> > But looking at the larger picture, I guess this is the very nature of > terrorism, divisive politics, and religious fundamentalism (the only > difference between the first and the last two is the intentional violence > on > innocents, the long term damage to society remains the same). They create a > faceless enemy and I suppose the human tendency to always get to the root > of > the fear, to understand it, leads them to conclude that it is an entire > community which they have to fear (the propaganda makes this a very easy > conclusion to arrive at). This has also created a very easy label to put on > those whose actions (and incidentally statements on this list) can be > termed > cautious at the most - "bigot". > > Which is why it becomes even more crucial to take that one extra step, to walk that one extra mile, to challenge our perceptions and to question the boundaries that our and/or our immediate society has created around us. I don't mean to sound diadactic, but that is the only hopeful way forward. The other means is when we, as a mass or a community, intentionally choose to move beyond historical rights and wrongs and embrace each other despite differences.
-- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher Between Places ... http://zainab.freecrow.org
