Stuff that makes little sense to me: Thinking of other people, cultures or religions as EVIL
There was a terrorist attack on the office of satirical paper Charlie Hebdo last Wednesday which killed twelve people, the murder of an unarmed policewoman last Thursday and the hostage-taking at a kosher deli resulting in four deaths on Friday. It's been a week of being glued to the television and laptop, a week of checking websites and social media feeds for information, answers and others' opinions about what is going on in our world. Predictably, there are those who loudly scream that Islam is evil or that all Muslims are evil. Please, give me a break. Extremism is what's dangerous, and thinking that your way being superior to another's way allows you to kill them when you disagree about something as insignificant as a satirical drawing.
I had never heard of Charlie Hebdo before Wednesday, had never seen a single one of their cartoons. Even though I live in western Europe, even though I started learning French in primary school, even though I've been to France on multiple occasions, I had never heard of them, had never paid them or their views any attention. Satirical cartoons can be funny, they can make you think, they can make you howl with laughter or cry because the cartoon's simply not funny or genuinely upsetting to you. I don't always like everything I read or see, I am often insulted by advertisements, the blatant commercialism of my culture and my country makes my head hurt and I have been known to yell at the television because I view coverage of certain situations or events as ridiculously biased and one-sided. However not liking something does not automatically mean that I feel the need to utterly destroy it. Let alone the need to kill those who created it.
I grew up in western Europe, in The Netherlands. We spoke both Dutch and English at home, which means I grew up speaking (and thinking in) two languages. As a daughter of a Kiwi and a Kaaskop, I grew up surrounded by my father's Dutch culture while learning about Kiwi culture from my mother and from holidays to NZ every few years. I learnt to think about language as something that changes and adapts as needed because that is how I experienced it. When talking to friends I spoke colloquial Dutch, when talking to their parents I spoke politely. When speaking to my family in NZ, I spoke regular English; when speaking to mom's colleagues, I spoke proper English. At home we often mixed Dutch words into English sentences or English words into Dutch ones. Again - this allowed me to see the fluidity of language and the way we can adapt it to our needs and our changing society.
As a 15-year old I learnt to read and write the Arabic script. Years later I decided to tackle Hebrew as well, something I am still struggling with today. I'm not fluent in either language, not even remotely. However I can sound out what I read and recognise familiar words when I read them, something which pleases me greatly. Learning basic Arabic and Hebrew helped me expand my ideas about language and writing, helped me think outside the 'western- and southern-European languages' box, so to speak.
Growing up, I thought of religious/spiritual views, laws and values as things people decide for themselves, not something unchangeable and laid down from above for all people. If Something is normal in The Netherlands but strange in New Zealand, it means that that something is not normal everywhere. If Something is legal in New Zealand but illegal in The Netherlands, it means it is not legal everywhere. If driving on the left is normal in NZ but driving on the right is normal in NL, then is either one superior to the other? No, just different. What I'm trying to say is that I learnt to think about societal definers like laws values, morals, religious attitudes and such as local and changeable, not as universal. I didn't grow up thinking that MY way was the only right or proper way, because I had two ways for everything, not just one way.
Pretending I'm some sort of saint or perfect person is not the intent of this post - I am neither. Some things I'm better at than others, other things I suck at - same as all other people on this planet.
What I do want to get to is this: If attitudes, languages, religions, laws and ways of life are normal in one country but not normal in another country, they are not normal everywhere yet normal somewhere. None is better or more superior, they are simply different, just as driving on the left is normal in one country and driving on the right in another. So when do we get to decide what is evil and what is good? When do we get to decide who gets to live and who dies? Do we ever, as humans?
Most religions and societies have written and unwritten rules about what is good and lawful and what is not. Hospitality to strangers, caring for orphans and widows, treating your children well and having respect for parents and those with more (life) experience than we have are things I see not just in The Netherlands and New Zealand but all over the world. Stealing, deception and eating other human beings are things most humans all around the world abhor. While we may differ over some things, we also agree on many other things. That is what makes the world such an interesting place to learn about: We are all different, we all think different thoughts, we all speak different languages, we all have different religions, yet we are still so similar when you look past the obvious differences.
Should we kill those we don't agree with? Should we shut them up, permanently? Should we attack them violently because they anger us or should we simply be the bigger person and ignore them? We are all human, yet we are not all the same. All people are different. Who are we to decide when other people deserve to die? Who are we to judge them worthy or not worthy, good or evil? Who are we that we think we're allowed to pretend we're God?
I had never heard of Charlie Hebdo before Wednesday, had never seen a single one of their cartoons. Even though I live in western Europe, even though I started learning French in primary school, even though I've been to France on multiple occasions, I had never heard of them, had never paid them or their views any attention. Satirical cartoons can be funny, they can make you think, they can make you howl with laughter or cry because the cartoon's simply not funny or genuinely upsetting to you. I don't always like everything I read or see, I am often insulted by advertisements, the blatant commercialism of my culture and my country makes my head hurt and I have been known to yell at the television because I view coverage of certain situations or events as ridiculously biased and one-sided. However not liking something does not automatically mean that I feel the need to utterly destroy it. Let alone the need to kill those who created it.
Stuff that makes little sense to me:
Thinking of other people, cultures or religions as EVIL
I grew up in western Europe, in The Netherlands. We spoke both Dutch and English at home, which means I grew up speaking (and thinking in) two languages. As a daughter of a Kiwi and a Kaaskop, I grew up surrounded by my father's Dutch culture while learning about Kiwi culture from my mother and from holidays to NZ every few years. I learnt to think about language as something that changes and adapts as needed because that is how I experienced it. When talking to friends I spoke colloquial Dutch, when talking to their parents I spoke politely. When speaking to my family in NZ, I spoke regular English; when speaking to mom's colleagues, I spoke proper English. At home we often mixed Dutch words into English sentences or English words into Dutch ones. Again - this allowed me to see the fluidity of language and the way we can adapt it to our needs and our changing society.
As a 15-year old I learnt to read and write the Arabic script. Years later I decided to tackle Hebrew as well, something I am still struggling with today. I'm not fluent in either language, not even remotely. However I can sound out what I read and recognise familiar words when I read them, something which pleases me greatly. Learning basic Arabic and Hebrew helped me expand my ideas about language and writing, helped me think outside the 'western- and southern-European languages' box, so to speak.
Growing up, I thought of religious/spiritual views, laws and values as things people decide for themselves, not something unchangeable and laid down from above for all people. If Something is normal in The Netherlands but strange in New Zealand, it means that that something is not normal everywhere. If Something is legal in New Zealand but illegal in The Netherlands, it means it is not legal everywhere. If driving on the left is normal in NZ but driving on the right is normal in NL, then is either one superior to the other? No, just different. What I'm trying to say is that I learnt to think about societal definers like laws values, morals, religious attitudes and such as local and changeable, not as universal. I didn't grow up thinking that MY way was the only right or proper way, because I had two ways for everything, not just one way.
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| @Nimavenl |
What I do want to get to is this: If attitudes, languages, religions, laws and ways of life are normal in one country but not normal in another country, they are not normal everywhere yet normal somewhere. None is better or more superior, they are simply different, just as driving on the left is normal in one country and driving on the right in another. So when do we get to decide what is evil and what is good? When do we get to decide who gets to live and who dies? Do we ever, as humans?
Most religions and societies have written and unwritten rules about what is good and lawful and what is not. Hospitality to strangers, caring for orphans and widows, treating your children well and having respect for parents and those with more (life) experience than we have are things I see not just in The Netherlands and New Zealand but all over the world. Stealing, deception and eating other human beings are things most humans all around the world abhor. While we may differ over some things, we also agree on many other things. That is what makes the world such an interesting place to learn about: We are all different, we all think different thoughts, we all speak different languages, we all have different religions, yet we are still so similar when you look past the obvious differences.
Should we kill those we don't agree with? Should we shut them up, permanently? Should we attack them violently because they anger us or should we simply be the bigger person and ignore them? We are all human, yet we are not all the same. All people are different. Who are we to decide when other people deserve to die? Who are we to judge them worthy or not worthy, good or evil? Who are we that we think we're allowed to pretend we're God?
