A decent person

If you’re honest about it, there is somewhere in the cockles or sub-cockles of your heart where you believe that life would be better if you had never heard of some people. That’s not to say you hate them, because the only person that suffers from hating is the person doing the hating. If for example, you hated Tony Abbott or Kevin Rudd, while it may eat your emotions up every day of the week it’s hardly likely to concern Abbott or Rudd in the slightest.

Taking this one step further, if your dislike of a person stays in the cockles of your heart you are fundamentally a decent person. Let’s face it we need more decent people, there is enough violence and hatred in the world at the moment to overcome us all if we let it happen.

While it is easy to list a number of conflicts around the world and name perpetrators, that is fraught with problems as well as the MAGA Republicans found out last week after the murder of Charlie Kirk at an University in Utah. Sections of the media as well as some who should know better were very quick to assign blame to ‘radical left Democrats’. The reality was that the shots were allegedly fired by a young man who came from a family of registered Republicans. All is not lost however, the shooters Father (an ex-policeman) is claimed to have talked the shooter into reporting to the Police.

ABC’s website reports the killing of Charlie Kirk has been determined to be politically motivated and

The US has been experiencing its most sustained period of political violence in decades.

Reuters has documented more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts across the ideological spectrum since supporters of Mr Trump attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

And there’s the real problem. We all have the right to an opinion and while your opinion may differ from the next person, that doesn’t give you the right to hurt others, damage buildings or find a gun and shoot them.

However. those with expertise in the field will claim there is period of radicalisation prior to looking for the gun. Things as common as venting in the comments section of a webpage using language that disrespects others could be the start of the radicalisation of someone who objects deeply to your venting. Instantly assigning ‘blame’ by those that should know better – because they are well aware that incidents will be investigated which takes time – certainly doesn’t help the mindset of those that are likely to believe the first thing they are told.

It’s good to know that some in the USA can see the real problem here. Utah Governor Spencer Cox is quoted by The Guardian as saying  

We can return violence with violence, we can return hate with hate, and that’s the problem with political violence – it metastasises because we can always point the figure at the other side,” … “At some point we have to find an offramp or else it’s going to get much, much worse.”

In a tone of moral urgency, Cox added: “These are choices that we can make. History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country but every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us.

Cox is a Republican. Cox is also absolutely right. Look at religious wars that sadly break out across the world and last generations.

At some point of time there has to be a point where retribution is not the preferred solution. To help us all get to that point, we need to remove temptation from those that otherwise can’t help themselves. The gun lobby is correct in saying that ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people’. Logically, a person always pulls the trigger. However the ‘bit they don’t say out loud’ is if someone who believes it is a rational action to kill someone has to get to within centimetres of the potential victim to hit or stab them, there is a far greater chance of the attack being halted. If the attack is halted, the perpetrator is far more likely to receive the psychological treatment they need. John Howard’s gun buyback scheme and regulation of gun owners in the wake of the Port Arthur Massacre was politically brave. It was also the right thing to do.

Help us get to Cox’s ‘off ramp’. Rather than responding immediately to a provocative piece on social media or a website – think before you post. While going for the jugular by belittling well known people with ‘funny’ but derogatory nicknames or personal comments on their behaviours may make you feel you have argued your point, really you’ve lost the argument. A decent person would think how their comments would affect others – before they published the comment.

 

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