{"id":45889,"date":"2014-08-11T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=45889"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:30:46","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:30:46","slug":"hatred-in-the-nuclear-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/08\/hatred-in-the-nuclear-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Hatred in the Nuclear Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 6th, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before nuclear weapons, after nuclear weapons . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe latter era, of course,\u201d writes Noam Chomsky, \u201copened on August 6, 1945, the first day of the countdown to what may be the inglorious end of this strange species, which attained the intelligence to discover the effective means to destroy itself, but \u2014 so the evidence suggests \u2014 not the moral and intellectual capacity to control its worst instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not even close. Or so it seems on a bad day. \u201cWhy are we violent but not illiterate?\u201d asked columnist Colman McCarthy. Well, for one thing, we don\u2019t wrap illiteracy in a shroud of glory and call it war or self-defense or national security; nor have we developed a multi-trillion-dollar industry called the Illiteracy Industrial Complex (or maybe we have, and call it television). In any case, the human race has a demonstrated ability to pull itself out of an instinct-driven existence \u2014 but now finds itself at a suicidal impasse, unable, or uncertain how, to commit to taking the next step upwards, beyond violent conflict resolution and the mentality of \u201cus vs. them,\u201d and into a fuller connection with the universe.<\/p>\n

This moment, as we straddle the anniversaries of the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is a time to reflect on what happens next. Violence \u2014 disorganized and, of course, highly organized and extraordinarily sophisticated \u2014 remains humanity\u2019s obsession, preoccupation and primary distraction. Despite the ability we now possess to destroy ourselves and most life on this planet, we have barely begun to question our reflexive violence. Doing so requires looking courageously inward.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a guiding principle in this journey, perhaps it begins here:<\/p>\n

\u201c. . .\u00a0 conflict escalates \u2014 that is, moves increasingly toward violence \u2014 according to the degree of dehumanization in the situation,\u201d writes Stephanie Van Hook, executive director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, summarizing the work of Michael Nagler, who wrote The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action<\/em>. \u201cViolence, in other words, doesn\u2019t occur without dehumanization.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is simplicity itself, is it not? As long as we respect the person or group with whom we\u2019re in conflict, both sides, eventually, win. It gets tricky, however, when one side adamantly refuses to show respect, and even more so when there\u2019s an imbalance of power involved \u2014 and when one\u2019s life is in danger. What does \u201cshowing respect\u201d even mean in such circumstances? It could mean \u201cturning the other cheek,\u201d but two millennia on, this concept remains misunderstood as passive compliance and buried six feet deep in cynicism.<\/p>\n

Gandhi re-energized the idea and called it \u201csatyagraha\u201d: seize the truth. That is to say, refuse either to dehumanize the other person or let the other person do it to you. Stand with courage and change the world. But the popular understanding of this idea is precarious. The media extol violent elimination of conflict \u2014 poof! evil loses \u2014 and capitalism caters to every side in almost every global feud. Ongoing dehumanization of one\u2019s enemy is a source of unending profit, if not an economic necessity.<\/p>\n

And this, I repeat, is the situation in a nuclear-armed world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost urgently, why does such breathtaking audacity persist at a moment when we should stand trembling in the face of our folly and united in our commitment to abolish its most deadly manifestation?\u201d<\/p>\n

These are the words of Gen. Lee Butler, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command, keeper of the nation\u2019s nuclear arsenal, who, post-retirement, became haunted by the work he did and turned into a zealot for nuclear disarmament.<\/p>\n

In his essay, \u201cDeath by Deterrence,\u201d Butler noted that, \u201cfrom the earliest days of the nuclear era, the risks and consequences of nuclear war have never been properly weighed by those who brandished it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conclusion I draw from this observation, by a man who has stared into the nuclear abyss, is that the temptation to dehumanize \u201cthe other\u201d \u2014 whoever that may be \u2014 and keep the world, as it were, safe for violence, surmounts the rationality of survival. Continuing to develop nuclear weapons, generation after generation, means that one day they will be used. And in a world festooned with dehumanized people, such a day will be sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easier to hate than to love. We can maintain hatred for \u201cthe other\u201d and remain certain of who we are. To love \u2014 especially beyond our obvious self-interest \u2014 is no small feat. Every religion reaches toward this peak of being in its teaching, but falls short of it in its practical application. Indeed, sustaining hatred for an enemy creates group coherence. And violence sustains the hatred, because without it, one would have to accept the blame for every murder committed in the name of that hatred.<\/p>\n

As Rabbi Michael Lerner recently wrote: \u201c. . . one of the primary victims of the war between Israel and Hamas is the compassionate and love-oriented Judaism that has held together for several thousand years.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think we do have the moral and intellectual capacity to control our worst instincts, but I don\u2019t know if we have the will, or the time, to rebuild our lives, and our global civilization, around the best of who we are. Another anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remind us that the clock is ticking.<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based peace journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His book, <\/em>Courage Grows Strong at the Wound(Xenos Press), is still available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com<\/a> or visit his website.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 commonwonders.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 6th, 2014 – \u201cWhy are we violent but not illiterate?\u201d asked columnist Colman McCarthy. Well, for one thing, we don\u2019t wrap illiteracy in a shroud of glory and call it war or self-defense or national security; nor have we developed a multi-trillion-dollar industry called the Illiteracy Industrial Complex (or maybe we have, and call it television).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tms-peace-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}