Protests in Libya and Egypt embolden Cameron Conaway’s belief: We need to wage a war of peace and this means calling out bigots.
Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” but what about when it’s the blind causing the killing? Those blind by virtue of ignorance. By religion. By jingoism.
Protestors attacked the United States diplomatic compounds in Egypt and Libya on Tuesday, and hours ago Hillary Clinton confirmed the death of a State Department officer [update: J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, has been killed] at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The violence erupted in protests over an online film by American pastor Terry Jones that denounces Islam. He’s led groups of other pastors at Quran-burning events – the one last March sparked the event that resulted in 12 deaths – and he’s even lynched an effigy of President Barack Obama.
While I believe it’s important to say that there’s no excuse for the attacks, freedom of speech is a critical American right, and that Terry Jones shouldn’t be directly “blamed” for ambassador Stevens’ death, it’s equally important we do not simply blurt out “they hate us for our freedom” and leave it at that.
Yes, the protestors killed ambassador Stevens over an online video. And yes, this is a pathetic, heartbreaking excuse for murder. But it is also true that this violence was provoked by a climate of intolerance and hatred that, somehow, holds firm ground in the United States. Mitt Romney, despite saying that 9/11 wasn’t a day to criticize the President, preemptively criticized President Obama for a mythical apology. Dirty politics continue even while good men are bathed in blood.
The US Embassy in Egypt released a statement saying they condemn “the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions,” and Hillary Clinton echoed similar sentiments: “The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.”
Good words, Hillary, but how true are they? I hear other religions being denigrated every time I travel back to the States where I was raised and lived until recently. And from the very beginning of our nation, how many millions have been slaughtered in the name of religion? I believe you believe in religious tolerance, but to say that we, as a country, do? It’s a necessary sell but a tough one to make.
“Actions speak louder than words” holds true, and this is frightening because nearly half of our population aligns with an extreme and intolerant right-wing platform that believes in a fake “war on religion” or, as Senator John McCain said, that it was a “sad day” when homosexuals could openly serve in the military, or, as the Republican Party of Texas recently voted upon, that critical thinking skills should be rejected, or that books with race, ethnicity and oppression as central themes should be banned from schools, or in the self-made man myth, or, as Paul Ryan believes, that “our rights come from God,” or, like Mitt Romney, that we should make millions by irresponsibly indebting others, or, as Bill Maher astutely wrote, that the Book of Genesis says more about climate change than climatologists or that “Sharia Law in America is a dire threat and global warming a hoax,” or that it’s somehow good for the American economy when billionaires pay lower tax rates than secretaries, or that it doesn’t matter if Mitt Romney is a total embarrassment in England and elsewhere, or in the insanity spewing from Pat Robertson’s mouth or from the distortions of Fox News that negatively impact the US at home and abroad. To say nothing about the right holding the criminal justice system hostage despite what criminologists worldwide recommend, or their misguided and overly-broad hatred of unions, or their war on women or wars in general, or….
While it’s easy to write this lone pastor off as “fringe,” the reality is that he, like Todd Akin, seems to be blossoming into a microcosm for the entire right-wing agenda. Is the “fringe right” creeping its way to standard and skewing the whole bell curve so that even many American “progressives” today are considered radical conservatives in England?
Is this what happens when media grows at a faster pace than media literacy? When people who spend 10-hours a week watching professional football yet consume their entire political beliefs from 20-second commercials have the same say as those who do the inverse? Advertisers know how to make us buy shit. They make us feel like our teeth aren’t white enough to get a date, our abs aren’t ripped enough for summer, and, yes, that one party is evil and the other heroic. It plays into the most primitive of beliefs: everything is either good or bad. Yes, many of us want to get money out of politics, but how many are ballsy enough to break the two-party system and listen to Senator Bernie Sanders, the longest serving Independent in the history of Congress? And how could we even begin to get his voice to matter to the masses?
Perhaps we here at the Good Men Project talk too much about what it means to be a good man and not enough about what it means to be a bad man. Human beings learn from good experiences (eating candy) and from bad experiences (touching fire). Perhaps we should take the same approach to people. Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings had no obligation to speak out about the stupidity that is politician Emmett C. Burns, but he did the right thing. I completely agree with Good Men Project writer Joanna Schroeder’s comments on Kluwe’s piece, that if we aren’t speaking out like him then we are “…participating in oppression.” This attitude presents a fault in what many of the Buddhist monks in Thailand believe: seclude yourself from the world so that, at the least, you don’t harm it.
But, if the good people are secluding themselves or kowtowing to the fear tactics, or otherwise not speaking out against policymakers, then whose hands are we allowing to shape the world? Sometimes when you’re against the ropes even the best defense can’t stop the entire flurry of wild punches. A few can slip through and cause major damage. In that case the best defense is crisp offense—a straight right hand cuts through looping hooks. Is it bullying the bully? Maybe. But it sure beats being crumpled on the mat.
We would like to express our deep sadness over the death of Ambassador Stevens and wish peace to the loved ones .
Read also: The Death of American Ambassador Stevens May Be Linked to Al-Qaeda
Illustration courtesy of Shutterstock
The violence erupted in protests over an online film by American pastor Terry Jones that denounces Islam. I am calling BS on this. Benghazi was a planned attack by Al-Qeida terrorists on the anniversary of 9/11. The video was a smoke screen that the Obama administration put out to apologize for America, because that is what Obama does, he is not a patriotic American he is an apologist for all the things he and his liberal supporters see as being wrong with America. Nobody knew of this video before the attack and Ambassador Stevens and the consulate staff had asked… Read more »
In view of evidence that has come to light, the whole basis of this article is false. The murder of Ambassdor Stevens was not over an online video, but was a planned terrorist attack. It seems you accepted the media’s line without using any “critical thinking skills.” “Is this what happens when media grows at a faster pace than media literacy?”
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So if I get this right, a backwater fringe religious wacko with internet access, a presidential candidate and an idiotic senate candidate wield more power to shape international perception of the United States than the President and State Department that have managed foreign policy for almost 4 years.
Just want to make sure I’m reading this right.
For the win.
Great article…
The facile dismissal of the opinions of others, both in the post & in the “wingnut” comment are typically of the lame brained left. Denying that the incompetent narcissist in the White House is incompetent does NOT make him any more competent. The protesters demand a restriction on free speech which the US government is constitutionally powerless to deliver. Instead of reaffirming the country’s commitment to free speech the Embassy issued it’s silly apology statement. Right now the hands that are shaping the world are left hands, many of them, like the Incompetent Narcissist, extremely left. They are not doing… Read more »
Get a grip on reality bro. This website, and most of the people who comment here, don’t have the time or inclination to respond to trolls making up facts as they go along and spouting turds of opinion like they are some kind of new gemstone.
If you have something of value to add to the conversation, try referencing verifiable facts. Otherwise, STFU.
Dear Paddy,
It scares me that you truly believe our President is “extremely left.” Really. He’s authorized attacks that have killed Osama Bin Laden, Abu Yahya Al-Libi and many others. Possibly even Saeed al-Shihri a few days ago (sources still pending). By your standards, if he was a centrist we would have conquered the world by now. Fortunately the world is not a game of Risk. It’s one thing to talk big and tough about war (as our previous President) but it’s quite another to effectively execute.
~Cameron
I’d love to have a leftist president. Obama doesn’t even come close.
Killing people doesn’t make one a centrist or a conservative, cf. Che Guevara.
If this article was about how extremists, full stop, were endangering the world as opposed to a partisan hit, you might have a point.
There are a lot of different kinds of bigotry and a lot of different kinds of oppression. Bigotry is not confined to one side of the American political spectrum. Leftists like to accuse ‘the other guys’ of bigotry while steadfastly refusing to even admit that there might be some bigotry on their side of the aisle as well.
Is this a call to renounce all forms of bigotry, or just a partisan talking point?
What I am hearing is a call to renounce all forms of bigotry, except one: Bigotry towards bigots. I applaud this notion.
No more lies, no more hate, no more religious fruit loops of any kind killing in the name of _______.
Agreed. It is the duty of all tolerant people to be utterly hostile to intolerance. Only bigots try to hide behind the “accept my bigotry or you’re intolerant” dodge.
“When people who spend 10-hours a week watching professional football yet consume their entire political beliefs from 20-second commercials have the same say as those who do the inverse?”
I’m not sure I follow. Are there many people who spend 10 hours a week watching commercials, yet get their entire political beliefs from 20 seconds of professional football?
It’s a bad sentence. You are right, Nick. Thanks.
~Cameron
This article is a disgraceful piece of dangerous mendacity. Blaming American Republicans hue for an organised Al Qeda attack that killed an American ambassador is a disgraceful lie. The US Embassy DID apologise and showed a silly disregard both for free speech & the organised nature of the terror campaign. This is a blatant piece of political hackery, an article that tries to conflate Mitt Romney’s correct & vital criticism of a foreign policy incompetent president with every thing from the Westboro Baptists to Bacile’s silly film. No mention of course of the fact that Obama has missed over half… Read more »
Read the Embassy statement again please. There is no apology to our enemies. Our president is not incompetent regarding foreign policy.
You are entitled to your opinion. You are not entitled to create your own facts.
But wingnuts occupy their own reality–of COURSE it has its own facts!
The fact is, there’s no real difference between religious fanatics of any stripe; only their methods differ.
Sorry Paddy. Obama got Bin Laden. Bush allowed 9-11 by ignoring clear warnings. Those are the facts.
Mark, I appreciate what you’re saying, and I disagree with Paddy. However, I also think it’s very dangerous to suggest that anyone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks other than Islamist terrorists. This is the biggest issue I have with Mr. Conaway’s piece. His attitudes about attributing blame seem disingenuous: he pays lip service to the idea that people should not kill each other over a fictional YouTube video, but then uses it as an excuse to launch an attack on an ideology he does not care for. It’s difficult for me to understand how we can really ever move… Read more »
Dear Mike L, You bring up some solid points here. While I don’t suggest that anyone other than Islamic terrorists are responsible for 9/11, I think it’s equally important not to just write their people off as inherently evil. Many in the Arab world believe we have killed millions of their most innocent people. Is this true? I don’t know. But I’m not entirely shut off to the idea because I think that smacks of dangerous nationalism. It’s true that I found this all a hard line to walk. Of course it is the murderers (regardless of the reason) who… Read more »
You read my mind. I spent the commute home last night ruminating on how I would respond to the neocon fundies in my family if they began beating the war drums again over this tragedy. The only answer that satisfied me was to demand that they practice the seminal teaching of their oft invoked savior: turn the other cheek. The effect of doing so – of stepping outside your hate and thirst for revenge – is life changing.
Daniel,
So glad this resonated with you. I must admit, my ruminating lasted all day until I felt absolutely compelled to make sense of the situation (to the extent possible) through writing. Your advice is right on and I hope, if indeed it was needed, that it was listened to and not just heard.
Keep being the breath between drumbeats,
~Cameron
Nicely put
Thanks, Dan!