Coexist
I like Bono. (He’s the frontman for U2, and is known for his humanitarian endeavors, especially regarding Africa.) Sometimes when he’s performing, Bono puts a blindfold on. This blindfold says “Coexist”, and has the Islamic crescent for the “c”, the Jewish Star of David for the “x”, and the Cross for the “t”. It’s a great reminder that we need to live in peace even with those with whom we don’t agree, and I’m all for that.
The concept of coexistence is great, as long as your worldview allows it. For example, as a Christian, I’m fine with coexisting with people who disagree with me. If you’re a hindu, I don’t agree with you, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get along. But what happens when you have a group of people (for example, radical muslims) whose worldview basically says, “Agree with me or die”? We see examples of this “agree with me or else” worldview in many places in the world–radical muslims, genocides, perhaps the new Hamas government, and people who refuse to recognize and even want the elimination of the country of Israel.
How can you coexist with someone who wants to kill you?
There are several options, some of which are:
1. Ignore them* until they attack you.
2. Kill all the intolerant people, showing that you are intolerant towards intolerance.
3. Impose political, economic, and other sanctions and penalties.
*Please note that we are not talking about countries here, but religious/other groups that are throughout the world.
What do you think? Is there an answer, even a short-term one?
Rachel responds:
Posted: March 28th, 2006 at 4:50 pm →
There is no easy answer to this question. Men (humans in general)are inherently selfish and want things their way. Many will use arguments to prove their point and then when it is revealed that their argument is false, void or plain stupid, they refuse to accept that.
It is a human fault that we try to fit big, messy, incomprehensible things into nice, neat packages. We want to understand things.
But the thing that you truly have to understand is that nothing is nice and neat. It is messy, ugly, confusing, beautiful and exactly matches what we are as humans.
You can’t treat everyone with the same brush stroke.
Your example of Bono was a great one. He speaks to people from all walks of life. He uses different arguments for each one. He finds out their passion and uses it to his advantage to get them on board with him and his views of peace in the world. With Bush he uses Christian conservative reasons and with other people, he speaks to what they identify with like reducing land mines.
Instead of lumping everyone into the same mold, you have to find out what motivates that specific person and run with it. It is only then that things will ever truly change.