certitude leads to violence

[kaant]

Bless America?

In his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "The Metaphysical Club," Louis Menand says
that all the lessons Oliver Wendell Holmes learned from his experiences in civil
war, of seeing his friends killed and a nation ripped apart, could be reduced to
one sentence; "It is that certitude leads to violence." When people have an
unshakable conviction that what they believe to be true and right, without
qualification or openness to debate, they will eventually confront another group
of people who hold the opposite view and the inevitable result will always be
bloodshed. Though Holmes fought for the union side, he eventually found that
even when you believe yourself to be on the higher ground morally, the clash
that comes from conflicting ideologies will often produce even greater horrors.

On the anniversary of the tragic events of September 11th, people will be left
with the agonizing question of why this terrible event occurred. Some will point
to the gulf war, others to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the middle east and the
U.S. support for Israel, even more will say there can be no clear answer. Much
like Oliver Wendell Holmes' summation of the Civil War, it seems clear that this
was the inevitable first major collision of the world's prevailing belief
systems in the modern age. In the late 1800s the war was fought in our country
over the issue of slavery and succession from the union, in Vietnam it was the
spread of political and economic ideologies. Now the conflict arises from the
clash of our planet's most fundamental, yet mutually exclusive belief systems.

Witnessing then the events of September 11th was even more difficult for the
silent masses of agnostics than it was for the members of the world's
established religions. Muslims, Christians and Jews believe in a whole passion
play of good vs. evil, heaven and hell, God vs. Satan, and that in some all
knowing way God has a purpose and a plan, and that violence, suffering and
sorrow must all be a part of it. They can witness these events secure in the
knowledge that the all-powerful being that protects them and listens to their
prayers must in some way have a reason for allowing this kind of tragedy.

Muslim extremists all over the globe respond to the call for jihad against the
infidels, church going Americans proselytize on the Internet, on bumper stickers
and from the white house as we ask for God's blessing for unleashing our massive
war machine. We pray that God will smite our enemies who have made the fatal
mistake of believing as we do in the belief system that has been passed down for
generations as the un-challengeable and supreme truth. The ideologically
indistinguishable teachings of the Bible, Koran and Torah are the fabric of our
lives growing up, the center of our universe philosophically and spiritually.
Unfortunately, the first law or commandment of all these religions is that ours
is the one true God and there are no others before Him. Accordingly, we hold
this intransigent belief so dearly that any challenge to our belief system can
produce a homicidal, even suicidal, response to defend it. The terrorists who
crashed those planes into those towers were just as assured of their entrance into heaven as Billy Graham will be on his own
day of reckoning.

So for the masses of people who admit to not having all the answers when it
comes to the big questions of the universe, sitting on the sidelines and
watching as the faithful combatants wreak havoc on the world, the heartache of
having to share the planet with the maniacally self-righteous has been a
constant source of despair when you consider the seemingly infinite number of
lives wasted on our own arrogance to force our beliefs on one another. The
atrocities of September 11th were the latest in a long history of battles where
our "certitude led to violence." The question is, when will the silent millions
of those who hold the more rational belief that no one really has all the
answers, convince those who think they do, that they should practice what they
preach, and entertain the idea of tolerance of opposing views, and admit that we
really can't be certain of anything, especially who God is? My heart goes out to
the victims and their families, and to us for having witnessed it.

[B]<font size=10>i got this from an email from Epitaph records</font>[b]

<font color="#6699FF" size="1">[ September 19, 2002 06:08 AM: Message edited by: Socialaus ]</font>

[state_vector]

In the beginning was Certitude, and Certitude was with Violence, and this Certitude was Violence...

We begin our lives in full conviction, only to abandon this for the sake of truth.

"The child learns by believing the adult. Doubt comes after belief."L.Wittgenstein

Like our ancestors: they were violent in nature, only to realise that violence retards progress and prosperity.

But then again, War is Father of All.

[SHATOUSHKA]

two very interesting posts.

i'm not even sure if my thoughts are all that
clear as of yet. i'm still consuming the statements.

QUOTE--

The question is, when will the silent millions
of those who hold the more rational belief that no one really has all the
answers, convince those who think they do, that they should practice what they
preach, and entertain the idea of tolerance of opposing views, and admit that we
really can't be certain of anything, especially who God is?

END QUOTE

something terribly wrong about this 'compound' sentence.
its self contradictory. aye.


..i better think a bit before responding.

[state_vector]

[blockquote]When will the silent millions of those who hold the more rational belief that no one really has all the answers, convince those who think they do?[/blockquote]

They who hold more rational beliefs are no less believers than the ones they try to convince/convert.
The silent millions must remain silent until the end of time. If the statement "no one has the answers" is to have any meaning, the silent ones must be the first to prove it, first to themselves, and then to the public.

A true philosopher is the less willing person to convince anyone.

And yet, this kind of philosophizing belongs to the farthest borders in the realm of history and society.