What Terrorizes You?

It’s easy to quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address in 1933 about “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” but those words out of context do not apply today. We don’t know what fear is. The terrorism he mentions in that speech isn’t the same terrorism we see in today’s world. The truth is we don’t even have a consensus on the definition of terrorism. We speak of self-proclaimed terrorists killing innocent people and that, while understandably frightening, is not the objective of terrorism. The goal of a terrorist is – [dramatic pause, wait for it] – to inflict terror! Period. Terrorism includes any means possible to frighten people into submission, yes, including killing, but also by misdirection, misinformation, and misgivings.

I am terrified by

• The current bipolar culture – One of the constant moral dilemmas we face is the concept that everything must be black or white, right or wrong, left or right, Republican or Democrat. It is easy to base simple minded arguments on a self-serving collection of data or information that supports a preconceived point of view. It is easy to reject or even be blind to any alternative viewpoint. Our political menu does not allow a choice of one item from column A, and one from column B. Politics has degraded into a dogmatic declaration of absolute positions on which there can be no discussion or dissent. Ironically, this causes logical conflicts within a reasonable human mind that is hard to resolve. For example, there is certainly a logical argument that an individual can be pro-choice and anti-abortion. We have blindly accepted the re-definition of these terms without considering that there may be shades of gray. Can an individual be pro-life and pro-capital punishment? While these terms may sound mutually exclusive, the poles of the body politic demand conformity to a prescribed position regardless of logic. Rationalizing the coexistence of conflicting ideas is shallow, and defeats the right of an individual to think.
• The rise of extremism – When people lose sight of the middle ground on issues, the result is a single-minded shift to offset the perceived movement by the opposition in the other direction. The mantra of the moment seems to be that extreme views are justified to make a strong statement even if it is wrong. A common defense against extremism is to attack the messenger instead of the message. Arguments miss the intended targets when they are ad hominem attacks on the speaker, and the knee-jerk counterpunch pushes an already extreme position even further in the other direction. Worse yet, there is a bandwagon effect that magnifies the problem by piling on more illogical rhetoric instead of reaching out for compromise or looking for a common ground for legitimate dialog. There probably should always be an opinion pendulum swing that moves through a continuous arc of data and logic. If a pendulum stops, the clock stops. When we don’t allow a logical dialog to happen, opposing viewpoints are never satisfied.
• The loss of the individual rights – This is not a new thing even though it is becoming more obvious in a world where communication of so-called news can be instant, opinions become stated as facts, and reasoning is out of vogue. This country’s foundation is on the principle that all humanity is created equal. There are those today who would argue that is no longer a self-evident truth. A tenet of the very foundation of a democratically elected government and a basis for law is that every human being must be assumed to be of equal worth. Authoritarian policies emphasizing only a single point of view may be deemed legally acceptable for a while, but they will not survive the ethical measure of the passage of time, or the reason for our existence is a lie. We have become so ensnared by fear of an amorphous enemy that the state justifies its terror on individual liberties with the pretense of saving us from terror.
• The technology of too-easy communication – Technology should be a tool to facilitate a dialog, but it seems to have become a weapon instead. It has become too easy to dash off a quick unthinking idea without regard to the facts or logic. It is also just as easy to retaliate in kind. This unfortunate irony of this scenario is that it ignores the fact that modern technology also makes it easier to do bona fide research into matters that are critical to our thinking. When we take preconceived ideas into a light-speed conversation, we welcome allies who agree with us and reject those who don’t. There are also those who would intentionally seek to spread misinformation to prove an agenda. It takes more than a little bit of basic intelligence to fine-tune our crap filters to stay the course. We need to learn which sources are trustworthy based on how objective they are rather than how closely they match our preconceived notions. Speed of communication can help us form better conclusions or help us make bad decisions faster.
• The whimsical redefinition of words – Apparently, we are now supposed to pigeon hole people into stereotypical buckets so that we can more easily discriminate against their beliefs. For example, the word populist means representing the interests of ordinary people as opposed to rule by the elite. If a de facto dictator thrusts populist ideas on people, it serves the dictator rather than the people and their freedom. The recent election did not give the new president a mandate to impose his will on the country despite a claim to be fulfilling promises made to the people. It seems more likely to be self-serving pandering to the interests of people perceived to be in his support base. Interestingly, the election was so close and so hotly contested that the same would probably be true if his opponent had won. Crony capitalism is seen to be wrong only when their cronies are doing it instead of ours. Ours is not a country of aristocracy but a country of “We the people…” and we can never relinquish that right. To follow blindly is to confirm a theory attributed to Karl Marx: The masses are asses, or P.T. Barnum: There’s a sucker born every minute.
• The loss of religious freedom as a mainstream value – I am unashamedly Christian. There are those who would judge me by that and bucketize me into a stereotype with those who are haters of non-Christians. These people apparently don’t understand the basic teachings of Christ. Anyone who would restrict freedom from anyone and promote hate because of religious beliefs, or lack of it, is going against Christian beliefs. Where is an objective look at faith as a personal right? The Quran has references to Jesus, both Jews and Muslims are descendants of Father Abraham, and there are many similarities between Islamic and Judaic scripture. We also don’t have to look far to find historical references in scripture to a conflict that has existed for millennia. There is no quick political fix, especially when meddling outsiders are proposing the fix. Most Americans fail to recognize that Christians, Jews, and Muslims worship the same deity in different ways. Whether it is God, Yahweh, or Allah, or nothing, belief is a personal thing that is a sacred right of humanity. Many will attempt to follow their beliefs to instruct, inform, and possibly convert others, but we have no right, at least in this country, of forcing a religious viewpoint on anyone. The separation of church and state is a keystone of our liberty.
• The overshadowing of reason, friendship, love – My biggest fear is losing people who are close to me. It will not happen because I locked them out of my heart and soul, but because they don’t choose to be with me. Some of this is transient anger because I have chosen not to think like them. If I am honest with myself and others I need to stick to my guns when I am right, admit I’m wrong when I am proven wrong, and continue to relish a dialog even with people who disagree with me without animosity. It bothers me that even our youngest citizens are already learning a new word: unfriend. My intellectual growth will suffer if I am cut off from logically conceived opposing viewpoints. My heart will break if there is a rift between those I love because of my beliefs.

So, in FDR’s words, what do I have to fear? Frankly, I am more afraid of the terror within this country than I am from some foreign bogeyman. That fear is more about where we are going than where we are now. Maybe I am even afraid of myself. It is so easy to be lured by emotion rather than logic and fall prey to the unthinking. Is it OK to wave my protest sign saying “All people deserve freedom of speech!” while I’m shouting “Fuck you!” at those around me? Yes, it IS allowable, but I hope we all choose a different path. The high road is hard. If we can’t do that – if we can’t handle the truth – the terrorists have won, and we are all permanently terrorized.

Image credit: Humour sur la statue de la Liberté