Jussi Hanska,
Please forgive me for being so pompous, and thank you for your second letter.
It helps me understand better what you're saying. You raise so many
interesting points, so I will deal here with just a few.
No, I don't think the Fiji Islanders should feel guilty that their ancestors
were cannibals. Why the discrepancy? I don't know. Let me think about it.
Your English is fine. Much better than my Finnish.
Let me tell you about a group of Germans I think should be a role model for
all of us. The Germans who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis.
My friend Patrick Henry (Irish Catholic) is researching them,and I'm not
surprised at what he's finding. These were not particularly people who
"liked Jews." Rather, they disliked injustice. Or they were just people
trying to do what they thought was right for the circumstances. In one case,
there was a whole village of them. I think of them as similar to the people
who see a stranger in trouble and automatically stop to help.
On Germans generally, I've met some I liked a lot, and some I really
disliked.
I like your idea about the rage of the masses, but I'd like to refine it
further. I've been trying to think why society needs scapegoats, or what
purpose they serve. I think in every society you have a very low underclass
which is absolutely out of control because they won't or can't play by the
rules. These are the people you don't want to get in an argument with at a
gas station, because they'll pull out a gun and kill you. Some of these
people become criminals, some not. Thery have poor impulse control. And
much rage.
I think maybe scapegoats are needed or wanted to divert the rage of those
people. Of the very lowest level of the masses that people are really afraid
of. If you're a wealthy person, they might kidnap your child, or your
spouse. Or assassinate you. So society throws these people a scapegoat,
just to give them something to do.
In this country, a lot of black churches have been burned. Everyone says
it's awful. But I suspect some people feel some relief that they would never
admit. They'd rather see the crazy people burning down black churches than
burning down white people's houses in the suburbs.
If this is what happens, then society as a whole is very immoral.
What to do? I don't think we can change the crazy people at the bottom. But
maybe we can teach everyone else not to be afraid of them. It would be
wonderful if a whole generation were taught to think that when you see
something happening which is wrong, you must not walk away. You must see
that it stops, and get other people to help you if necessary. Imagine if the
whole German nation had got up and said to Hitler, No, you cannot kill Jews
and Gypsies and homosexuals and Poles. If the whole nation had told him he
was wrong, he would have been out of power. Most people didn't want to get
involved. So they pretended they didn't see what was going on.
Anyway, these are just a few ideas. Not too organized, I think. I have to
think more about your letter, because you raised so many points.
best,
pat sloane
,
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|