that can lead down dark paths some would justify as "God's will" and others simply because of prejudice, xenophobia and the want of a parking space.
I know an Atheist married to a Catholic; I know a Christian married to a Muslim; a republican to a democrat. On small scales, we seem perfectly capable of this detente, it is when the weight of unemployment or under-employment, under-education, limited support and opportunities, it brews in a dark cauldron without incantation destined to cast its spell of destruction on us all. I am reluctant I have to agree with the NRA artful legal dodge, and paraphrase:
Agnostics/Atheists don't kill people;
Buddhists don't kill people;
Christians don't kill people;
Muslims don't kill people;
BUT...certain groups within those subsets with mental health issues can and DO kill people in a myriad of ways. We will never achieve this Nirvana that only exists in their minds. It is intellectually lazy to expect anyone in any group to apologize for the aberrations of a diminutive, destructive fraction. We are suffering as a species en mass from mental disorders that erupt too often in the public sphere.
The prelude to war is usually words spoken or transmitted, offense taken and action. War is mental illness writ large. On a planetary scale, this could lead to a mass extinction event, sadly and likely, the sixth and the last. We are arrogant to think ourselves of value to any alien at this juncture in our history - they are perhaps keeping a safe parsecs distance from the insane asylum!
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