The Uncivilised, Barbaric, Illiterate, Crazy, Violent ‘Other’ In Our Midst

Each of us is capable of anything. It just takes being in the right situation – Michael Haneke

I refuse to write off the Taliban as the quintessential bad guys. I’m not going to allow myself to feel moral superiority over a suicide bomber, something I won’t assume I am not capable of. When we impose a binary division on the good and bad guys, we limit our understanding of the world and all its microcosms. We absolve ourselves of that responsibility by reducing the definition of who the enemy is.

I’ve always believed myself to be somewhat of a pacifist, I couldn’t imagine myself hurting an animal, let alone another human being. Lately I have realized I’m not only capable of wishing harm on others, I can also envision violence and plan on carrying it out one day. The point is, there are no good or bad people and it’s not us (conveniently of the blameless lot) vs. them (the heartless and the culpable).

Here’s a mental exercise. Ask yourself this: Had I been born a male-bodied individual in Waziristan, what would my story have been? What would my socialization and learning have amounted to? What grievances would I have with the world for denying me inclusion and participation in the global majority?

I think about the Red Army Faction, the early anarchists, the Bolsheviks, the Weatherman, Tamil Tigers, Hamas and all the way up to Al-Qaida and the Taliban. I wonder what the pre-conditions are for terrorism, whether it comes from the right or the left, and whether it’s politically or religiously motivated. Haneke reckons that wherever people are in a hopeless, unhappy and humiliating situation, they will grasp at any straw that is handed to them.

I have lived a privileged middle-class life. I am able, economically privileged and my gender and sexual preferences are acceptable to the middle-class affluent majority. For the most part, I don’t know what it feels like to be marginalized. I can’t speak on their behalf because I can’t even imagine what suffering their stories have entailed. Who the hell am I then to assume I’m the better person, or rather, gasp, the more educated and intelligent person? Who put me on the moral high ground to dictate the terms and conditions of everyone’s existence?

Let’s not delude ourselves.

When we condone, support and encourage military operation against a group of people, we are in essence expressing our desire to keep our privilege at the expense of their lives. We don’t want to share our privileged lives. We fear the inclusion of the ‘other’ in our perceived mainstream. Their difference from us makes us uncomfortable and our violent treatment of them justifiable (at least to us). Violence begets violence and we find ourselves in a deep hole we can’t dig ourselves out of. Ironically we think bombing the smithereens out of them is the solution.

It’s not.

Disclaimer: I’m not condoning ‘terrorism’, bomb blasts, suicide bombs or any violent attacks. If you think that then you are misreading me and fuelling the same binary that I’m warning about. It is not a binary, it is NOT an either or situation. Don’t fall into the Bush rhetoric of “either you’re with us or against us”. I’m not with either. Just because I don’t wish to obliterate a people out of existence does not mean I support their violent means. I’m just saying if I was that person living that life in Waziristan or Swat, who is to say I would not pick up the bomber’s vest today.

Disclaimer No. 2: I’m not a journalist, blogger, political analyst or any other form of expert. I don’t have anything original to say, usually. These are mostly incoherent, probably deeply flawed thoughts at 4 a.m.