One Bad Apple
I have been thinking today about the phrase, "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch." I don't even know if this is literally true, but the phrase is still useful.
I feel like it is just a few of the worst people that make us all bad. Loving thy neighbor is a noble aspiration. As is turning the other cheek. But I feel like every time someone espouses one of these beliefs, someone else will return with an act of Evil. Evil here is represented by the few people who will take advantage of others' love and goodwill to the point that it is harmful to those others. It is all well and good for me to leave my door open that it should be a place of refuge for my neighbors should they need a warm place to stay or have forgotten their keys. But it stays locked that a distinct handful of people will not enter and steal my things. It takes only one villain to sow distrust and dissent among a whole people.
This popped into my mind because someone on facebook asked the question, "Why do so many Americans fear Muslims?" I read the responses, and two things seemed notable to me. The first was that many people do seem to unfairly characterize Muslims based on the actions of a small minority. Even a few thousand people are a small number compared to the vast size of Islam as a religion and the multitude of people within it who live normal, unassuming lives whenever they don't find themselves trapped in a warzone of some kind. But this stereotyping of and prejudice against Muslims is well known and frequently lamented by the folks on my side of the fence.
The second, far more important thing I realized was that the original question speaks to a similar lumping together of a whole group. The question itself does not state implicitly that most Americans or Americans in general hate/fear/ostracize Muslims, but many of the people in the thread certainly treated it as stating such. And it becomes apparent that it goes both ways. A few people vocally denouncing Islam or even a large number of people grumbling about it just doesn't provide evidence that Americans are close-minded, nationalist, fundamentalist Christian, or whatever it is the people on my side of the fence usually say.
So here, for both Muslims and Americans, we have a few outrageous people making the rest of us look bad, sowing distrust and dissent. We have a few people who can't just love their neighbor and can't turn the other cheek, and that ruins it for the rest of us.
This may sound idealistic, but were it not for just a few bad apples, these would both be excellent strategies. I have lived my life trying my best to live up to them, and I feel my life has been better and more fulfilling for it. But I am fortunate to have lived in a time and place and been born into a socio-economic category which allow me to not fear the consequences of a broken trust. I understand that not everyone has that luxury, and I hate that.
I hate that it only takes one liar to make everyone dishonest, one warmonger to make everyone afraid, one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch.
-Pocket has a mess of questions that he can't answer.
I feel like it is just a few of the worst people that make us all bad. Loving thy neighbor is a noble aspiration. As is turning the other cheek. But I feel like every time someone espouses one of these beliefs, someone else will return with an act of Evil. Evil here is represented by the few people who will take advantage of others' love and goodwill to the point that it is harmful to those others. It is all well and good for me to leave my door open that it should be a place of refuge for my neighbors should they need a warm place to stay or have forgotten their keys. But it stays locked that a distinct handful of people will not enter and steal my things. It takes only one villain to sow distrust and dissent among a whole people.
This popped into my mind because someone on facebook asked the question, "Why do so many Americans fear Muslims?" I read the responses, and two things seemed notable to me. The first was that many people do seem to unfairly characterize Muslims based on the actions of a small minority. Even a few thousand people are a small number compared to the vast size of Islam as a religion and the multitude of people within it who live normal, unassuming lives whenever they don't find themselves trapped in a warzone of some kind. But this stereotyping of and prejudice against Muslims is well known and frequently lamented by the folks on my side of the fence.
The second, far more important thing I realized was that the original question speaks to a similar lumping together of a whole group. The question itself does not state implicitly that most Americans or Americans in general hate/fear/ostracize Muslims, but many of the people in the thread certainly treated it as stating such. And it becomes apparent that it goes both ways. A few people vocally denouncing Islam or even a large number of people grumbling about it just doesn't provide evidence that Americans are close-minded, nationalist, fundamentalist Christian, or whatever it is the people on my side of the fence usually say.
So here, for both Muslims and Americans, we have a few outrageous people making the rest of us look bad, sowing distrust and dissent. We have a few people who can't just love their neighbor and can't turn the other cheek, and that ruins it for the rest of us.
This may sound idealistic, but were it not for just a few bad apples, these would both be excellent strategies. I have lived my life trying my best to live up to them, and I feel my life has been better and more fulfilling for it. But I am fortunate to have lived in a time and place and been born into a socio-economic category which allow me to not fear the consequences of a broken trust. I understand that not everyone has that luxury, and I hate that.
I hate that it only takes one liar to make everyone dishonest, one warmonger to make everyone afraid, one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch.
-Pocket has a mess of questions that he can't answer.