The Oppenheimer Report 11/23/15

Rwanda 1994

I am troubled today. The wind is tearing across the lake, and the day is cold and forbidding. Sometimes the weather up here parallels my state of mind. Shauna reminds me to focus on all that is good in my life, and I know that I am one of the most fortunate men in the world. Of late, and especially in the past month, I have been beset with drama, much of it out of my control, which leaves me feeling anxious and at odds with myself. Certainly, the recent attacks in Paris are high on the list of contributing factors. I’m having trouble sorting it all out, but here are some random thoughts. Please forgive my self-righteous rant.

Terrorism is a sad fact of life, but terrorism and zealotry have been around for a long, long time. I’m part way through a very long but interesting article, published in The Atlantic, entitled What ISIS Really Wants, which attempts to shed light on what the Islamic State is and what it hopes to accomplish. The answers are unsettling, but what is most unsettling to me, what keeps me awake at night, is the profound ignorance of most Westerners, myself included, as to what these people, and many others believe. One can hate one’s enemy, but it might be helpful to know who the enemy is. In my opinion, hatred and zealotry are the enemies.This particular group of Muslim fundamentalists believes that the end is near, and they are, in the words of a character in the movie Pulp Fiction, ready “to go medieval on our asses.” They are medieval in their interpretation of the Koran and they intend to wipe out all apostates. That, by the way, represents the majority of the world’s population. To most westerners, these are just a fringe group of crazy religious fanatics which can be exterminated, but aside from the fact that the media is doing a great job of promoting their agenda of fear and terrorism, they seem to be attracting a larger and larger following. When followers are willing to blow themselves up or embark on suicide murdering sprees, for whatever misguided cause, this becomes, at least in conventional terms, an indefensible “war.” The only possible solution, short of annihilating an entire race of people, is to try and understand and perhaps marginalize the ideology that promotes this violence. We can ignore the warning signs, as we sip our five dollar Starbucks frappamochachinos while watching Ballbuster Housewives of Newark, but the canary is choking, and nobody has really been paying attention. There are a lot of desperate, hopeless people in the world. Right now the spotlight is on Syria, but there are dozens of other countries where the violence that occurred last week in Paris happens just about every day. Without giving the hopeless hope, how do we win this war?

I watched a documentary dealing with the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, and it was eerily similar to the Paris attacks. Although law enforcement authorities completely dropped the ball during the Mumbai attack, and a handful of unspectacular foot soldiers were able to wreak havoc on a city of 18 Million, somehow intelligence did intercept cell phone conversations of the killers talking to their central command unit. The conversations (over 200 cell phone calls were intercepted) were chilling. One of the killers was captured alive and it became clear that the foot soldiers were simply young, brainwashed followers doing exactly what they were told to do. Fear, hatred, and the absence of hope can spread like wildfire, and they are dangerous motivators.

We are whipped into a frenzy of fear by reports of Muslim fanatics torturing and murdering innocent civilians, but we ignore the much greater threat that the disconnected, impoverished, and mentally ill in our own North American countries will fly off the handle. Look at the recent race riots sparked by police brutality in America. Look at all the gun violence in North America. Religious fanatics in The Middle East are not, contrary to popular opinion, our biggest concern. “We have seen the enemy and he is us.” I am concerned we North Americans, and again, myself included, are losing our souls to fear, hatred, ignorance, and mistrust. We humans never seem to learn from our mistakes. Figure out how to be charitable of heart and the problem eventually solves itself. Desperation and poverty breed more desperation and poverty. There are wonderful people everywhere in the world. Some of them need our help. Find them, embrace them, love them. It seems to me that one can’t keep “out” what is already entrenched in our culture. Help someone who needs help. If you have had good fortune, pay it forward. Do more good than bad. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? Well it’s not, and I have struggled with this for most of my life. Not in my backyard. While I am more charitable than I was, I have a long, long way to go. My heart bleeds for every casualty of the Paris attacks, and also for the Tutsis of Rwanda, the blood diamond victims of civil war in Sierra Leone, the victims of the Pol Pot massacres in Cambodia, the Armenian genocide, the 6 Million Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis, the PTS plagued North American veterans who feel that suicide is the only viable solution to the demons in their heads, and for the millions of other casualties of the evil we all feel so helpless to counteract.

 

Learn something about your (perceived) enemy. Don’t burn down a mosque, but if you can, maybe try to change a troubled mind.

You can start with mine.

 

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED