Friday 26 December 2014

Born by love, shaped by ignorance.

"It'd be easy to be convinced that the human race is on this mission to divide things into two, clean columns. Everything has to be good or evil. Healthy or deadly. Natural or chemical. (By extension) for example, our soldiers in Iraq are GOOD, and paedophiles are EVIL, ignoring the fact that some troops like kiddies and some paedos carry guns..." - Tim Minchin

You can never be wrong with an opinion. You can be belittled for having one, but at the end of the day, it is your property, your entitlement, and your view.

To factually back your opinion, you can be wrong.

To stereotype - this form of new age black-and-whiteism - you can be wrong.

At no more blinding time than yesterday's Lindt Cafe hostage situation, has this tabloid-fed, narcissistic quality society possesses been apparent.

Reality is not so different from a piece of canvas art: a combination of brushes, strokes, density, intensity and colour.

Therefore, are we so colour-blind to assimilate one religion or one's religion as poxy due to a small
percentage and their actions?

We consume media like we consume breakfast cereal. The digital age has developed our nature for voyeurism; feeding our bottomless pit for stomachs that crave the toxins better known as curiosity and fear.

Books will be written how the golden age of social media and trends, generated the desire for immediacy, at accuracy's chagrin.

Misinformation is accepted - worse, tolerated - for the benefit of a soap opera directed at a generation who grew up in the age of movies and television. Experts in the second-hand experience.

Yesterday, the flag unfurled had ARABIC writing on it, not ISLAMIC writing. This is just one of many examples from today of this casual, ignorant racism sourced from people we trust to deliver us the truth.

What this flag is and represents is irrelevant on the grand scheme of things. To an individual - much like an opinion - it's relevance is significant, purposeful.

This human being (with his flag) endangering the lives of many in a Martin Place cafe, is not the representative of Islam or Muslims, in the same way that the fucking idiots of the Cronulla riots were not representative of Australia as a country while they bore our nation's flag.

If Matt Colwell (rapper 360) had this time again on  ABC's Q&A where he said, "the Australian flag to me, I identify that with racism", I don't think he'd change what he meant. Only the way that he said it.

I understood Colwell's point of view, and I am hoping that this piece of writing - written in the Notes section of my iPhone - displays that I agree with his notion.

But labelling the flag as a symbol of racism is just another case of the black-and-white theory, and is just as helpful as those involved in the 2005 riots.

What an event like yesterday should instil in all of us is the reminder of humanity, devoid of religious undertones. Just shaped by the love and compassion you demonstrate to a family member or friend, instead of the ignorance that shapes your view.

Substitute the assimilation and embrace the likeness to one another. We are, after all, all tiny, insignificant bits of carbon placed in a big, old situation we've come to know as civilisation.

Generalisations, along with its brother stereotyping, help no one. Classing an entire religion that houses extremists and innocent people as bigots is fatal.

It is apparent justification for slaughterings, mass executions, blood-red anger and wars.

We want the world binary, but creating false dichotomies are just as unhelpful as those you try to squeeze into one of your two lists.

In this current climate, just be kind instead.

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