Is Silence More Evil Than Evil?

We all know evil. Hitler was evil. The Crusades were evil. Stalin was evil. The Rwandan and Armeniam genocides were evil. ISIS is very very evil. Terrorists of all kinds are evil. Knife wielding stabbers are evil.

While we do a decent job of identifying evil once it happens, I think we have a poor understanding of how to stop evil people and spiralling evil acts while they happen. Unchecked violent evil happens and expands when leaders, and the societies that follow them, radicalize away from civil behavior, or, what we might call, normative acceptable behavior to others. The key words here are “violent” and “others.” As a society, we are disturbed when someone injures or kills themselves but it is only evil that truly matters on a societal level when the violence is prosecuted on others.

The “Other” can become an object of hate and/or demonization by the individual evil-doers and their radical and radicalizing leadership. Evil-doers, wielding guns, knives, explosives or box cutters, act on canards that rarely stand up under the microscope of objective truth. They are whipped into violent behavior by leaders that are power-hungry and evil at their core but who rarely sacrifice themselves or their family members in pursuit of their hate-filled goals. Instead, they send frenzied, easy-to-manipulate, lemmings (sacrificial lambs might be more apt) to carry out their evil plans.

What we need to understand is how these “leaders” of evil gain momentum, snowballing such that their lies and canards convince the minions to carry out their desires and execute their violent wishes. The answer to this question, and, in my opinion, the core root of the spread of evil, is the apathy of the silent majority.

You can crudely represent the radicalization of a society in the following equation V=(NVS+NVA)*(P/O). Violence and its spread is (NVS) Number of Violent Statements and Lies + (NVA)Number of Violent Acts, multiplied by the percentage of the the population that is silent (Population/Objectors) in its face. All this must be amplified by consistency in objecting to these acts and the force by which a society objects.

After one purported* Jewish act of terror against Palestinians in Duma, where an 18 month old baby was horrifically murdered, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin declared “My nation has chosen a path of terror.” Many people I know were very upset by his proclamation. “How dare he,” they charged, ”talk about Jews as terrorists when Palestinians are committing acts of terror every day?” I believe Rivlin viscerally understood the point above and chose not to be silent. A society can be whipped into evil unless common people and leaders object vociferously to any act of evil and violence, even when it is an aberration. In fact, the exact right time to act loudly is when this act is an aberration, in order to deter and and prevent evil and violence from gaining momentum. It is the job of leaders to rouse the silent majority out of apathy and into vigorous action to defeat evil before it drops roots and gains momentum. It is better as a society to err on the side of active opposition to any violence even before you have a clear idea of its perpetrators so that nobody dare learn from it.**

There can be no such thing as a silent majority. This is the heart of biblical teaching of “וביערת הרע מקרבך.” translated as “you must burn out all evil from your midst.” It is incumbent upon society, the majority of the population, not to be silent. Society must actively root out evil before it gains momentum. If you are part of the silent majority then you are complicit in and enabling evil.

This gets to the heart of Palestinian knife attacks recently. They accelerate because evil is taking root. Because the silent majority of peace loving, co-existence-minded, Palestinians is exactly that, silent. Unlike President Rivlin (or Prime Minister Netanyahu in that case), no Palestinian leader has stood up and said “My people have chosen a path of terror and I am disgusted.” Only a tiny group of individuals has risen from its silence to object to the terror and the frenzied calls of Hamas and PA leadership for more violence. The Number of objectors (O in the algorithm) is minuscule and, hence, violence and evil spreads and grows.

The silent majority remains silent for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they are afraid for their lives when they buck the frenzied evil-doers. I understand that but cannot live with it. Sometimes, the silent majority are just busy getting by and doing their jobs. Sometimes, silence is a cultural trait. Sometimes they are focused elsewhere. A silent majority in Germany, let Hitler gain momentum until evil became part of society. A silent majority has sat back in America and let guns in schools gain momentum. The silent majority suffered under Stalin. A silent majority of world leaders has let ISIS flourish. The silent majority of Palestinians is letting the knifers and violent leaders gain momentum. As the equation above shows, silence kills. It multiplies and amplifies nascent violent tendencies and angry leaders toward evil. Not surprisingly, eventually it collapses on itself as the violent people turn on the silent majority.

We need the silent majorities of all peoples to stand up and not be silent. You are not counted in the majority of peace loving people if you are silent. If you repeat lies to your friends, share them on social media or tell yourself it is not so bad, you are an accomplice to evil. If you do not take verbal action and call evil by its name, you are an enabler. Only by making the global silent majority vocal against any evil can we hope for a just and peaceful society. This takes energy but I encourage you to find that energy.

Don’t be silent. Ever. Silence in the face of evil kills and, eventually, it will harm you too.

*I say purported because the perpetrators have not yet been found. When we find and identify them, they and their support system should be dismantled.

** I distinguish between unprovoked violence and defense. Anyone who comes armed with a knife should expect to be neutralized and justifiably killed.