It is often said that moments of crisis bring out the best or worst in people. It’s also said that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
In a society like ours that’s overrun with fear of terrorism, remaining silent amidst ignorance and hate is equally detrimental to terrorism itself. We must not let bigotry scream louder than rational discussion.
Terrorism’s purpose is to make people afraid. It aims to challenge and destroy societal norms that have been created and continue to evolve in the communities we live in. Terrorists aim to achieve this by dismantling communities on a domestic or international scale.
The effects of a terrorist attack do not stop after reports have been filed, funerals have been held, and politicians have made statements. After those things are all over, we must not let the ripple effects of terrorism infect the healthy parts of our communities.
Instead, we must promote the very thing terrorists try to rob from us — freedom to enjoy a community held together by our differences, where cultures intertwine and prosper.
But notice that I haven’t yet mentioned religion, because it has no place in this discussion. Religion is not the root of terrorism. It is not the justification for terrorism.
The perversions of religious teachings do not make it factual. The thoughts of a few who act on these perversions do not represent what a religion stands for. We must not use them as our own brush to paint misguided strokes full of hate against a religion practiced by billions of peaceful people.
Some have done just that. Burning down a mosque and assaulting a Muslim woman helps nobody but the actors who carried out the heinous attacks of the previous weeks. These actions only accomplish the isolation of the Muslim population, and the further legitimization of terrorist organizations.
As a country, we need to have a robust and comprehensive discussion around terrorism. We need to talk about the issues making it possible: geopolitical forces, economic inequality, foreign policy, and omit religion from these discussion. It is not until we have done this that we can make substantive progress on containing terrorism and, by extension, improve our society.
