We’re not better than them, we’re worse, and that’s a problem
People around the world are trying to make sense of the Paris attacks, the downing of flight A321 and other recent atrocities.
I understand why Pres. Hollande declared the 13/11 attacks as an “act of war” but meeting aggression with aggression is a recipe for more disaster. I don’t believe that war can provide a solution to any confrontation or conflict.
A knee jerk reaction cannot redress years of history.
We need to think a more deeply about this issue. We need to challenge our own thinking, our society and behaviour.
We’re led to believe, and I think we’d all like to believe, that we are morally superior to ISIS and other fundamentalists.
Tolerance is a big part of this moral superiority claim.
The reality is that our tolerance has in recent times accommodated illegal wars, state sanctioned torture, corporate greed disguised as diplomacy, killing of innocents by drone warfare and the documented murder of innocents in theatres of war.
How can our claims for moral superiority weather those facts?
The simple answer is that they can’t. Innately all thinking people know that and so we feel more fearful.
Worse still, our hypocrisy is baseless, there is no moral code guiding our actions. They are motivated by power, conservatism and opportunism.
ISIS and other groups can claim superiority as their actions are underpinned by a very specific moral code. They have unity and we do not.
We’re exposed.
There is only one way for us to counter the threat posed by ISIS and that is to work to create a society that is truly tolerant and fair. A society that is under-pinned by moral guidelines inspired not by religious dogma but by our shared humanity.
At the core of this new global code of conduct would be the idea that killing is never tolerated and never justified.
There can be no grey and no exceptions.
Call me an idealist.
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postscript. In no way am I attempting to justify events in Paris. The tactics are abhorrent, totally unjustifiable and morally wrong in accordance with the argument laid out in this post.