guilt by association
It was a Tuesday morning. At the time I had class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so I thought that I'd sleep in a bit. In those days when I was off I'd usually sleep in until 11 or even noon sometimes. Strangely I woke up just after 9am. I rose out of bed and staggered towards the bathroom. I was crossing through the living room to get there. The television was on. One of the network anchors were talking. I can't remember who it was for sure but I think it was Peter Jennings or that Brokaw guy. The first thing I thought upon seeing a network anchor delivering news at 9-something in the morning was what the hell just happened? What's wrong? I quickly scurried to the bathroom and ran back out to see what was going on. I tell you honestly everything is a blur from that day so I can't remember if I sat down and locked my attention to the screen before or after the 2nd plane struck. All I can remember was a numbness going through my body and that the time was 9-something. It began 16 or 17 straight hours in front of the television flipping between 5 news channels hoping for good news of some kind. I watched in horror as the towers came down and innocent people were killed in mass numbers. That's right I said innocent.
In the 5th grade I was still a good kid. I didn't start to get mixed up with the silly crowds and sway to the effects of peer pressure until the 7th grade. In 5th grade I was an honor student, always in attendance, always looking to participate and always trying to do the right thing. I didn't know if I behaved because I knew it was the correct thing to do or whether I did what I did to appease my father. I probably maintained a significant fear of punishment or beatings which were very possible if I goofed off in school and got into trouble. Fear can be a powerful thing. Ask many deeply religious people, they'll tell you. Fear is what helps them to lead a good life.
One day in the 5th grade someone stole something from the teacher's desk. To say she was upset was an understatement. She repeatedly asked the class who stole the item. No one would chime in with anything. I would imagine the majority of the class didn't know anything about which she was inquiring. I certainly didn't know who stole it. Finally, she reached a point where she grew frustrated and at this point she opted for another approach. She decided to try to let us police ourselves with peer pressure and fear. She proclaimed that if no one was fess up, we would all stay after school. I always hated when teachers did that. If I can't find the one, I'll punish all 30 of you. I had nothing to do with it why should I be punished? I suppose when anger presides over the room there is no vacancy for logic. Now all I wanted to do was kick the crap out of the person who had gotten me in trouble. Now I was emotionally involved. About 35 minutes after school a "friend" of the thief turned him in. Nobody liked the thief the rest of the week, especially those who had to explain to their parents why they got home so late from school.
In case you've lived under a rock for the past 5 years I've discussed September 11th, 2001 and the maybe not so well known winter of 1984 when I was in the 5th grade. What do these two things have in common? They both involved a cliche I can't stand and that is "guilt by association". I've always hated this theory. If you can't find the culprit or can't carry out your revenge on the rightful party then punish everyone and maybe in that mass punishment you'll get the culprit or someone like them. Once you've punished those guilty by association, then perhaps you'll feel vindicated for whatever wronged you. It's extremist behavior and it has no place in modern society. When you tend to think in extremes you also tend to generalize. I'll give you an example; if you are a racist who are not going to judge someone different than you on an individual basis. If you hate Americans, then you hate all of them and you will not take the time to get to know any of them. They're all evil right? This is lazy behavior fueled by hatred and misguided passion. On September 11th my opinion of Islam wasn't too good. On that day I was so full of rage that I was ready to restart the crusades. After a few days, or maybe weeks after taking time and listening, reading and watching I discovered my anger was not with Islam but with some select Islamic fundamentalists. You can call them terrorists if you like. The small amount of time I had to ponder my feelings and absorb more information melted away the extreme thoughts, general behavior and dark feelings 9/11 gave me. A small amount of time and thought reminded me I have nothing against Islamic people, only those who would perform such an act. It makes me wonder why those who did these previously incomprehensible acts could not do the same. What makes you hold on to that hatred for so long? Is it religion? Is it a discipline of the mind built by a lifetime of believing in something? It almost sounds like a narrow mindedness to me. Seriously was George Bush pissing in their coffee every morning? If that was the case, why not go after him? Why kill thousands of innocent people... perhaps many of who did not even vote for the man?
I confess I do not understand religious fanaticism. I understand fanaticism of other sorts. I follow the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and New York Yankees umm... religiously. But I've never killed anyone for being a Red Sox fan. I've never plotted to kill Miami Dolphins fans in large numbers. Marv Levy has never told me to murder people in his honor. Okay, perhaps I am mocking religion right now and that is not my intention. I am attempting to understand why it is necessary to murder innocent people for my God. Hell, I'm trying to understand why it is necessary to murder not so innocent people for a God. I cannot understand any of this behavior and perhaps that makes me guilty by association.
It was a Tuesday morning. At the time I had class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so I thought that I'd sleep in a bit. In those days when I was off I'd usually sleep in until 11 or even noon sometimes. Strangely I woke up just after 9am. I rose out of bed and staggered towards the bathroom. I was crossing through the living room to get there. The television was on. One of the network anchors were talking. I can't remember who it was for sure but I think it was Peter Jennings or that Brokaw guy. The first thing I thought upon seeing a network anchor delivering news at 9-something in the morning was what the hell just happened? What's wrong? I quickly scurried to the bathroom and ran back out to see what was going on. I tell you honestly everything is a blur from that day so I can't remember if I sat down and locked my attention to the screen before or after the 2nd plane struck. All I can remember was a numbness going through my body and that the time was 9-something. It began 16 or 17 straight hours in front of the television flipping between 5 news channels hoping for good news of some kind. I watched in horror as the towers came down and innocent people were killed in mass numbers. That's right I said innocent.
In the 5th grade I was still a good kid. I didn't start to get mixed up with the silly crowds and sway to the effects of peer pressure until the 7th grade. In 5th grade I was an honor student, always in attendance, always looking to participate and always trying to do the right thing. I didn't know if I behaved because I knew it was the correct thing to do or whether I did what I did to appease my father. I probably maintained a significant fear of punishment or beatings which were very possible if I goofed off in school and got into trouble. Fear can be a powerful thing. Ask many deeply religious people, they'll tell you. Fear is what helps them to lead a good life.
One day in the 5th grade someone stole something from the teacher's desk. To say she was upset was an understatement. She repeatedly asked the class who stole the item. No one would chime in with anything. I would imagine the majority of the class didn't know anything about which she was inquiring. I certainly didn't know who stole it. Finally, she reached a point where she grew frustrated and at this point she opted for another approach. She decided to try to let us police ourselves with peer pressure and fear. She proclaimed that if no one was fess up, we would all stay after school. I always hated when teachers did that. If I can't find the one, I'll punish all 30 of you. I had nothing to do with it why should I be punished? I suppose when anger presides over the room there is no vacancy for logic. Now all I wanted to do was kick the crap out of the person who had gotten me in trouble. Now I was emotionally involved. About 35 minutes after school a "friend" of the thief turned him in. Nobody liked the thief the rest of the week, especially those who had to explain to their parents why they got home so late from school.
In case you've lived under a rock for the past 5 years I've discussed September 11th, 2001 and the maybe not so well known winter of 1984 when I was in the 5th grade. What do these two things have in common? They both involved a cliche I can't stand and that is "guilt by association". I've always hated this theory. If you can't find the culprit or can't carry out your revenge on the rightful party then punish everyone and maybe in that mass punishment you'll get the culprit or someone like them. Once you've punished those guilty by association, then perhaps you'll feel vindicated for whatever wronged you. It's extremist behavior and it has no place in modern society. When you tend to think in extremes you also tend to generalize. I'll give you an example; if you are a racist who are not going to judge someone different than you on an individual basis. If you hate Americans, then you hate all of them and you will not take the time to get to know any of them. They're all evil right? This is lazy behavior fueled by hatred and misguided passion. On September 11th my opinion of Islam wasn't too good. On that day I was so full of rage that I was ready to restart the crusades. After a few days, or maybe weeks after taking time and listening, reading and watching I discovered my anger was not with Islam but with some select Islamic fundamentalists. You can call them terrorists if you like. The small amount of time I had to ponder my feelings and absorb more information melted away the extreme thoughts, general behavior and dark feelings 9/11 gave me. A small amount of time and thought reminded me I have nothing against Islamic people, only those who would perform such an act. It makes me wonder why those who did these previously incomprehensible acts could not do the same. What makes you hold on to that hatred for so long? Is it religion? Is it a discipline of the mind built by a lifetime of believing in something? It almost sounds like a narrow mindedness to me. Seriously was George Bush pissing in their coffee every morning? If that was the case, why not go after him? Why kill thousands of innocent people... perhaps many of who did not even vote for the man?
I confess I do not understand religious fanaticism. I understand fanaticism of other sorts. I follow the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and New York Yankees umm... religiously. But I've never killed anyone for being a Red Sox fan. I've never plotted to kill Miami Dolphins fans in large numbers. Marv Levy has never told me to murder people in his honor. Okay, perhaps I am mocking religion right now and that is not my intention. I am attempting to understand why it is necessary to murder innocent people for my God. Hell, I'm trying to understand why it is necessary to murder not so innocent people for a God. I cannot understand any of this behavior and perhaps that makes me guilty by association.