This post is going to be rough. It highlights the complacency of the so-called "silent majority".
It is a rough translation from an email I received. It speaks volumes to me because I react, I call in, I write about it, I say something about it when most people around me shrug their shoulders and say it is life. No, it is not life. It is life becoming and we are not disempowered. We can choose to say: "I don't like it. Three is something wrong here. It should not happen." And when more than one person says no, citizens reclaim their disenfranchisement.
Before I translate this, I wanted to explain where I come from. We should always do this. We come to the table fully loaded with previous experiences that shape the way we see life and reason. These are some of mine.
I was molested as a six or seven year-young kid. While the act was traumatizing, what followed was worse. The authorities did nothing. They told the perpetrator that they knew who he was and that he could never come back to the city. That was it. I stepped up to the plate like a good little soldier wand was left behind... It was in the 1970s and things have changed since, but not as much as they should. Ever since,
I grew up to be leery of authorities, adulthood, justice, and what we are taught, how we are raised, and everything that we are told is good and wrong in our society. I have lived in many parts of the world and all societies have their weaknesses. That is why I raise my voice. I say when I see or hear something. I call out bullyism.
This email is from a German who has since passed away. It highlights how the silent majority is responsible for letting things get horribly wrong. Without calling for a rise to arm, an intelligent citizen is one who calls out when there is something wrong and does not just shrug shoulders saying it's life.
Martin Niemoller was a German pastor sent to the concentration camp Sachsenhausen, then to Dachau, and eventually liberated in 1945. He famously wrote a poem called: "First they came". He says that back then in Germany on the eve of world war 2 (WWII), few people were nazis but many were happy with their new-found national pride. He says the silent majority just let it happen. All of a sudden, everyone realized they controlled everything, liberties were lost, Most people lost everything, and allied destroyed their farms and manufacturies.
He continues by saying that Russian simply wanted to live in peace. They saw the rise of the communists that eventually killed 20 million people. The silent majority did not do anything because they most likely did not feel it concerned them.
The vast majority of Chinese were pacifist also. But the silent majority said nothing as the communist killed 70 million people.
Before WWII, the vast majority of Japanese people just wanted better lives. Somehow the silent majority did nothing when their government and forces went on a carnage in south Asia by murdering 12 million with swords, shovels, and bayonets.
The silent majority in Rwanda were also for peace and prosperity, yet the country collapsed with an atrocious war.
Germans, Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Rwandans, Serbes, Albans, Afghans, Irakians, Iranians, Palestinians, Algerians, Nigerians, and many, many more loved peace over war. But their silent majority let it all happen.
History teaches us a lot yet somehow we let them slip by despite our reasoning capacity. Hundreds of years ago Christians waged wars. Yesterday, political parties did the same. Today, Islam is shaping up to become the next center-stage act. How many Muslims do you know who are peace-loving individuals? Millions do yet what is the silent majority doing or saying hearing "kill infidels", i.e., anyone not belonging to that religion? Nothing much. You can see the stage set for the current massacres.
The poem says that "when they came to seek the communist, I didn't care. I wasn't one." Same with Jews, Catholics, and more. And when they came to get me, there was no one left...
His poem is chilling in light of the divisions inflicted upon our societies, our humanity. Yet, the silent majority shrugs its communal shoulders and says: "C'est la vie! What will I wear tomorrow?"
It makes one wonder why are there so many complacent people watching atrocities. All it takes is a call to the police to report something suspicious, a call to the post office to say the wrong letters were delivered, a letter to our politicians saying they are not good stewards anymore and we will not be toyed by two parties that have never fixed anything in 70 years. It is so simple in the end.
The more I get older the more I am happy I never brought in children in this hypocritical zoo.
