Keep Calm and Log Off
The night of the Paris attacks, I tweeted: “Ignorance cannot be fought; only encouraged. Do not feed the idiots; pray for the victims. Fight racism with love, hate with compassion”. That is how I felt the night of the attacks, but I am starting to doubt my wording a little bit. “Ignorance cannot be fought.” At times this is true, but at other times it isn’t. No matter what, it’s still a sad notion to contemplate.
Despite what we see, our world today is much more educated and much less ignorant than it was centuries ago. A large proponent in the decline was the printing press. Once books—and especially autobiographies—began to spread, humans became more empathetic toward one another. They became exposed to the struggles of women, slaves, and other visible minorities, and as a result, the violence inflicted on these minorities took a turn for the better. Ignorance was pushed into the corner. Then came democracy, followed by international organizations such as the United Nations. Because of these systems, violence and ignorance seemed to be fading away. However, people sometimes let their judgments be guided by fear. I read a news article in December titled, “Poll: Two-thirds of Republicans support Trump’s plan to keep out Muslims”. While the United States is known for being the land of the free, some Americans are wary of receiving refugees from the Middle East, fearing that a terrorist will slip by posing as a legitimate refugee. The fears are not unfounded; after all, one of the suicide bombers in the Paris attacks posed as a refugee to get into France. Yet people need to understand that the odds of this occurring are very, very slim. The Canadian government would not have pledged to bring up to 50,000 refugees to Canada by the end of 2016 if they did not believe it to be safe. Some Canadians did voice concerns about this matter, and the government responded by promising thorough screenings of all refugees.
Despite the actions of our government, there is always negativity to be found on the internet. While the majority of posts concerning refugees are positive, there’s always one or two anti-Muslim comments spread here and there. When good-hearted people see these ridiculous opinions being shared, they feel the need to say something. However, it is clear that arguments over Twitter are not going to solve any issues. That is why instead of tweeting “Ignorance cannot be fought”, I should have tweeted, “Ignorance cannot be fought over twitter”.
Ignorance can be fought, and oftentimes it loses, but it is still deeply rooted in our society. For example, look at the adages—“ignorance is bliss,” and “what I don’t know won’t hurt me.” These sayings do not just accept ignorance, they celebrate it. These days, it seems people have taken “what I don’t know won’t hurt me” and turned it into “what I don’t know will hurt me because everyone is actually a terrorist.” This transformation did not happen overnight. The reaction to the Paris attacks was initially overwhelming sadness and public prayers, followed by an unfortunate outpouring of racism and negativity across the world.
The night of the attacks should have been a night of peace, quiet, and prayer. There is nothing wrong with posting a quick message expressing your condolences, but it seems disrespectful to launch into arguments and rants the very same night that 130 innocent people were killed. The hearts of those attempting to talk some sense into closed-minded racists were certainly in the right place, but there is a time for everything. The hours following a tragic shooting are not a time for that. So if there is a similar attack in the future—please relax, shed a tear, and turn off the computer. Nothing good will come of leaving it on.
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