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Read related » Transcript of Canadian PM Harper at Ottawa Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism
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“History teaches us that anti-Semitism is a tenacious and particularly dangerous form of hatred. And recent events are demonstrating that this hatred is now in resurgence throughout the world. That is why the work of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism has never been so important or timely as it is now. On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, I commend you and support you in the great and important work that you are doing. […] In Kiev I laid a wreath at Babi Yar, the site of one of the numerous atrocities of the Holocaust. I was left there with much the same impression as I had in Auschwitz in 2008 — that such horrors defy all comprehension. […] I knew I was standing in a place where evil — evil at its most cruel, obscene, and grotesque — had been unleashed. But while evil of this magnitude may be unfathomable […] it is a fact of our nature — that humans can choose to be inhuman. This is the paradox of freedom. That awesome power, that grave responsibility — to choose between good and evil. […] Let us not forget that even in the darkest hours of the Holocaust, men were free to choose good. And some did. That is the eternal witness of the Righteous Among the Nations. And let us not forget that even now, there are those who would choose evil and would launch another Holocaust, if left unchecked. That is the challenge before us today. […] Yet, in contemporary debates that influence the fate of the Jewish homeland, unfortunately, there are those who reject the language of good and evil. They say that the situation is not black and white, that we mustn’t choose sides. […] In response to this resurgence of moral ambivalence on these issues, we must speak clearly. […] Jews today in many parts of the world and many different settings are increasingly subjected to vandalism, threats, slurs, and just plain, old-fashioned lies. […] Anti-Semitism has gained a place at our universities, where at times it is not the mob who are removed, but the Jewish students under attack. And, under the shadow of a hateful ideology with global ambitions, one which targets the Jewish homeland as a scapegoat, Jews are savagely attacked around the world, such as, most appallingly, in Mumbai in 2008. One ruthless champion of that ideology brazenly threatens to ‘wipe Israel off the map,’ and time and again flouts the obligations that his country has taken under international treaties. […] We have seen all this before. And we have no excuse to be complacent. In fact we have a duty to take action. And for all of us, that starts at home. […] And friends, I say this not just because it is the right thing to do, but because history shows us, and the ideology of the anti-Israeli mob tells us all too well if we listen to it, that those who threaten the existence of the Jewish people are a threat to all of us. Earlier I noted the paradox of freedom. It is freedom that makes us human. Whether it leads to heroism or depravity depends on how we use it. As the spectre of anti-Semitism spreads, our responsibility becomes increasingly clear. We are citizens of free countries. We have the right, and therefore the obligation, to speak out and to act. We are free citizens, but also the elected representatives of free peoples. We have a solemn duty to defend the vulnerable, to challenge the aggressor, to protect and promote human rights, human dignity, at home and abroad. None of us really knows whether we would choose to do good, in the extreme circumstances of the Righteous. But we do know there are those today who would choose to do evil, if they are so permitted. Thus, we must use our freedom now, and confront them and their anti-Semitism at every turn.”
— Prime Minister Stephen Harper - CJC.ca, November 9th, 2010 (israelunitycoalition.org)
Why can't the United States of America have an enlightened leader, instead of a two-bit partisan hack? Why can't the millions of the latter's supporters see through his faux enlightenment — just a cynical pose to camouflage his own bigotry? Why must this great and generous American people struggle so hard to delegate power to a worthy leadership?
It's the eternal lament, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I suspect that part of the answer is bound-up with the very characteristics of good and evil.
Whereas evil is imbued with aggression, good tends to passivity. Evil is offense; good is defense. Evil is active; good is reactive. Evil is destructive, which is relatively easy; good is creative, which is relatively difficult. Evil is violent nature; good needs to be nurtured. Evil is entropy, ever pushing toward chaos; good is gravity, ever pulling toward order.
The latest cosmological evidence suggests that entropy is winning its battle with gravity. But even if the ultimate fate of the universe is thermodynamic heat death, I believe that humanity has the moral obligation to strive against the forces of evil.
What else could possibly give meaning to life?
Post 1,480 Civilized Leadership Among Civilized Nations
re: "Whereas evil is imbued with aggression..."
ReplyDeleteThat paragraph was simply brilliant. My compliments.
Thank you, mon ami.
ReplyDelete