We have seen the enemy, and he is us. - Pogo
Like millions of people in America and around the world, I read about the Orlando tragedy with a heavy heart. There will be much wise advice on what should be learned, and most importantly, what must be done to help prevent what is becoming an all too familiar attack on innocent people in this country. Yes, there are too many guns on the street. Yes, we must have a better path to intervention for the police, the FBI and our other intelligence and law enforcement agencies. We must find ways of making it harder for troubled angry rogues, or radicalized extremists, to carry out their violent urges. And yes, the availability of military-type weapons is a travesty. I hope pressure from good and wise people will lead to progress in all these areas.
It seems as if violence and the threat of violence envelops us. Only days after Orlando, we arrived at the one-year anniversary of the church massacre in Charleston. Literally days ago, a British member of Parliament was killed in cold blood as the Brexit debate was drawing to its climactic vote. San Bernardino. Virginia Tech. It hurts just to say these names now. Sandy Hook: 25 helpless kids killed in their school. In less than ten years, we've endured 20 other mass killings, and they still loom large in our minds.
Explaining each tragic episode helps, but each explanation of a mentally deranged, alienated or radicalized individual seems somehow inadequate. Underlying all of these elements is a growing ethos of anger, vitriol, raw hatred, bigotry, and contention. It's part of the air we breathe now. Our paralyzed, partisan Congress is an ugly mirror of the larger society it represents. We demonize the other tribe. It's about us and our side. Meanwhile, we have been turning our backs on the needs of the vast majority of Americans. And after decades, the disenfranchised are legitimately angry. Yet they want action, not insult. In today's political discourse, we spew invective with impunity. The language sometimes incites only thinly-veiled violence. Bigotry and scapegoating, after decades of progress, seem to have returned with abandon. Women continue to be treated as second-class citizens in too many ways. All too often our belittling actions torment groups of minorities, races, those of different sexual orientation or religious beliefs.
Our society seems to be devolving into a greater and meaner discord, contention and abuse. Less civility, less compassion in our words and deeds prevails. A civilized society must have norms of behavior, codes of ethics and morality--and a simple respect and courtesy toward those who are different or see the world differently. If we were able to transcend ourselves we would observe our species heading toward an earlier, evolutionarily tribal, self-centered, and violent time. We seem to have unleashed instincts and tendencies ingrained, and for a while, deeply buried in our DNA.
The point is this. Violence begets more violence. Anger, hatred, and physical or verbal abuse offer fertile ground for the unacceptable behaviors surrounding us.
Yes, we must be vigilant and aggressively protect ourselves from madmen and the radicalized elements. In this vein, I can also point to Muslim imams and other Muslim American leaders to stand up against this same kind of bigotry and discrimination in their own culture. (As an increasing number of Muslim leaders have done after Orlando.) Respect for women and respect for the full spectrum of sexual orientation must prevail within any cultural group in America. It is simply the price for being a Muslim American or any other American. Those who advocate outright violence and harm to this country must find, or be assisted in finding, another home in this world.
Yet all the measures we can take to protect ourselves, while essential, are not sufficient. We must also come together as people, as Americans. We must change our mindset, and our behaviors. We must simply become better people. We must not only cease to participate in anger and hatred. We must also stop tolerating it in others. We can no longer turn a blind eye or simply shrug our shoulders. We live in a global village. What happens over there, nearly anywhere, eventually affects us here and vice versa. But the best inoculation against this contagion is what we do here. The codes of behavior that honor the common good, tolerance and constructive collaboration must return and take over. This must happen in our families, in our communities, in our governments, and in our nation. Children are not born bigots. We teach it to them. We must substitute caring, love and compassion. We cannot live like renters in this nation: we have to take ownership of it all. This is our family. We all matter, regardless of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientations. We are indeed one people, one set of humans with similar aspirations, dreams and hopes. We are all struggling to be the person we know we can be. That can't happen, we can't safely be ourselves, unless we respect that struggle in everyone around us. A beautiful song, written in the wake of the Orlando massacre, cries out to the listener: "I am human. I am like you. Feel my pulse."
Peter Georgescu is the author of The Constant Choice. He can be found at Good Reads.