Imprisoning activists

Even though I firmly believe that words lead to thoughts, thoughts into actions, I have yet to meet a person who should be imprisoned for speaking. Having said that, I have met many that I would have followed by ‘special forces of intellectuals’, after all, hate speech is a way to identify the good from the bad. Engaging in a conversation with the ‘bad’ is far more important than with the good, or the people that you do agree with. When you put the ‘bad’ in prison, very often the prison is like a platform. That’s not what I would do. ‘Haters’ should not be given a platform, they should be given their own medicine; talk! However, this talking isn’t quite so simple, or it is too simple for real intellectuals to handle. Intellectuals often go into rational arguments, hoping that one story shows the point, whereas ‘haters’ are often much more simple, they know the masses are better at understanding the tone of voice and short, simple sentences. This lack of intellectualism is something they use to their advantage, because they know they just need to appear smart. Real smart should be able to beat this very easily, however it does take some practice. It is kind of like a mathematician is less likely to make a mistake on a complex calculation and more likely to make a mistake on a simple calculation. I.e. pay attention to the little, simple points and reply equally simply.

Brexit – ‘austerity measures will be imposed on the UK’ – reply should be in short, simple sentences, delivered confidently, and in this order: 1. Something about the statement (correct, correct to some extent, incorrect, lie, fabricated), 2. The most powerful reason (simple, short, honest), 3. Statement that there are many other reasons, if that is true, 4. What should be known about the ‘austerity’, again short, simple sentences.  What we did get were long speeches that left me wondering ‘am I sure I know what austerity means’. As a result, masses believe the statement. Now this is not exactly a statement of ‘haters’, but it fits the profile.

Let’s take for example: ‘Until Muslims came to my country (UK) we didn’t have such problems like FGM, forced marriages…’ Possible response might be: ‘That is a very hateful statement. Has domestic violence, abuse of human rights and abuse of women started only when Muslims came? I’m sure people know that these problems existed and exist in every country. Problems like this are not connected to religion or culture, they are on individual basis. As such, in the name of justice, we must persecute individuals. Punishing a whole group makes us unjust.’ Others will probably come up with an even more simple, yet powerful and educational response, but I’m only trying to show that it can be done, that the method used by ‘haters’ to get the attention of the masses, can be used by ‘intellectuals’ to also get the attention of the masses, and at least teach the ‘right way’ rather than inspire hate.

Let’s take the example of Turkey. I am honestly very confused by what is going on there. Military coup, in my opinion, is something very, very bad; I mean ‘hate’ multiplied by a million. I can also understand imprisoning all those who took direct part. However, those who inspired such a move, those who now praise the individuals that carried out the crime, in my opinion (and I might be wrong) should be free to speak, free to act just as they wish, but should be followed and argued with every step of the way. I have no doubt that this can be done. One of the most insane arguments that I have heard from Turkey is that the president himself organised the coup. I’m sorry, but that is so stupid on so many levels, a smart person would claim it only after a judge went through all the evidence and told them they have a case. Even then, I honestly think I would question the judge and ask for a second opinion before making such a claim public. However, they have made this claim and some people actually think this is a claim that deserves attention. Why? Well, I happen to believe it is because Turkish authorities do not consider it a claim worth their time (I believe this because I’ve spoken to a number of Turks and their reply was just laughter, brush-off, and such). I think this is wrong. Also, the mass imprisonment means that chances are that many innocent people will face charges they do not deserve to face. The guilty will be hiding behind those who are innocent. The simple fact is, the coup did happen, for a coup to happen it takes a lot of people, but justice cannot be achieved by mass persecutions. Much more wisdom is needed. I happen to think that Turkish authorities might be making some things worse just because they are not communicating with the masses in a way that those who organised the coup are.

I have reason to believe that people, generally speaking, really want justice, peace and truth. Some years ago I took part in smallest campaign ever. I call it: ‘just wait’. It was to do with mass media all over the world publishing articles about mass graves discovered in Bosnia and claiming that it was a mass graves of ‘Serbs killed during the war’. The ‘Just wait’ campaign was about asking the mass medina all over the world to wait for DNA analysis before they publish ‘who’ was discovered in the mass grave. The reason was that very often they publish this information too soon, then we get the results and it turns out they were all wrong, but the information had already gone out there. I think there were about 10 of us claiming that the mass media should wait, and about 10,000 claiming that everyone should just publish it was ‘Serbs’; or at least that’s how it felt. The fact is, it could be Serbs, but the chances that it is not Serbs is much greater, and we really feel, for the sake of justice, peace and equality, we should just wait for the DNA results. I was sure this message reached no one. However, recently another mass grave was discovered in Bosnia, and to my great astonishment, the mass media around the world did not claim that it was Serbs found in the mass grave. We seem to be waiting for the DNA results. Now, I don’t know if this has anything to do with our little, almost non-existent campaign, but we are pleased to see the change and we have at least a tiny reason to believe that perhaps we had something little to do with this, and it helps set the record straight. Now, if we assume that the ‘just wait’ campaign had something to do with the change, then it shows that when you have a simple, straightforward point, even a small number of people can get the message across and stop disinformation.

I know, for a fact, that there are many very smart, good people out there. I think the only thing they lack is knowing how to speak to the masses, yet we really need them to understand and learn this.