Reap a Whirlwind

During the Brexit campaign (should Britain stay or leave the EU?), a British MP was murdered. It was surprising that such a thing could happen even in a developed country. Alex Massie explains why it happened and the reasons are scary because they extend well beyond it was a mad man who did it.

First, because the stakes are so high:
“A referendum is one of those moments when it counts. There is no do-over, no consoling thought in defeat that, at least, there’s always next season. No, defeat is permanent and for keeps. That’s why a referendum is so much uglier than a general election.”

Next, because the stakes are high, the campaigns become ugly. And that creates what Massie calls “multiplier effects”:
“Sometimes rhetoric has consequences. If you spend days, weeks, months, years telling people they are under threat, that their country has been stolen from them, that they have been betrayed and sold down the river, that their birthright has been pilfered, that their problem is they’re too slow to realise any of this is happening, that their problem is they’re not sufficiently mad as hell, then at some point, in some place, something or someone is going to snap. And then something terrible is going to happen.”

Could the campaigners have foreseen where all this would lead to? In terms of any one specific event, the answer’s easy: No, nobody could have predicted it. But what about the direction where things were headed?
“When you encourage rage you cannot then feign surprise when people become enraged. You cannot turn around and say, ‘Mate, you weren’t supposed to take it so seriously. It’s just a game, just a ploy, a strategy for winning votes.’”

Does all that sound familiar to what happens world over, at home and in the Islamic world?

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarJune 22, 2016 at 9:37 PM

    Yes yes. Your analysis sounds good alright.

    Now, moving away from your subject (which I usually do), day after day I feel more convinced on the Buddha's message. He always emphasized on a cool mind or, should I say, a very balanced mind. To be precise he always encouraged people to attain "equanimity". Though I myself have not any near in achieving that ideal, I am convinced that it is worth chasing for a whole life time (and beyond too, which will happen once started). What I notice is that many in this world have no inkling that equanimity leads to real, inner peace (not conditioned by external circumstances) and that is the most valuable thing. Sadly, more people are taking to extremes and causing suffering to others. It is only because their mind oscillates between the extremes and they are slaves of their demonic mind.

    I am very happy that for me and Geetha this ideal of the Buddha has found deep roots. We are not thinking of our failures in our progress towards this worthy goal. We will strive and seek and find - and not yield.

    We all can be masters of our minds, even though the mind, the mightiest of all monkeys, knows all the tricks to enslave us. Even if the Buddha doesn't mean much to many of us, at least that much effort to disallow extremism and fanaticism to take over us and wreck havoc. For that also, some mastery over the mind is unavoidable.

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