My reaction to the horrific mass murder in Buffalo…
A person I respect once asked me, “Religious people say they have faith, but when something contrary to that faith happens, then what?”
Diagoras of Melos, a 5th Century BC Greek philosopher, warned that survivors should beware of attributing their salvation to the favor of the gods, because a greater number were not so favored. Today, we call this the “dead men tell no tales” or the “survivorship” fallacy. Some live to tell the tale. Others don’t. And we must be very careful declaring why that might be. All we know is that survivors are free to interpret events in whatever way they see fit. The dead would probably see things differently. One person prays that their child will be cured of cancer and her prayers are answered. Another prays just as fervently, yet their child dies. The first might believe their faith was rewarded while the second might have a crisis of faith or lose their faith entirely.
The same is true of people who find themselves favored by socio-economic or political systems. “Any boy can be president,” right? The numbers say this is a myth. Maybe white, Christian boys with enough money, charisma, and connections have a slim chance, but what about those who don’t fit that profile? I shouldn’t need to mention that I wrote, “any boy,” because women so far have been out of the running. And if opportunities were equal, we would have had 5 or 6 black presidents by now. Suffice it to say that white men can make all the pronouncements they want about their success, but in the end, they have found favor, if not from the gods, from the way society has worked for them. It’s easy to have faith if you’re the one on top.
Human nature seeks ways to tilt the odds. If a politician can find a way to appeal to a large enough base, he or she might find enough favor to rise to the top, to thrive while others merely survive or are swept under by the tide. And sometimes, certain individuals appeal to our worst instincts. Those who crave certainty, who are looking for insider knowledge, who want to be validated for their beliefs, or who want to be told what to believe or just hear what they want to hear can be taken in by a snake oil salesman. Those who are looking for easy answers to difficult questions are perhaps the most susceptible. And if a person is told often enough that “they are against you” or “you are being persecuted” or “they are out to take away your freedom or job or way of life,” he can begin to believe that the only thing he can do is fight his way out of “oppression.” Never mind that disagreement or criticism is not the same as oppression. One thing I would say to the alt-right is that whoever you believe is out to get you will not “replace” you, but someday a robot might.
In the past few decades, we have seen how some persons in positions of public trust have been able to wind-up their toy soldiers and send them out to fight against this or that perceived threat – minorities, immigrants, non-Christians, LGBTQ persons, and so on. A politician or pundit can cheer the desired outcome from a safe vantage point and watch his wind-up soldiers move around his chosen battlefield. Yet, it seems to me there is a kind of psychopathology at work. What else could it be when someone in a prominent position inspires his followers to take up arms, to “stop the steal,” to fight the pedophiles, CRT, or “the great replacement?” I recall Charles Manson inspired his followers to kill for him. Likewise, Osama bin Laden. Words, particularly frequently repeated words, can have cult-like consequences. In the hands of personalities who know how to gaslight us, words might undo a democracy.
I have no answers for the cowardly, weak-minded, faithless murders in Buffalo. It seems to me men who do things like this are following the marching orders of those who hold them in contempt, who treat them as mere playthings, regardless of the consequences. Nevertheless, we must not become wind-up soldiers. We must resist the temptation to fall in line with those who try to manipulate us to do their bidding. If we truly have faith, we can find a way to live without killing each other.
MurrayWorks 