Replies to Don't Hold Back

by Richard Lowe

Hilary wrote the following:

Dear Richard, Thank you for your site, and for your many helpful articles over the months. This is just to ask you please to reconsider the stream of articles you are sending out at present about the terrorist atrocities. You have a wide audience, and considerable influence, and you have chosen to use it to spread hatred, vengefulness and fear. What are you hoping to achieve? The people of Afghanistan are not your enemy. They are oppressed, poverty-stricken, at the mercy of a despotic and brutal government. An Afghan-American wrote to say that it's too late for the US to bomb Afghanistan into the Stone Age - the Soviets did that years ago. What is to be gained by dividing the world into 'us' and 'them'? Has America never killed or oppressed innocents? The question isn't 'are you with America or not?' It's 'are you with the terrorists who want to spread hatred, intolerance and fear, for whom violence is the only answer?' Are you? with all best wishes, respect and compassion, Hilary

Hilary, thanks for writing. I am done with articles about September 11, as there is nothing more that needs to be said.

By the way, I am not spreading hatred, vengeance and fear. read the articles closer. My message is it is time for the world to come together, all people, for the common good and handle it's avowed and proven enemy.

I sincerely hope we don't invade Afghanistan. That would be a mistake. Too many good people would die.

Sometimes you've got to stand up and be counted. Sometimes you have to make a stand. And sometimes you have to straighten your spine, decide who is evil, and handle it.

What am I hoping to achieve? We must take a stand against evil. Good people have a very hard time with evil. We find it extremely difficult to confront and deal with. Look what it took for the people of the world to finally deal with Hitler's den of snakes? There is doubt, even now, that the US would have gone to war against Germany had Germany not declared war on us first! Yet there is absolutely no doubt that the armies of the world had to deal with this wickedness, and we almost waited too long. Had Hitler taken about two years (like he originally planned) before starting the war - we would not have won. It can also be argued that because we waited so long to recognize and handle evil, that 6 million Jews, countless millions of Gypsies, 20 million Russians and millions of other innocents paid the price.

How many more innocents are going to pay the price this time before the good people of the world recognize the evil in their midst and get the backbone necessary to eradicate it?

That's the point.

Hope that helps clarify things. Richard Lowe

Thanks for such a prompt and thoughtful reply - much appreciated! I suppose I am not so worried about what you think as what effect you could have, even unintentionally. And also I suppose I was shocked because your approach contrasted so violently with the many, many positive messages circulating online, not least John Colanzi's few, thoughtful articles. The BBC SO's American conductor (Leonard Slatkin) chose to end the Last Night of the Proms (usually a jingoistic flag-waving fest of 'Rule Britannia!' etc) with Beethoven's 9th: 'All people become brothers... I embrace you, you millions...' It was a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

I take your point about Hitler, and the need to act against evil. 'Don't worry, we forgive you' doesn't seem to me to be the way to go, either! Hitler was evil, but he came to power (in large part) because the German people felt unjustly treated and helpless. It's just not true that all anti-American feeling comes from evil people. If only it were that simple...

With all best wishes, Hilary

Hi Hilary,

Thanks for writing. I enjoy getting responses, and they don't have to agree with me.

I have nothing against anyone who is anti-American - it's a free country and to a certain extent a free world. Let people say what they feel.

I have something against terrorists. It is important to understand the difference between someone who is just expressing his feelings and someone who is actually murdering people.

I too am touched by the unity I've seen - I wonder if the terrorists understand what they've done.

My main point is we should not "be reasonable" with murderers. It's one thing for, say, a Klu Klux Klan member to stand up and tell us his opinion on black people. It's quite another for him to hang a black man from a tree. Where is the line drawn? Actions vs. words.

I am not anti-any group of people. We all need to speak our mind. I remember one day when I was being particularly bigoted against an Arab and he took me on a tour of his world - his family, his friends and so on. Suddenly, I understood this Arab was a human and, well, the prejudice was gone (I was only pushing his buttons anyway). He took the time to show me and I learned. Point is, I spoke my mind, and the Arab respected that, then I allowed him to speak his mind and before long we were friends. We remained friends for many years, and we always spoke our minds - he saying Americans were idiots because ... and me saying Arabs were all ..., and then we would laugh and talk.

By the way, I think my message is positive - it's just forceful as well. The world needs to unit. It needs to act together. and it needs to handle it's enemies. Perhaps the world can stay united after this is all over.

Wouldn't that be the ultimate victory over these terrorists?

Thanks, Richard Lowe