I am a little frightened by the rhetoric of
certainty that has predominated the discussion of how to respond to the acts of extreme violence and destruction that occurred on Sept. 11. "Good" and "evil" have been defined by our leaders as clearly as in a story book, or even the perversions of scriptures that motivated the original attack. The president himself, in announcing that God is on "our side" of this conflict, echoes so many deluded perpetrators of violence whom Bush aptly and ignorantly referred to directly by declaring a "crusade."
I have no doubt that if "evil" truly exists, then our current adversaries share in it. But to claim that we are on the side of good, the side of God, the side of absolute justice, is to ignore that we ourselves are not free of evil. The basic assumptions and definitions we take for granted as dividing us from our adversaries are not so rock-solid as we would presume them to be.
For example, the "cowardice" and "lack of discrimination" involved in a "terrorist" attack on innocent civilians could just as easily be applied to the U.S.'s own actions. I find it unbelievable that with all the comparisons to Pearl Harbor, this incident has not been compared to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in which the U.S. similarly targeted areas heavily populated by civilians for its attack.
Many have protested against war, fearing that we will cause the deaths of more innocent civilians, as we did in Iraq in 1998 and as we did in Japan and Dresden, Germany in the second World War. These protestors have stated what few have dared to realize: there are no collateral damages against an organization that transcends nations, and there is no justification for the unnecessary taking of human life. These people represent what is truly worth defending in our democracy.
Of course, these people have received harsh criticism. It has been stated or implied repeatedly in these very pages that those who remind us of these facts, those who caution us to be more careful about committing to possibly excessive force than we have been in the past, are in some way defective in their thinking, morally relativistic, and wholly un-American.
If you want to think that it is some moral or intellectual flaw or lack of patriotism that causes pacifism, then you are most sadly mistaken. It would be all the easier to comprehend our position in the world if it were a unanimously agreed-upon fact that we are at war with pure evil and would be serving justice by killing them and anyone even suspected of being associated with them. It would be so easy to throw uncertainty out the window if no one raised a voice in dissent. But that is fundamentalism, not the democracy which we claim separates us from them.
I have seen in the past few weeks things that genuinely scare me about this country. I have seen dozens of reports of hate crimes against Arab-Americans and Muslims living in this country. I have heard the words of the Reverend Jerry Falwell, who blamed this time of crisis in part on abortionists and homosexual marriages. And I have felt the shackles of censorship creep out to rack us with an unwritten Sedition Act.
Now, shall I stand shoulder to shoulder with Americans who, in peacetime, will return to being separated by the petty differences between us? Should I blindly support any effort to "defend our way of life" from Muslim extremists when people like Reverend Falwell will continue to preach intolerance of many Americans' ways of life? Am I just supposed to stop criticizing these people and accept them as brothers now that we've been attacked?
No. It is crises like this that truly test values such as freedom of speech. It is people like Bill Maher, so in danger of being taken off the air, who serve our nation by keeping us on our toes with criticism. And my criticism is this: those who seek to suppress the voice of the pacifist in this time of crisis are fighting a pointless and divisive battle, disregarding values that Americans hold most dear. I feel no unity with them.
The events of Sept. 11, the tragedy, the heroism, and the leadership: these will always give me a sense of pride in and connection with my fellow citizens. But not only them. The outpouring of support and concern both in the US and abroad has made me a patriot of mankind.
As for my country, I will exercise my patriotism in the way that I feel is most honorable. I will exercise that right we hold in highest regard and say that I have strong misgivings about our "war on terrorism" and deep distrust of the defense of our way of life when so many in this nation would deny the right to each other's way of life if they could. Both on a large scale, like the words of Jerry Falwell and the hate crimes carried out in the name of America, and on a small scale, like the simple disrespect for differing opinions I find in this paper, I am made to feel unwanted by the people who demand my allegiance.
Maybe a war is necessary now. Maybe it is not. You can never be too careful with these decisions. Inevitably, I will support the best effort of our country to make the right decision. But no outpouring of nationalism will make me fall into the silent unity and sameness that preoccupies us now. Defend my way of life -- yes. Forfeit it in the claim that mine is unique from my neighbor's -- that I cannot do. I may brandish a weapon on the field of battle if I am called to do so, but I will raise no flag on my home soil. I've seen enough nationalism bordering jingoism, and I will not be counted among the dangerously uniform and certain majority.
