Large Fierce Mammal

“Alignment”, Ben Howe – 2014, Oil on Canvas, 100x168cm

Darkness, as it inspires me, isn’t limited to expressions of evil, mayhem, and bad outcomes. Something can also be considered “dark” if it is unknown, misunderstood, or incorrectly interpreted. ~ Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 1: Another Harvest

2015 has so far been a year characterized by action, reaction, inadequate and inappropriate action, attacks on freedom in the name of Freedom … you know, pretty much the same as past years going back as far as the eye can see. Through it all, zealotry has been in the vanguard, in all its colours, flavours, and complexions. In accordance with what I said in the quote from a Dark Sentiment past that heads this piece, we have hit every benchmark of Darkness – expressions of evil, mayhem, and bad outcomes in the face of, and to no small degree because of, the unknown, misunderstood, or incorrectly interpreted.

“Through the eyes of an opponent, you are the villain… It just depends on your perspective.” ~ Ed (Ed’s Manifesto)

Ask the proverbial “man in the street” what is the greatest threat born of zealotry, and these days you’ll get answers falling into three general categories.

1. If the one giving the answer is white and of European ancestry or origin, the answer will most likely be Islam. Not necessarily “radicalized” Islam because, thanks to the excellent marketing and rebranding job done by ISIS, it’s become the same thing in the minds of this group.
2. If the one giving the answer is Muslim, or of such racial characteristics as might cause them to be presumed to be of Middle Eastern origin, the answer may be “radicalized” Islam, but in this case meaning exactly that. If the person consulted is also living – possibly even born – in a country that has attracted the enmity of such groups as ISIS by engaging them in battle on any level, then they may also face a threat born of zealotry every day from random people in the street, and worst of all, from their own government.
3. If the one giving the answer is Native or Black and living in Canada or the United States, the answer will likely be the Police. Everything else is secondary in immediacy.

They’re all right, and they’re all wrong, to varying degrees on an assortment of levels at which the Truth, as always, is a fluid and slippery thing to catch, particularly while you’re looking over your shoulder, being shot at, or both. I would posit that in the three examples given above, those in item 1 will most often not share a certain point of commonality with those in items 2 and 3; that being direct experience of the zealotry the identify, and its effect on daily life, in an up close and personal way. For people in the latter two groups, zealotry and its evils are never an arm’s length looming threat that may some day come to call if they aren’t vigilant. It’s already here. This being said, I should mention that all this gets a lot more complicated if the person being consulted in any of the three cases is, him or herself, a zealot.

In the wake of the attack on the World Trade Centre towers, and as recently as last month, Sikh Men wearing their signature turbans (and who are most decidedly NOT Muslim by any description) found themselves set upon in the street and attacked by people calling them “Terrorist”, “Osama”, and “Bin-Laden”. In cases such as this, I’m reminded of the words spoken to Ebenezer Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Present when the spirit exposed the two wretched, grasping urchins huddled beneath his robes, “This boy is Ignorance, this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”

Even a cursory examination of news items since only as far back as January of this year rapidly turns up everything from the Charlie Hebdo shootings, to heavy handed law enforcement practices, to questionable legislation excusing escalating government intrusion into the daily life of citizens, including whimsical suspensions of rights and freedoms and banishment of citizens who hold dual citizenship with Canada and another nation, as prophylactic measures we all should support, “if we have nothing to hide”.

If there is one very dark pit modern society is hell bent on careening headlong into, it’s the dangerous, dangerous, and I emphasize really fucking dangerous idea that demanding privacy is somehow suspicious, and tantamount to an open admission that you – indeed anyone who wishes to have it – must have “something to hide”.

We routinely hear this articulated in defense of intrusions into personal privacy, however outrageous, by those who speak some iteration of the mantra, “If you don’t have anything to hide, why should you care?”

This troubles me, and if it doesn’t trouble you then I strongly advise you to start being so. You see, buying into this equates it’s none of your fucking business with having something morally wrong to hide. It equates having an affair with your secretary with not wanting it widely known that you’ve just been diagnosed with cancer. Finding buried treasure with a stash of child porn. It grants others the “right” to stand in judgement of everything you do and makes you responsible for explaining your every thought, word, and deed. I piss on that from a great height..

You see, privacy has always been the default setting of adult life. Nothing gets out unless you choose to release it, and not the other way around. You may recall resenting the intrusions, real and imagined, that you felt as an adolescent just testing the waters of adulthood while still living with your parents. This Truth of Nature is what spawned the age old inevitability of gossips, snoops, busybodies and rumour mills. These have always sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, not because people were keeping secrets, but because they understood the importance of shutters, curtains, closed doors, and speaking in civilized tones that wouldn’t penetrate walls; and it drove nosy people nuts. Some of those nosy people found their way into positions of authority, but that changed nothing but the amount of power they had to interfere with others. You may have noticed this pattern continues today. ~ Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 18: Privacy, Secrets, and the Sliding Scale

Let’s look at just a few recent examples lying along the snarled line of the zealotry continuum, and bask in the perpetual lunacy of it all.

• • Bill C-24 reminds Canadian citizens, “… that citizenship is not right, it’s a privilege.”
  • Random or arbitrary police carding will stop, province says
  • Camerawoman plans to sue refugee she infamously tripped, and Facebook
  • Parents, church members beat teen to death, injured brother while trying to get them to ‘confess sins’ at N.Y. church
  • Jehovah’s Witness grandparents ordered to keep faith to themselves
  • An Angry Mob In India Lynched a Muslim Man Because They Thought He Had Eaten Beef (spoiler alert: It was mutton)
  • C-51, controversial anti-terrorism bill, is now law

I offer no judgement on any of this beyond the twinkling eye and knowing smirk I always wear while manning my watch fire, honing my blades as I hum the tune to The Woodsman’s Song.

Lest I wear out my welcome, I’ll stop for a parting shot in the matter of the Canadian “anti-terrorism bill” that was heavily promoted by the now former Prime Minister, and interestingly, voted for by the new one. You may want to wrap up tonight’s Dark Sentiment by revisiting my poem, Take the Fight to the Enemy, posted here April last, and inspired by this wondrous bit of home grown legislative zealotry.