Saturday 11 September 2004

Pic of the day: Screenshot from the anime Daa Daa Daa. Funny name, but the rest of the entry will be less so.

The unexpected evil

This is the anniversary (for lack of a better word) for a horrible, pointless crime. A murder that shook a whole nation and shattered their illusion of safety, of living in a peaceful and sheltered part of the world. It is one year since the death of Anna Lindh, the foreign minister of Sweden. It turns out she was killed by a confused Yugoslav who listened to the voices in his head, or at least that is the official version.

How come that when some people listen to the voices in their head, the voices tell them to kill or destroy or rape? While when some other people listen, the voices tell them to save France or to build an Ark. When I listen to the voices in my head, they are usually singing. Sometimes a hymn, or a love song, or at worst Japanese pop. Well, sometimes they are discussing a future novel. Oh, I have had a lot of evil impulses in my life; but not from voices in my head. I have evil inside, a part of me that I must resist from time to time. Mustn't we all?

***

Yes, I am aware that three years ago there was a huge terrorist attack on New York and Washington. Somewhere around 3000 people were killed in the four attacks, three of which hit their targets. I just wanted to point out for my American readers that the world does not end at the border, and that none of us are safe even when all reasons say that we should be.

The terrorist attack on the USA was a great disaster and a great evil. But it was only the beginning. Far more damaging to the USA has been the way their government reacted. At first the whole world sympathized with America, even many of their traditional enemies or rivals. But because they responded to evil with evil, even many of their friends are turning against them. Like the terrorists on the 11th of September, the American government is responsible for attacking a country that has done them no harm. Civilians have been killed, buildings destroyed. Sure, they have removed an evil leader, Saddam Hussein; but they have replaced him with another evil leader, George Bush. Well, that's how the Iraqi people see it. Of course George Bush and his friends don't consider him evil, but Saddam Hussein and his friends probably consider themselves the good guys as well. For those who die and for those who grieve, one killer is as good as the next.

The American people is now about to condone and approve of this policy by voting for the people who implemented it. They are going to say that it is okay to attack based on fear and suspicion. In this, the day of the coming election will be a greater disaster and a greater cause for mourning than the 11th of September. To be the victim of evil is a great ill, but small compared to doing evil. To kill innocents for the cause of good does not make you good. It makes you crazy, like the young man who listened to the voices in his head.

Only those who know that they are capable of evil, can hope to resist it.

***

I wish I had something more pleasant to say. I probably will, in the future. I may have more friends in the USA than here in Norway, certainly more than in Sweden. In fact, some of my American friends were afraid of just this outcome when we stayed together on IRC on the day the towers fell. They are not my enemies, and I am not their enemy. We have an enemy in common: The evil inside each human being.