Silence

It is hard to excuse silence in the face of injustice, but not so hard to understand it.

Silence as a (lack of) response to injustice has three roots: agreement, apathy, and fear. The situation that has brought this to mind at this time originates in the Middle East, but it has spread far beyond that area, and now has world-wide implications. More specifically I am referring to “radical Islam,” and its effects on its moderate coreligionists. We're always left with the questions of whether moderate Muslims actually exist and, if they do, why they don't speak out to condemn the violence their brothers and sisters initiate.

Whenever there is a discussion of terrorism, wherever it may occur, note is made of the fact that the perpetrators are almost invariably Muslims. Very often the victims are as well – especially in Muslim countries – but almost irrespective of the site of the violence, those who support it find a way to attribute the cause to Israel and to the Jews. And they succeed in this strategy because there is widespread belief – by some in virtue of Islamic teachings and by others in any tactics that are focused on the Jews. For thousands of years people have been taught to hate and fear Jews whom they view as representatives of the devil and to whom they attribute all varieties of evil. Killing them is simply fitting, and it's also a method of survival.

For somewhat less time, but still centuries, Muslims have been in agreement with such a philosophy. Their theology included “toleration,” but also taxation and subjugation of “The People of the Book,” a category that included Jews and Christians. However in the last hundred years they have emphasized actions against the Jews, primarily because there were too many Jews in a land they considered part of their demesne. (It is also important to note that the various strains of Islam also harbor ill will against each other because of historical and doctrinal differences – ill will that is often the cause of violent hostility.)

But anti-Semitism has existed away from Muslim lands for a long time and it persists even today. Perhaps it reached a peak during the Holocaust, but the underlying antipathy can be found in many lands, often disguised as “anti-Zionism” so as to make it more acceptable and give it a patina of social acceptability – even virtue. People living in safety have no difficulty in faulting those they hate, especially when that group may be in peril. They can afford to be arrogant, condescending, and “holier than thou” without facing any personal hazard. (BDS is an example of such bias disguised as an act of justice. Proof of prejudice – which, of course, they deny – is the fact that their policy is only applied to one country.)

For the most part, however, people just don't care. As the Charlie Hebdo incident is now demonstrating, with increased numbers of accusations of intolerance against the cartoonists who worked there, it is easier and (a lot) safer to blame the victim than to face the criminal. After all, the violence doesn't affect them and it's none of their business. It was admitted by Reverend Martin Niemöller: “First they [the Nazis] came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. ...” That was the first line of a “confession” that ended, “Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.” The apathetic, those who have their own problems and don't want to get involved, may themselves wind up as victims of the injustices they ignore.

But fear is the main reason people don't speak up. When you see unchecked injustice all around you it takes immeasurable courage to draw attention to yourself. Members of the press fear for their lives. If moderate Muslims don't condemn violence, it is because they fear becoming victims of it. I believe that the vast majority of Muslims are “moderates” (though current Muslim teachings may place a greater emphasis on low tolerance for difference than is found in other religions), however they are moderates who, like the victims of their coreligionists, live in fear. In a way they are like the American Jews who, during the Second World War, often hid their religion rather than speaking out for the victims of Hitler. They were afraid. There was much anti-Semitism in the United States and they feared feeding it.  I understand their anxiety, although it had catastrophic consequences.

There is a fourth cause of silence, economics, but that can usually be subsumed under the rubric of fear. It can be exemplified by two cases (though there are doubtless many others): the media's willingness to report stories in a manner favorable to the government of the country in which they work, lest they be exiled from that country, and a government's support for the existing regime in a land providing them with goods and resources that they cannot get elsewhere, or it would be prohibitively expensive to do so.

I have mentioned the Holocaust, Nazis, Hitler, and anti-Semitism. There are many who believe that invoking those images cheapens them. I understand their concerns. But it is remembrance of the Holocaust and its outcome that gives me hope at a time when the Middle East appears to be in a death spiral. The German people were complicit in the Shoah, but most of them today seem interested in going the way of tolerance. During the war the vast majority were silent about the injustice all around them. It took a thorough licking to rid them of their rulers and get them the freedom to cast off their tolerance of intolerance, but their more recent actions suggest that they have done so. The intolerance has long existed in them and others, but the tragedy of the last century may help them, and others, learn to control it. It will never be gone completely because our parents, teachers, friends, and clergy will continue to teach us this evil lesson, but it is more out in the open and subject to discussion and condemnation. The answer to the abuse of free speech is more free speech, and the answer to abuse of justice is justice, aided by free speech.

Perhaps it will take a licking of radical Islamists to restore justice to the region. And it will certainly take a reeducation of those who teach hatred – especially the clergy. But the Holocaust showed us it can be done. It was at great cost, but it was done. And silence is not the answer.