A few of our stories and columns are now in front of the paywall. We at The Chief remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. You can have a hand in ensuring that our reporting remains relevant in the decades to come. Consider supporting The Chief, which you can do for as little as $3.20 a month.
To the editor:
Larry Montas' Aug. 14 anti-Jewish attacks against people at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan is just the latest directed against Jews since the increase of such attacks after the start of the Israeli-Gaza war. It's as if all of us are responsible for the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
There's also been plenty of attacks against Muslims since 9/11, as if all of them are responsible for the actions of some.
After the COVID-19 pandemic began, Asian people became targets of bigots who blamed them simply because the disease originated in China. Though they did not blame the carelessness in handling that crisis of a white president, Donald Trump.
After Russia attacked Ukraine, hostility was directed toward businesses in New York City owned by Russian migrants.
The fact is every group of people consists of some guilty of wrongdoing, including those that the bigots are a part of. So, if the philosophy of targeting all for the actions of some were completely applied to everyone, the human race would be totally destroyed.
Richard Warren
1 comment on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Valete
The essayist reminds us, quite rightly, that assigning collective guilt is a clumsy business that leads only to ruin. To blame a Manhattan synagogue for the misdeeds of a distant ministry is to misunderstand both community and justice.
Yet, having drawn a straight line, the author promptly trips over it. In censuring the cruelties born of the pandemic, he pauses to chide the public for failing to blame a single, white president. Here, the gears of logic strip. One cannot dismantle the machinery of scapegoating by merely demanding a more fashionable target. A virus pays no heed to borders, and human folly is rarely the monopoly of one man or one administration.
Prejudice is not a philosophy to be debated; it is an old, dark impulse. To conquer it, we must reject tribalism altogether, without saving a preferred corner for our own political grievances. If we are to survive, individual accountability must remain absolute.
Monday, August 31 Report this