An unpopular opinion

There seems a willingness to say on Facebook, twitter and other social media, things we could never say in front of other people. I can understand that – I often feel more comfortable writing something I want to share than saying it. However, the relative sense of security that this indirect method of communication fosters also results in some questionable shares and posts. More than once in the last couple of months, I have debated removing someone who posted something I found deeply objectionable. Honestly — I don’t mind people having a different perspective than me – it makes life much more interesting. But when one shares a post, I have to assume that one shares, likes or agrees with the views in that post. And when a post supports, condones or implies bigotry, sexism, racism or narrow-mindedness, I do begin to question whether I want to be associated as a “friend” with the ones who post or share it.

Today I was stunned when I saw a post that seemed to support Hitler’s act of annihilating Jews – a post I assume was somehow in protest of the ongoing attack of Gaza by Israeli forces. My immediate thought was : Wait – WHAT?? How can someone justify sharing this? Yes, there are terrible, brutal and inhuman things happening in that region – but if you look deeper, you know they have been perpetuated by both sides, and even third parties – as almost always happens in a war or armed conflict. Yes, I understand that as a muslim, you feel solidarity with Palestinians. However – there is no way – NO WAY whatsoever – that the systematic murder of millions of people that was the Holocaust – one of the most shameful events in human history – can be considered as justified. Even implying it shows a lack of respect for life that I am stunned, shocked and saddened by. The conflict in Palestine and Israel is sad and terrible, I agree, and I empathize with the millions of people who live in a land torn by war for decades – both Israelis and Palestinians. But the conflict is as much or more about land, and power, and borders and a deeply entrenched history of conflict and mistrust as it is about religion. And truly, even if it were about religion alone, implying support for genocide is unspeakably inhuman.

Topics like religion, politics, nationalism, gay rights, immigration and so on seem to be deeply polarizing forces that somehow bring out the lack of tolerance, compassion and even simple human respect – in largely normal people. Nearly every major religion – Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism – has a trail of blood in its history. Many countries have histories of armed conflicts where terrible acts were perpetuated in wars. There have been wars, murders, brutal treatment, discrimination and suppression in the name of race, color, religion, nationality, caste, gender, political affiliation, sexual orientation and many other reasons all over the world. And here’s my take on it. There is NO good reason to kill, harm or treat as less than equal, another human being. An eye for an eye, a life for a life, an act of terror in retaliation for another act of terror– this will only get us to blind, dead and destroyed communities – and our capability to destroy ourselves is increasing rapidly with technology. We are all complicit in the long list of wars, genocides, brutalities and discrimination in human history, and there are more ongoing. We all inherit the past and the present of the human race as a whole, and as long as we do not learn from it about the vicious cycle of violence, we will keep repeating it in our future.

We are all different, we hold different views and beliefs, have been through different life experiences, have been born in different cultures, religions, races and countries and have different histories, preferences and ideas. We live in an incredibly complex and connected world with increasingly intricate and interlinked histories. It’s easy to find reasons that divide us if we look for it – but what if we instead looked to find reasons to connect and empathize, to build, to share, to learn and to forgive?