Christians and Spices

History has it, when Vasco Da Gama was asked what brought him to Calicut, he famously said “Christians & Spices”. Well, what he said was as true as calling a centaur a human. However, what actually happened afterwards wasn’t exactly that. Christians or otherwise, the fate of the inhabitants of India and Sri Lanka were not as light and casual as his answer. Also, he never mentioned anything about the colonization and the fact that he’d become the viceroy of India. Nor did Hernán Cortés, upon reaching the Aztec kingdom mention anything about his true intentions, he rather said I’m a friendly ambassador of the great Spanish king. And when the Greeks left a giant wooden horse at the gates of Troy, well, you know the rest.
Just like the Trojan Horse, throughout history, good has been used as a vessel for evil. I guess that’s why it’s said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. Perceived good (emphasis on perceived), has been used as a conduit for different agendas. If you look at the crusades, they were pitched as an opportunity to serve god and execute his will, in reality though the motives were political or financial. Don’t think I’m having a go at religion here, it’s really down to anything that is close to people’s heart, religion, race, nationality, football (kidding).
Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are
Since I made a reference to football, let’s stick with it. Think of the atmosphere before, during and after a match. During the build up to the match, supporters from both teams would wear their team colors, they might change their social media profiles to show support. They make jokes about each others team. During the match they will fiercely cheer their team. Shout and scream when the team makes a mistake. After the match, supporters of the winning team would continue to celebrate and the losers will go back in hope of a victory next time around. This whole saga won’t be without a fight or two. Why bother? Why can’t you just watch the match and enjoy the game being played and cheer both sides and criticize both sides? It does happen, very rarely, or when your team isn’t playing. But has wars being fought over football? Have there been any invasions because of football? Not to my knowledge? But why not? Because we all know for a fact that it is a game, invented by men.
Race, religion and even cast are transcendent, they are things beyond us mere mortals. And when something is beyond us, it becomes easy to use it to manipulate the masses. We humans like to belong to something, to be a part of something at the same time being divided and competitive. Just like belonging to a football club to be part of a group and to compete with other clubs, maybe we still have a bit of tribal thinking left in us? This is sort of an inflammable concoction that can easily be used by someone for their advantage.
Look closely at most conflicts around the world they can be traced back to race, territory or religion, all things we hold dear. The unrest in the middle east goes back so long, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what was the cause of the whole situation, same with Africa. The Serbian-Albanian conflict which lasted well into the 20th century can be traced back to the 1700s. The conflict between India and Pakistan can be traced back to the late 1940s. We’ve seen time and time again politicians using patriotism or religion to rally people to their side. And it will continue to go on for millennia to come if people don’t change the way they think. All you need to do is to make people feel threatened and once they feel vulnerable, they’ll follow any red herring thrown at them, and anyone who opposes the status quo, they become traitors. This is a tried and proven method used by politicians for centuries.
Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception
Look at who benefit from these situations, politicians, why? because they want power. It’s always been about power. From Jerusalem to Afghanistan, it’s been about power and dominance, that’s it. In the eyes of those who crave it, everything and everyone else is collateral. A politician who tries to create racial or religious conflict close to an election only thinks about rallying people around them to win an election, not about the aftermath or the long term damage caused. So it is wise to see beyond the lies and deception to understand the truth about anything and everything put in front of you without joining the viral wave. After all, this is the age of information and information is plenty, sorting the right from the wrong can be relatively easy with a bit of mental elbow grease. Whenever you hear a politician cry the wolf about your motherland being in danger or your religion being in danger, don’t jump the bandwagon, instead do a bit of fact checking and if you really think there is some truth to it, then by all means do what you have to do to protect it, and do it in a civilized way. Don’t be like the troys and just blindly take a trojan horse in because it appears to be aligned with your racial or religious views. Unfortunately if you still want to be used by politicians for their gain and run around crying the wolf, that’s your own peril.
Because religion and culture are things that make the world a colorful place, the diversity is what makes the world interesting, and they are far too valuable to be left to be misused by power hungry politicians.
Note: The two quotes on this book are from The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. It is a very good read on how a prince should and could maintain power. It’s a bit like a book that explains magic, once you know they trick, it’s quite easy to see right through it.
