How do you feel when you hear the news of someone being killed in a terrorist attack ? Or an attack by Cow-Vigilates ? Or restrictions imposed by one religion on others ?
If your reaction is not a uniform outrage, then you need to reason yourself why it isn’t so. Reason hard, my friend.
And if you do get outraged over the acts of these lunatics, then hey! Welcome to the club!
The common connection that binds these attacks is the mindset. The mindset which thinks that they are ‘doing the right thing’.
Be it the terrorists who kill innocent people or the lynch mob that kills people for eating beef, transporting cows and in future maybe even looking at cows, are the same. If you still cannot see the distinction then, I’ll again advice you to reason with yourself as to why they are different.
There is no sense of guilt when people commit these crimes. In their head, they are doing ‘what is right or that they’re carrying out God’s work.
And this thought process is not about ‘religion’. The people who actually carry out these activities don’t know much about their own religion. All they do is follow someone. It wouldn’t be wrong to add ‘blindly’ as the appropriate adjective for that.
Even when their conscience pulls them away from doing something inhumane, it is by following their supposed ‘leaders’ that they embark on the ‘right’ path.
I had talked about the ‘credibility’ of people whom we follow and how that can harm us in an earlier post. It is quite critical to allow ourselves to be exposed to new information. To make ourselves open to experiences beyond what we’ve always known to be right.
I’ve shared numerous restaurant tables with people where someone’s having a beer, or bacon, while I’m eating beef. Sure, I don’t like the idea of alcohol and I won’t drink it myself. But should I beat someone up for drinking ? Or should someone do the same because I eat beef ?
It all comes down to just one thing. Freedom to choose. Choosing to eat, wear, speak whatever one wants.
Sure, if there’s something that offends anyone, there has to be respect provided for it too. Forcing others to accept your choice is wrong and there’s no two-ways about it.
We all have to learn to accommodate others in our lives. It can mean certain compromises too but that’s how a civil society functions and thrives.
Concept of one-rule-applies-to-all doesn’t work in a multi-cultural democracy like ours.
The country does not belong to one community. The country does not speak any one language. The country does not eat just one type of food.
You don’t have to agree with others’ choices but learn to accept it.