I knew. You are soooo good.
I'd like to report Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, TIKKUN Magazine for this article. I will post after it my comment, in case the FBI might find it useful in their Cluelessness Remediation Outreach Program.
> > A World Out of Touch With Itself: Where the
> > Violence Comes From.
by Rabbi Michael Lerner
> > Editor, TIKKUN Magazine
> >
> > There is never any justification for acts of
> > terror against innocent civilians--it is the
> > quintessential act of dehumanization and not
recognizing the sanctity of others and a visible
> > symbol of a world increasingly out of control.
> >
> > It's understandable why many of us, after
> > grieving and consoling the mourners, will feel
> > anger. Demagogues will try to direct that anger at
> > various "target groups" (Muslims are in
> > particular danger, though Yassir Arafat and
> > other Islamic leaders have unequivocally denounced
> > these terrorist acts). The militarists will
> > use this as a moment to call for increased
> > defense spending at the expense of the needy. Right
> > wing may even seek to limit civil liberties,
> > end restraints on spying, and move us toward a
> > militarized society. President Bush will feel
> > pressure to look "decisive" and take "strong"
> > action--phrases that can be manipulated toward
> > irrational responses to an irrational attack.
>
> > To counter that potential manipulation of our fear
> > and anger for narrow political ends, a
> > well-meaning media will instead try to narrow
> > our focus solely on the task of finding and
> > punishing the perpetrators. These people, of
> > course, should be caught and punished.
> > But in some ways this exclusive focus allows us
> > to avoid dealing with the underlying issues.
> > When violence becomes so prevalent throughout
> > the planet, it's too easy to simply talk of
> > "deranged minds." We need to ask ourselves,
> > "What is it in the way that we are living
> > organizing our societies, and treating each other
> > that makes violence seem plausible to so many
> > people?"
> >
We in the spiritual world will see this as a
> > growing global incapacity to recognize the
spirit of God in each other--what we call the
sanctity of each human being. But even if
you reject religious language, you can see
that the willingness of people
> > to hurt each other to advance their own
> > interests has become a global problem, and its only
> > the dramatic level of this particular attack
> > which distinguishes it from the violence and
> > insensitivity to each other that is part of our
> > daily lives.
>
We may tell ourselves that the current violence
> > has "nothing to do" with the way that we've
> > learned to close our ears when told that one out
> > of every three people on this planet does not
> > have enough food, and that one billion are
> > literally starving. We may reassure ourselves that
> > the hoarding of the world's resources by the
> > richest society in world history, and our
> > frantic attempts to accelerate globalization with
> > its attendant inequalities of wealth, has
> > nothing to do with the resentment that others
> > feel toward us. We may tell ourselves that the
> > suffering of refugees and the oppressed have
> > nothing to do with us--that that's a different
> > story that is going on somewhere else. But we live
> > in one world, increasingly interconnected with
> > everyone, and the forces that lead people to
> > feel outrage, anger and desperation eventually
> > impact on our own daily lives.
> >
The same sense of disconnection to the plight
> > of others operates in the minds of many of
> > these terrorists. Raise children in circumstances
> > where no one is there to take care of them, or
> > where they must live by begging or selling
> > their bodies in prostitution, put them in refugee
> >camps and tell them that they have "no right of
> > return" to their homes, treat them as though
> > they are less valuable and deserving of respect
because they are part of some despised
> > national or ethnic group, surround them with a
> > media that extols the rich and makes everyone who
> > is not economically successful and physically
> > trim and conventionally "beautiful" feel bad
> > about themselves, offer them jobs whose sole goal
> > is to enrich the "bottom line" of someone else,
> > and teach them that "looking out for number
> > one" is the only thing anyone "really" cares
> about and that anyone who believes in love and
> > social justice are merely naive idealists who
> > are destined to always remain powerless, and you
> will produce a World-Wide population of people
> > feeling depressed, angry, and in various ways
> > dysfunctional.
> >
Luckily most people don't act out in violent
> > ways--they tend to act out more against
> > themselves, drowning themselves in alcohol or drugs
> > or personal despair. Others turn toward
> > fundamentalist religions or ultra-nationalist
> > extremism. Still others find themselves acting out
> > against people that they love, acting angry or
> > hurtful toward children or relationship
> > partners.
> >
Most Americans will feel puzzled by any
> > reference to this "larger picture." It seems
> > baffling to imagine that somehow we are part of a
> > world system which is slowly destroying the life
> > support system of the planet, and quickly
> > transferring the wealth of the world into our own
> > pockets. We don't feel personally responsible
> > when an American corporation runs a sweat shop
> > in the Philippines or crushes efforts of workers to
> > organize in Singapore. We don't see ourselves
> > implicated when the U.S. refuses to
> > & consider the plight of Palestinian refugees or
> > uses the excuse of fighting
> > drugs to support repression in Colombia or
> > other parts of Central America. We don't even
> > see the symbolism when terrorists attack America's
military center and our trade center--we
> > talk of them as buildings, though others see
> > them as centers of the forces that are causing
> > the world so much pain.
> >
We have narrowed our own attention to "getting
> > through" or "doing well" in our own personal
> > lives, and who has time to focus on all the
rest of this? Most of us are leading perfectly
> > reasonable lives within the options that we
> > have available to us--so why should others be angry
> > at us, much less strike out against us? And the
> > truth is, our anger is also understandable:
> > the striking out by others in acts of terror
> > against us is just as irrational as the world-system
> > that it seeks to confront.
> >
When people have learned to treat each other as
> > means to our own ends, to not feel the pain of
> > those who are suffering, we end up creating a
> > world in which these kinds of terrible acts of
> > violence become more common. And as we've
> > learned from the current phase of the
> > Israel-Palestinian struggle, responding to terror
> > with more violence, rather than asking
> > ourselves what we could do to change the conditions
> > that generated it in the first place, will only
> > ensure more violence in the future.
> > This is a world out of touch with itself,
> > filled with people who have forgotten how
to recognize and respond to the sacred in
each other because we are so used to
> > looking at others from the standpoint of what
> > they can do for us, how we can use them toward our
> > own ends.
We should pray for the victims and
> > the families of those who have been
> > hurt or murdered in these crazy acts. We should
> > also pray that America does not return to
> > "business as usual," but rather turns to a period of
> > reflection, coming back into touch with our
> > common humanity, asking ourselves how our
> > institutions can best embody our highest values.
We may need a global day of atonement and
> > repentance dedicated to finding a way to turn
> > the direction of our society at every level, a
> > return to the notion that every human life is
> > sacred, that "the bottom line" should be the
> > creation of a world of love and caring. That the
> > best way to prevent these kinds of acts is not
> > to turn ourselves into a police state, but
> > turn ourselves into a society in which social
> > justice, love, and compassion are so prevalent
> > that violence becomes only a distant memory.
> > >
--Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of TIKKUN
> > Magazine and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in
> > San Francisco. He is the author of Spirit Matters:
Global Healing and the Wisdom of the Soul
> > and most recently (Sept 2001) editor: Best
> > Contemporary Jewish Writing.
> > RabbiLerner@tikkun.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
E Editorial, Attention FBICROP!:
Lerner is a moral simpleton. People have been protesting against their poverty and that of others ever since it became apparent to them that not all poverty is ordained by God. They do not resort to the politics of extermination unless there are separate, accelerating, impulses-- in this case, extremist religious ones. The notion that the tactic of mass murder is some new and somehow karmically justified response occasioned by continuing economic inequality in the world is not borne out in the sociology of the very privileged assassins involved in the most recent operations (nor in their written statements explaining their actions).... |
