Drafted But Not Published Letter to the Editor

As I listlessly leafed through recent articles on courses on religion and editorials regarding ‘ISIL’ in the Bee, I thought…

How tempting it is to explain ‘extremism’ with religious fundamentalism, even if doing so opens up a space for a not-so-hidden racism to rear its ugly head again, ignoring our co-participation in a tennis-ball-like-volley of the means of force which has exponentially increased the use of violence overall.

And while it’s easy to blame the opposing party (and I agree that some really don’t want to share the world with us), I still wonder: will annihilating them really create the environment of cooperation and liberty for which we, as a community, strive and stand?

Moreover, I think: are not the “zings” and “bangs” and flashes-in-the-night that make the news like Rambo-in-the-theater real scenes of death? Of real pain, of real destruction, of real, irrevocable annihilation for countless anonymous millions?

While I worry about our future, too, I still ask: who is the enemy anyways? and what do we win in this escalation of death and debt? Victory may seem to cover irreparable loss – even if another bears the cost – but is war really just a game to be played like any other?