Earlier this month Tanenbaum’s CEO Joyce Dubensky penned an Op-Ed in the Huffington Post titled Yes, I Am Afraid. The article expressed a sentiment that evoked responses from many readers and we wanted to share some of their comments with you.
A look at history – compassion combats hate:
“These are frightening and dangerous times. ISIS and others are spreading terror in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and here in the U.S. Some are claiming to “fight” this by proposing actions as un-American, dangerous, as these terrorists…playing right into their hands.
Cheering crowds at speeches calling for the banning of all Muslims from the U.S. remind many, including Germans, of what happened with the Nazis in the pre-World War II period. This also bears a striking resemblance to the McCarthy era. While it is natural for people to group together with others of the same background, especially in times such as these, it is not the right answer.
The big question is what will happen as we go forward…will more people be infected with hate? Will the bad side win? I think not, history shows us not.
The compassion of all major religions (do unto others as you would have them do to you)—The American way of life which has served as a beacon of hope to the whole world for more than 250 years: Life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness— always have ultimately won. Let’s overcome our fears, stay true to the right human principles, and we will win again.”
– American journalist
The goal of fear is power:
“Fear is most dangerous environment for human beings – nothing does so [much to] dehumanize people as fear. In our war in Bosnia I discovered the evil of fear when I was facing dehumanized soldiers— they were product of fear.
One German theologian Drewermann finds that opposite to faith is not unfaith, but fear. [The] Bible is full of warnings and encouragements: Don’t be afraid.
Terrorism is spreading of fear (fear = terror) with goal to have power on people. Many politicians and religious leaders spread out fear convincing people that they are endangered so expecting to have power on them. All humans who put people in ambient of fear are criminals, terrorists.
Our Peacemaker mission is to unmask production of fear as it is in a manner of peace witness. We Peacemakers are an alternative to fear– while we don’t allow fear to settle down in us, encouraging people not to be victims of fear.
Religions are very opportune tool for spreading fear – religions as ambient of God’s presence are most positive strength in the world, but misuse of religions is most dangerous evil in the world.
There is no Islamic terrorism, but there is misuse of Islam in politics and war. What is happening now inIslam we Christians had more times in history, and also other religions. We have to learn something from the history.”
– Friar Ivo Markovic
Reflections on disproportionate fear:
“I think it is important to not “be afraid” and realize there is a difference between not wanting something to occur and being afraid of that occurring. Fear, except in the acute instances of immediate danger, is a most unwelcome emotion. Most scientists have shown how bad it can be for our chronic health, and how it can lead to horribly bad decisions as your brain becomes hijacked by its reptilian origins.
More importantly, people need to understand that there are other more effective ways of expressing a negative want. If you don’t want something to occur, like a terrorist attack, there are reasonable things that can be done to prevent them. But people have to also understand that all attempts insure ourselves against such danger have costs. The cost of living in perpetual fear is a society where trust has eroded and everyone looks over their shoulders. Even if we prevent such horrible things such as terrorist attacks, we still have to live in such a trustless society. That doesn’t seem like a win-win. In fact, it is clearly a lose-lose.
To put this in perspective, let’s look at two other kinds of risk that somehow people are OK with — driving cars and the huge amount of guns prevalent in America. We all know that about 30,000 people will die in car accidents and another several hundred thousand will be seriously injured. We can immediately put in place a policy that would reduce this tremendously, by reducing driving speeds to 25 mph everywhere, for example. Similarly, we can put an end to the majority of gun violence tomorrow if we just agree to confiscate all civilian owned guns. Both are unacceptable to our society because we’ve collectively decided that fear isn’t worth it — that bad outcomes is a reasonable price to pay for our freedom.
What is shocking about the response to Islamic extremism and terror is that people haven’t come to similar conclusions. That is, that some acts of terror (and other crimes) will always be possible in an open trusting society, and that is a reasonable price to pay for having an open trusting society. People have decided to respond to this negative want with fear, and when fear enters the equation, the only response is the reptilian brain’s response, which is to do anything and everything to avoid and prevent what we’re afraid of.”
– Tanenbaum supporter
Claiming the mantle of faith:
“I am a Christian and my color matters not. If a person claims to be a Christian but belongs to any hate group like the KKK or any other group hating certain peoples than they are not Christians based on God’s written word. Don’t be afraid of those hate groups because that is how they grow. When we give in to fear we than start looking at groups of people we might want to join to protect ourselves but in turn we become one of the groups we fear.”
– Paolo Vescovi