Why I Disagree with Warren

Evil is done, someone once said, by those who cannot be heard.  I disagree.  Profound evil was done, in this case, because ISIS believe their propaganda would be seen and heard.

Warren Kinsella makes a compelling case as to why we should not watch the ISIS video recording the murder of Jim Foley.  There are many who agree with him; "once seen, it cannot be unseen" has been a common response.

To watch the video is to submit oneself to terror, the argument goes.  See it, and they win - their message is that powerful.  Take us seriously, world, because we are a threat, we can be anywhere.  We can even be your neighbour.

The purpose of terrorism is to instill terror.  If terrorists make you afraid, they've won.  To deny them this opportunity by ignoring their acts, then, is to deny them a win.

Right?

I can understand this argument, just as I understand the ability of fear to consume one's thoughts and paralyze one's actions.  

I understand, but I disgree with it.  Here's why.

Fear is a feeling that varies in scope; it can be induced through varying means.  A workplace bully or a schoolyard bully that shouts down, punches or belittles is on the same spectrum as the people who've flocked to the ISIS banner.

In all cases, the attempt is to empower oneself at the expense of others and scare people into staying out of your way.

Nasty political attacks are a more civilized form of marginalizing foes and discouraging competition, but they, too, attempt to scare the other guys into looking over their shoulder so that they stop moving forward.

ISIS is a small group in a foreign land, though they are comprised of citizens from around the world.  What they are trying to do, however, isn't much different than what the Nazis did within the contained space of occupied Europe.

Fear was their biggest weapon, one they used to keep people in line.  If you went against the Nazi regime, your life was forfeit.  You weren't safe from their ideology, even at home - in Vichy France in particular, you couldn't tell who was foe and who was ally.

Most people, fearing for their safety, complied - but not everyone.

Across Occupied Europe, resistance cells formed.  Even in Concentration Camps like Buchenwald, resistance groups were formed and operated at great peril to themselves.

Unlike us, these folks couldn't choose not to expose themselves to the terror being imposed upon them. They lived it every day - and yet they didn't let it stop them.  They overcame their fear, harnessed their fear and, in so doing, inspired others with their courage.

It was that courage - the willingness to stare death and fear in the face and still keep on going - that won the war.  It's been a deciding factor in every war man has committed against himself.

Part of war is hatred, as Kinsella himself has previously observed.  You have to hate your foe, hate them so much that you see them as animals to be able to treat them as such.  This is why the cops in Ferguson call protesters animals; it's why any oppressed minority groups gets compared to vermin.  Unless you're a psychopath and have no empathy at all, you have to dehumanize your foes to treat them in an inhuman manner.

Hatred is no small part of what fuels ISIS.  It allows them to do dishonour others in a way they would never tolerate among their own.  From their perspective, as the video clearly demonstrated, "they" were wronged by the US in Guantanamo in Iraq, wherever; this is them upping the game to show that they are an even greater threat to be feared.  Escalation is as escalation does; it's never eye for an eye, it's bring a gun to a knife fight.

I myself have watched the video.  It's not the first time I've seen a brutal death (and I've seen a couple in person) but I cringed none-the-less.  I feel a great swell of empathy for the Foley family; no one should have to endure such torment which, for them, will likely never end.  For Jim Foley himself, I feel at ease; however horrendous his last few years and in particular those last few moments were, his suffering is now over.

For the ISIS folk, though, if I feel anything it is pity.  Pity, because they have lost their way - with every act they commit they bring themselves further and further away from the faith and values they claim to be enforcing.  They worship false gods; there is no sanctuary that await them, not in this world or any other.  

They have made the choice to reject their humanity.  That's what I took away from watching the murder. That, and the realization that they have more hostages, as well as sway over countless innocents in the Middle East.  

As a human being, I am worried about them, the people who are right now at risk because of ISIS' shunning of their humanity.  I want to know what I can do to save them from similar terrors, because they are our brothers and sisters.  If I could, I'd save those enslaved by the ideology of terror that embodies ISIS from themselves - I would help them rediscover their humanity, and their path.

But saving innocent lives takes precedence over saving lost souls.

When ISIS is demolished and justice brought to these murderers, I will feel regret that it came to this, but will remember and be that much more engaged to ensure my children don't have to live through the same terrors as did my grandfather.

Why do Catholics obsess so over the Passion of Christ?  Is it not a kind of violence porn?  Yes, but it also serves as a rallying cry, a reminder, a mission statement.  Let that death serve as a catalyst for us so that we may make the world better.  

I have seen the murder of Jim Foley, a martyr for the cause that all faiths represent - a light in the dark rather than a lengthening shadow.  I have seen manifest the threat that faces humanity and it isn't a banner, a nation or an ideology - it is fear itself.  Of others, of ourselves.  Fear condemns us to live in the darkness, in silos, in The Cave.

I don't fear their heart of darkness.  I know we have the light on our side.  It's already been kindled; when we harness it, we will always, always push the darkness away.  

That's the only way to stop a bully, whether it's a kid in a schoolyard or a murdering terrorist hiding behind a mask; to look them in the eye and remind them that it doesn't matter how strong they feel they are - we are many, and we are legion and we will not waver.

Conquering fear and standing up for what's right not for ourselves, but for each other - that's how we win.