- Remy Kalter
It has been five tumultuous years since 9/11. It is now that time of year for the democratic leaders of the world to do their traditional political posturing - aggressive, committed, able to make the tough decisions for the good of the people. They’re all shacked up on a tiny little island called Morality, a prime piece of real estate that they all lay claim to. Look in the small print of their deeds however, and one will find it littered with ifs’, buts’ and maybes’.
With every one of these prominent voices spouting off their own truths, bogged down in their own separate agenda’s, it is no surprise that “we the people” are either confused, jaded or simply indifferent. We know that a lot of the information we are given is selective, after all, it’s easy to win an argument with only one side of the story told. Such is the nature of a modern democracy. But democracies, like the university experience, are what you make of them.
Let me tell a quick story to illustrate my point. One Spring afternoon this last year, while performing my habitual trek to York on a typically overcrowded #36 bus, I had an interesting chat with a fellow passenger. To escape the mundane nature of said ride, I was reading an issue of The Economist. Better to learn than to veg, I always think. After a bit, an elderly chap came and sat next to me, and said “Thank God some people your age are still reading proper journalism.” Surprised, yet happy that someone actually was friendly enough to talk on the bus, I responded “yeah, it’s okay, a bit right-wingish for my liking, but it’ll do.” In his infinite wisdom, the gentleman simply said “Have you ever seen a plane fly with one wing? There’s always another side.” Truer words were perhaps never spoken. I half agreed, still thinking there were some fundamental flaws to his reasoning. He got off the bus shortly thereafter, and though I lacked the suavete and quick wit to respond immediately, as he descended the stairs, I realised what was wrong with his metaphor; A plane may indeed only be a plane when it has two wings. However, it can still fly with a single engine. That engine ultimately decides it’s direction, it’s speed, everything about it.
The same is true of a democracy. The potential is there, and if we can get a few more engines working, then our plane will fly a whole lot more smoothly. “People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of the people,” to quote a recent film. I don’t think we should all be protesting on the streets, demanding a revolution. We are the revolution, and it is in our minds that this will change. We need to become informed, to look at both sides of the coin, to be able to form our own opinions. Is that little chap in Iran such a big threat, or is he just babbling nonsense? Why did European governments sit idly by during the recent Israel-Lebanon crisis? Why does it take Tony Blair giving his date of departure from office to actually start working again? The answers are layered, but the point is, who cares if you’re wrong. If you’ve taken the time to find something out, everything else will just come naturally. Discuss things, you will learn and teach all the time.
9/11 was the watershed moment in our history. It has been the justification and rationale for too many disastrous undertakings. Those who perpetrated the event were of course evil, of that there is no doubt. But much of the motivation for it has come from the actions of our leaders. Our governments and economies have caused intolerable difficulties for civilians across the world, in our name and supposedly for our benefit. But people do not go out and intentionally harm others. As a police officer said about 9/11 rescue efforts, “Human Nature is not what happened to the World Trade Center, it’s what came afterwards.” Go out and understand what the real problems are and why they exist. By simply being aware, we are already doing so much.
I am a firm believer that our generation will be the change it wants to be. More so than at any other time in our history, our leaders shall emerge based on what we actually know, not just what we are told. September the 11th, 2001 has caused enough carnage to all sides. It is time we began to take responsibility for the governments that act in our name.
It has been five tumultuous years since 9/11. It is now that time of year for the democratic leaders of the world to do their traditional political posturing - aggressive, committed, able to make the tough decisions for the good of the people. They’re all shacked up on a tiny little island called Morality, a prime piece of real estate that they all lay claim to. Look in the small print of their deeds however, and one will find it littered with ifs’, buts’ and maybes’.
With every one of these prominent voices spouting off their own truths, bogged down in their own separate agenda’s, it is no surprise that “we the people” are either confused, jaded or simply indifferent. We know that a lot of the information we are given is selective, after all, it’s easy to win an argument with only one side of the story told. Such is the nature of a modern democracy. But democracies, like the university experience, are what you make of them.
Let me tell a quick story to illustrate my point. One Spring afternoon this last year, while performing my habitual trek to York on a typically overcrowded #36 bus, I had an interesting chat with a fellow passenger. To escape the mundane nature of said ride, I was reading an issue of The Economist. Better to learn than to veg, I always think. After a bit, an elderly chap came and sat next to me, and said “Thank God some people your age are still reading proper journalism.” Surprised, yet happy that someone actually was friendly enough to talk on the bus, I responded “yeah, it’s okay, a bit right-wingish for my liking, but it’ll do.” In his infinite wisdom, the gentleman simply said “Have you ever seen a plane fly with one wing? There’s always another side.” Truer words were perhaps never spoken. I half agreed, still thinking there were some fundamental flaws to his reasoning. He got off the bus shortly thereafter, and though I lacked the suavete and quick wit to respond immediately, as he descended the stairs, I realised what was wrong with his metaphor; A plane may indeed only be a plane when it has two wings. However, it can still fly with a single engine. That engine ultimately decides it’s direction, it’s speed, everything about it.
The same is true of a democracy. The potential is there, and if we can get a few more engines working, then our plane will fly a whole lot more smoothly. “People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of the people,” to quote a recent film. I don’t think we should all be protesting on the streets, demanding a revolution. We are the revolution, and it is in our minds that this will change. We need to become informed, to look at both sides of the coin, to be able to form our own opinions. Is that little chap in Iran such a big threat, or is he just babbling nonsense? Why did European governments sit idly by during the recent Israel-Lebanon crisis? Why does it take Tony Blair giving his date of departure from office to actually start working again? The answers are layered, but the point is, who cares if you’re wrong. If you’ve taken the time to find something out, everything else will just come naturally. Discuss things, you will learn and teach all the time.
9/11 was the watershed moment in our history. It has been the justification and rationale for too many disastrous undertakings. Those who perpetrated the event were of course evil, of that there is no doubt. But much of the motivation for it has come from the actions of our leaders. Our governments and economies have caused intolerable difficulties for civilians across the world, in our name and supposedly for our benefit. But people do not go out and intentionally harm others. As a police officer said about 9/11 rescue efforts, “Human Nature is not what happened to the World Trade Center, it’s what came afterwards.” Go out and understand what the real problems are and why they exist. By simply being aware, we are already doing so much.
I am a firm believer that our generation will be the change it wants to be. More so than at any other time in our history, our leaders shall emerge based on what we actually know, not just what we are told. September the 11th, 2001 has caused enough carnage to all sides. It is time we began to take responsibility for the governments that act in our name.
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