The enduring argument of logical fallacies
On the heels of the crushing Breonna Taylor verdict, I’m going to roll with the intense sense of injustice that is the dumpster fire of 2020. Through the air I can’t breathe, to the city I came back to by necessity, not by choice, this year is history defining. Portland as well as America are emotionally, physically, and racially on fire. Beyond exhausting, beyond depleted is a place my soul has never been but feels perfect in describing this moment in America. I don’t know if there is anyone that can right this ship and yet I refuse to quit for the sake of my kids and all the people here I love.
I’m a soft pacifist at heart. My first exposure to Gandhi’s principle of non-violent resistance was likely in high school and garnered more of my attention in my twenties after reading a couple of biographies about this icon. He was a womanizer and sometimes self-flagellating fanatic. I will not fall into the trap of idolatry with anyone and recognize that Gandhi was a flawed human being with an immense well of discipline and respect for life. This is what I admired most about him and people like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.: their respect for living things, it’s heroic.
Newsweek recently came out with an article about a writing assignment given to students in Texas. The topic was ‘heroes for a modern age’. You know, the usual suspects like Malcolm X, Gandhi - and Kyle Rittenhouse of course. Read that again, very slowly. You know of whom I speak, a boy who traveled from Illinois to Wisconsin to protect businesses with an AR-15 and subsequently shot three people. A heroic pacifist, willing to die to protect property and the civil rights of others. What could be more worthy of heroic praise?
My ethics, pacifism, and sense of fair play come from my upbringing. Being brought up by fairly devout Punjabi parents meant that I was to be seen and not heard. I learned early on to anticipate the needs of others and swallow a lot. My mother is a fantastic role model. She is one of my heroes. She helps everyone she can, she still works in the kitchen at our local temple where they feed the homeless and she always, always stood on her own two feet, no matter what it cost her. At times in her life, it cost a lot.
With an arranged marriage at sixteen, a child by eighteen, she had helped my grandmother run our family farm to cover for her absentee alcoholic father. She taught herself to read and write after coming to Canada and with her tenth-grade education has proven to me to be one of the smartest women I know. It got me wondering what qualities make someone heroic? Several civil rights leaders including Gandhi came to mind.
Gandhi was educated in the UK, worked in South Africa as a lawyer where he developed his ideas on dignity, injustice, and non-violent resistance. His whole life was lived in the service of others. He consistently demonstrated self-examination and non-violence. Gandhi spent his life defending human rights and was ultimately assassinated after helping free India from colonialism. He inspired generations of civil rights leaders and still captures the imagination today. The Mahatma or ‘great soul’ lived a dignified life and gave others dignity in doing so.
I agree with the Mahatma that an eye for an eye blinds the world but at the same time sacrificing the innocent, weak, and those that cannot protect themselves is simply beyond abhorrent and inhumane. This is where my pacifism has limits. Some people will do anything to deny others their right to freedom. This quote so often misrepresented, does not promote violence but instead is the perfect call for self-preservation and survival based on historic evidence.
“Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.” Malcolm X
In contrast to Gandhi, Kyle Rittenhouse is a seventeen-year-old boy, militia member, and worshiper of blue lives that felt the necessity to police the behavior of people like me who wholeheartedly believe that systemic racism exists. The suppression of my constitutional right to protest racism should be a problem for everyone, even devout racists. The violence perpetrated by denying others their freedom radicalizes the world. Whether it is the KKK, ISIS, or Al-Qaeda, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. In my worldview, people like him have no place in public life or to enforce their narrow beliefs on others. They certainly are not to be applauded. A boy who knows nothing about the sacrifice of raising, or protecting children, family, or community is no hero. Just a brain-washed young man who has become an enduring symbol of this administration, and the meme of an angry white male. You are a caricature of yourself. It is the saddest indictment of America and the injustices that she allows to endure.
Not the prayers offered by fanatic Christians wishing to diminish the value of human life, not the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for a boy who has yet to vote, nor the praise offered by our president or the entire staff of Fox news diminishes the alarming short nearsightedness of arming a child in a fight where he has no skin in the game. That is the essence of this argument. The denial of systemic racism. The denial of the existence of injustice, tyranny, and a disregard for the rule of law.
A hero is someone who stands in the face of continuous pressure for what is right. Gandhi was arrested four times, served two years in prison, marched 241 miles for civil disobedience, was beaten, but left an enduring legacy of non-violence. He struggled for a fight that was his, for people and places he loved. Not for inanimate objects or misguided principles. Gandhi valued life and freedom as most sane human beings do. This respect for life makes it extremely difficult to harm any living being. An enduring reverence for all life is to be cultivated and is anything but weak. It shows fortitude and courage that few can master.
We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it. — Mohandas Gandhi
The birth defect of systemic racism which America fails to acknowledge is pervasive. I’m not three-fifths of a person and neither is any other living being that I know. While I love the constitution for the elegance, foresight, and internal constraints naturally placed on governance, Americans must take the context of history into account. The constitution anticipates a wide range of political scenarios and I believe it is a document that was meant to progress with the times. The founding fathers could not have possibly conceived of the internet, artificial intelligence, and the multi-ethnic nature of what America has become. No matter the hate I witness, or the violence I see I will always believe in the power of cooperation, peace, and the extending of hands in a gesture of conciliation. In recognizing the humanity of others and their right to live in peace, we ensure the dignity of mankind. This includes those that live with violence in their hearts. Nothing could be more heroic than that.
Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment. — Gandhi
========================================
Go forth, break bread: I’m ready for fall comfort food. Alfredo shells are perfect for chilly evenings.
