The very same evil that crucifies, brutalizes. It does not care who it strikes because the point of its exercise is fear and its purpose power. It targets first the expendable and vulnerable but it uses the broken soul of the powerful and hateful. The only way to resist it is to love. And this is all at once a mental disposition and a process and a value. Love is both a virtue and a politics. It is the same evil that strikes down Mike Brown, Eric Garner et al; that strikes down Foley and Sotloff, et al; that strikes down Janay Rice and Renisha McBride,et al. …Violence is simply its disguise: Its aim, its heart is fear and humiliation in service of power and control and order as the ultimate form of idolatry. What we must resist is rage in service of justice, is our natural appetite for vengeance which often hurts more innocent people and can make our responses to these atrocities disproportionate which feeds the aims of evil. This is complex work and requires imagination and creativity and courage and sometimes sacrifices. We may reluctantly use violence in self defense but we must put the majority of our energy in service of reconciliation and hope and justice understood as a facet of love.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 10:53:35 +0000
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