Two men in south London committed an especially ugly murder earlier today. They drove into a man in their car before getting out to kill him with kitchen knives. This sort of violence is sordid, vile, tragic…. and bears the crude stamp of our mammalian order.
For every line of poetry written, a rape committed; for every school of philosophy, a solipsistic tribe; for every great act of charity, a 'hot' murder.
This sort of murder can be driven by anger, jealousy, pride, brute aggression, 'honour', tribalism, fanaticism - our 'ugly side'. Much of the work of human civilisation is to combat these characteristics and, in doing so, 'better' ourselves. Today's attack is tragic, yes - foremost, perhaps, because in its brutality and stupidity it is so tragically human.
Thus far you have probably agreed with me. In the next paragraphs, though, I move into murkier waters. Early reports suggest this was a religiously driven murder - the killers shouted "Allah Akbar" and described their violence as (their) "god's will". Not my words - theirs.
Murders such of this may happen because of a religion, in spite of a religion or irrespective of a religion. They may, in theory, be driven by extreme forms of Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism. They may be prevented by observance of Islam. Amongst these various hypotheticals, though, we must collectively admit an apparent truth of our zeitgeist: in 2013, Islam is the religion most often tied up with such sad acts.
If this is true and we don't admit it - and it seems to be true; and there is a prevalent reluctance in 'liberal Britain' to admit that it is - we inadvertently hand the debate over to people with far less worthy intentions than ourselves.
This debate is important. Crucial. We need to look at the link between this purported religion of peace and the violence with which it so often seems to associate itself. We need to identify and single out the elements of it that lend themselves towards violence; we need to look at how it is distorted and misused to promote acts which run entirely against the grain of what the Prophet actually preached. We need to accept that there are different Muslim communities; we need them to accept that; we need them in the debate too.
The fanatics who promote religious and/or cultural 'warfare' take every opportunity to make their voices heard. The response from parts of our own society is ugly, unapologetic racism in turn. Intelligence, between these two bawling voices of ignorance, sits in stunned silence. Is this a situation that we can afford to maintain?
That's all I'll say for now.
For every line of poetry written, a rape committed; for every school of philosophy, a solipsistic tribe; for every great act of charity, a 'hot' murder.
This sort of murder can be driven by anger, jealousy, pride, brute aggression, 'honour', tribalism, fanaticism - our 'ugly side'. Much of the work of human civilisation is to combat these characteristics and, in doing so, 'better' ourselves. Today's attack is tragic, yes - foremost, perhaps, because in its brutality and stupidity it is so tragically human.
Thus far you have probably agreed with me. In the next paragraphs, though, I move into murkier waters. Early reports suggest this was a religiously driven murder - the killers shouted "Allah Akbar" and described their violence as (their) "god's will". Not my words - theirs.
Murders such of this may happen because of a religion, in spite of a religion or irrespective of a religion. They may, in theory, be driven by extreme forms of Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism. They may be prevented by observance of Islam. Amongst these various hypotheticals, though, we must collectively admit an apparent truth of our zeitgeist: in 2013, Islam is the religion most often tied up with such sad acts.
If this is true and we don't admit it - and it seems to be true; and there is a prevalent reluctance in 'liberal Britain' to admit that it is - we inadvertently hand the debate over to people with far less worthy intentions than ourselves.
This debate is important. Crucial. We need to look at the link between this purported religion of peace and the violence with which it so often seems to associate itself. We need to identify and single out the elements of it that lend themselves towards violence; we need to look at how it is distorted and misused to promote acts which run entirely against the grain of what the Prophet actually preached. We need to accept that there are different Muslim communities; we need them to accept that; we need them in the debate too.
The fanatics who promote religious and/or cultural 'warfare' take every opportunity to make their voices heard. The response from parts of our own society is ugly, unapologetic racism in turn. Intelligence, between these two bawling voices of ignorance, sits in stunned silence. Is this a situation that we can afford to maintain?
That's all I'll say for now.
