"What is constructive are things that foster our global cooperation; what's destructive is what does not," says psychologist Paul Ekman in his book with the Dalai Lama called 'Emotional Awareness'. Creating something is a doing, consciously and unconsciously. What we're doing on a day-to-day basis is shaping our futures. We learn, cultivate thoughts and practices by repetition, whether the outcome is constructive or destructive.
Our actions have to be in balance with the stories we tell ourselves for us to be able to feel good about ourselves. Stories are important, because the motivate us to do or not to do. They give us a justification for our behavior. I first started to think about a coherent story after reading the book Mindsight by Daniel Siegel, M.D. According to Siegel a coherent life story is essential to our wellbeing and happiness. Your (in)coherent life story is your reality, the way in which you interpret past into the present.
Destructive thoughts and actions can be cultivated by political leaders.
In the Second World War (1939-1945) circa six million people were executed by the Nazis because of their shared cultural and religious background. Because 'they' were Jewish. If you were a Jew you needed to be exterminated. You had no right to exist. You were perceived as a danger to society as a whole. You were considered to be evil. You were the reason for all the misery in the world. To get and keep this kind of a destructive message in the minds of the people who were not Jewish a continuous propaganda campaign was led by Joseph Goebbels.
Cultivation of anti-semitism. Strengthening anti-semitism where it already existed and creating anti-semitism where it wasn't yet. Goebbels was the minister of propaganda in Hitler's Germany. He stated that only propaganda which reaches the desired results is good propaganda. The essence of propaganda in the mind of Goebbels was to win people over for an idea in such a gripping and total way, that in the end they will accept the idea completely and never can escape from it. So the only good art was art in line with the Nazi ideology. Published books, performed theatre, showed movies and art expositions all were under strict control. Also news media, such as newspapers and radio channels, were under the control of the Nazi regime.
The repeated narrative of the nation and the German people was shaped purposefully. Hitler as the divine leader of the great German empire to come. The supremacy of the Arian race. The inherent evilness of the Jews. On the internet I found an essay translated from the original German to English by Goebbels called "The Jews are Guilty" dated November 16, 1941. Below I will show you a big part of this essay to give you an understanding of the extreme destructive nature of the Nazi propaganda. How they justified their (future) horrific behavior and actions. This is going to be very unpleasant to read as it should be:
"Therefore, we must say again and yet again:
- The Jews are our destruction. They started this war and direct it. They want to destroy the German Reich and our people. This plan must be blocked.
It is the job of the government to deal with them. No one has the right to act on his own, but each has the duty to support the state's measures against the Jews, to defend them with others, and to avoid being misled by any Jewish tricks.
The security of the state requires that of us all."
On youtube you can find the PBS documentary 'Genocide: Worse than War' with author Daniel Goldhagen in which he explains that political leaders played on believes their followers already held in the holocaust, and the many genocides after that, including the collective killing of the Muslims in Srebrenica.
Journalist Christoph Reuter wrote a large article on the way ISIS works. In this article he points out the following believe by one of the founders of ISIS, Haji Bakr: "He believed that fanatical religious convictions alone were not enough to achieve victory. But he did believe that the faith of others could be exploited." In the book 'Investigating Terrorism' Robert Lambert, lecturer in terrorism studies, explains that the primary goal of terrorists is to achieve publicity or propaganda for a political cause. Harleen Gambhir of the Institute for the Study of War warns: "ISIS aims to punish countries acting against it in Iraq and Syria. It also seeks to polarize the West by inspiring state and social backlash against European Muslim communities."
The political strategy of ISIS seems to be working. In my country the Netherlands the anti-muslim party PVV of Geert Wilders is the highest in the polls for some time now. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Victor Orbán, does not want to take in refugees, because they are muslim. Not to mention many human rights violations Human Rights Watch has reported there. In France the party of Marine Le Pen, Front National, has recently won the first round in regional elections with 28% of the vote. And in America you have Donald Trump. What makes the situation in Europe extra dangerous is a mix of anti-semitism and islamophobia. If you work at an intelligence agency you now have to be mindful of extremism on multiple sides and the way they are fueling each other.
In the beginning of November I suggested to the Dutch John Adams Institute to invite American speakers such as Daniel Goldhagen, Jeffrey Goldberg, Leon Wieseltier, Arsalan Iftikhar, Aasif Mandvi, Fareed Zakaria, Nick Kristof, Sarah Kendzior to talk about the growing anti-semitism and islamophobia, or religious racism, in Europe. At that time, before the Trump-statement on Muslims, the John Adams institute declined because they have an 'American focus'. I still would like to see a transatlantic conference on this theme. In the end we're one human family: we might as well start acting like it.
The heritage of Mandela, King and Gandhi is the cultivation of love for all human beings and humankind as a whole. This we should not forget: a constructive mindset can be cultivated also. It is in all our interests that we find a constructive way of living together as one global family.
The importance of the adopted storyline in one's personal life and in our collectives lives is huge. Actions taken by us find their roots in the stories we believe to be true. The perspective one has defines a lot of what one sees and does. Reframing the debate by creating a new storyline is an often used political tool. Call it political marketing. A way to pursued people towards a common goal. Giving someone a new perspective or reality on the way life has to be organized, which is possible taken on by that person, can have the greatest and the worst of consequences. For this reason being aware of influences on your own storyline and believes is very important.
Wisdom is in the action we take. You have every right to get involved in the politics in another country. You live in a connected world system which influences your life, and of your friends and family too. Destructive or constructive behavior on one continent also influences the behavior on the other continent.
Let's talk about it in Amsterdam soon, on religious racism.