I don’t know about you - I spend a lot of time in my head. A beloved aunt once listened to me for twenty minutes and said, “You think too much.” I think she meant it kindly?
The more violent and dangerous our world becomes lately, the more powerless I feel. I am sure many of you feel the same. Worse, the constant barrage of bad news, the amplification of the most hateful voices, makes me feel like there is little I can do to change things. Ironic, since I started writing on here deciding that it is worth lending my voice to the many crying out for positive change while trying to point out places where our government is not advocating for nor governing with the best interests of the majority of its citizens in view.
Last month this terrible restlessness began to grow, and I couldn’t find anywhere to focus it. The longer the anxiety ran, the harder it was to focus. Some of us now look back from this moment and assure ourselves it was a weird kind of precognition - that we knew something bad had to happen, and were just waiting for the inevitable. If we are not courageous and vocal now, we allow those who wish to weaponize this against the majority of us the power to do so.
First, none of us should condone violence. Full stop. The instant we do, we no longer deny its utility. It doesn’t matter who the victim is, how it happens, violence begets more violence. It is a rare thing that true peace is created through war. Rather, someone is conquered, in some places wiped out, in other places assimilated. In places where a conquered subgroup remains, there are often those who resent the rule and plan to one day use violence to overcome their oppressors and conquer them. It cannot create a true, harmonious peace, only subjugation and resentment. You don’t force people to like you at the end of a gun. You only enforce their compliance and outward obedience.
Violent rhetoric demonstrates that the person using it has no interest in real debate. Rather, they demand the end of autonomy of all who disagree with them, and unquestioning obedience purchased with violence. In a country which insists it is a beacon of freedom to the world, violent rhetoric should be anathema to any of us. Instead, though, we find ourselves constantly trying to figure out how to amplify peace and love in a world where conflict and violence get all the clicks.
Maybe the answer is just as simple - ignore the hate. Don’t share it; that only amplifies it. Don’t even like it. Let it drown in the algorithms of social media and the internet. Amplify love. Share peace. Maybe if we all focused on it (I am not saying we pretend the hate and the calls for violence don’t exist - be aware of them, but no shares, no likes), and we made voices calling for a just world for all loud enough, the infinitely smaller, more dangerous voices trying to sow dissent might fail in their missions?
Just a thought.