The Sad Lessons I Am Passing On

Last week brought news of riots in Dublin, Ireland, but I didn’t get around to learning the causes until later. I knew it had something to do with a stabbing, but I was sketchy on the details. I assumed maybe there was some kind of anti-police, anti-authority connection. Turns out that was true, though not in the way I imagined.

The stabbing happened outside of a school. The suspect is an Irish citizen born in Algeria, according to The Guardian, and resulted in injuries to four people – three schoolchildren and a school assistant.

Police are still sifting through possible motives. It appears to be a “lone wolf terror attack” linked more to mental health issues and welfare payment problems than terrorism, religion, or whatever else might drive a grown man to stab kids outside of a school.

When word spread that the victims were kids and the suspect was an immigrant, a large mob of 500 rioters got the idea to “rampage” through Dublin and destroy everything in their path. They torched a tram and two buses, damaged about a dozen police vehicles, looted more than a dozen shops, attacked police officers, lit fires all over, and pretty much raised hell.

Authorities blamed the riots on the “far-right,” anti-immigrant “radicalization” of working class Irish nationals who are none too happy that their fair country has become a magnet for immigrants over the past couple of decades. According to The Guardian, more than one-fifth of Ireland’s 5 million people were born outside of the country.

Up until last week, there didn’t seem to be a huge problem with immigrants in Ireland, which has long been considered a welcoming, progressive haven for foreigners. But now some of the natives appear to have adopted the nationalistic, anti-immigrant fervor that has engulfed many other countries, including a growing number in Europe.

Anti-immigrant sentiment has spiked in France, Italy, and Hungary. In the UK it manifested itself in the form of Brexit, which passed while we lived in London.

In Germany, “the far-right AfD party in Germany has declared itself a ‘major all-Germany party’ after success in regional elections in the powerhouse state of Hesse in October,” per The Guardian.

In Spain, “the far-right party Vox entered local government in several regions in June.”

In the Netherlands, far-right, anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders won a “huge victory” in Dutch elections last week in what CBS News described as a “stunning lurch to the far right for a nation once famed as a beacon of tolerance.”

Let us pause here to note: Many of these countries spent centuries invading and colonizing much of the rest of the world, attacking native populations, and grabbing whatever resources they needed. Now their people are upset about the “immigrant” problem ….

Meanwhile, back in Dublin: The anti-immigrant, pro-hate narrative spread quickly thanks to the magic of social media. A message from an account called Kill All Immigrants offered this advice in the moments leading up to the riots (again, per The Guardian): 

“[The police] can’t control us all. Let’s have little groups splintering off, doing what we got to do. Seven o’clock, be in town. Everyone bally up, tool up. And any fucking gypo, foreigner, anyone, just kill them. Let’s get this on the news, let’s show the fucking media that we’re not a pushover. That no more foreigners are allowed into this poxy country.”

————

All of this anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim fervor across the pond might make we Americans feel pretty smug about ourselves — if not for the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim (and antisemitic) fervor sweeping our own land.

Last week, a 48-year-old white man in Burlington, Vermont, shot three 20-year-old college students of Palestinian descent who were attending a Thanksgiving holiday gathering near the University of Vermont campus.

Although authorities are still investigating the motive, there is reason to believe the shooting had something to do with anti-Muslim attitudes that have reached a fever pitch since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.

As CBS News reported, the three Vermont victims (who all survived) were shot Saturday night while walking down a street. Two of the men were wearing traditional Arab keffiyeh scarves. The three men told detectives they were speaking in a mixture of Arabic and English. The gunman approached them without making any comments.

“He stepped off a porch and produced a firearm and began discharging that firearm,” one of the victims said.

The incident happened amid a deep divide in America over the Israel-Hamas conflict. Many Jews now live in fear because of threats from anti-Israel protestors on the political left, adding to the antisemitism that has long existed on the right.

Many Muslims live in fear because of threats from the usual lineup of anti-Islam forces, including political leaders. This is nothing new.

Do Jews and Muslims hate each other? Do Christians hate Muslims? Do Muslims hate Christians? Do the world’s religions convince themselves that they worship the one and only God, and everyone else is bound for eternal damnation?

Oh, probably…..

———————

The sad part about all this hate and violence is how unsurprising it is. There’s nothing at all surprising about it. To be surprised is to have closed your eyes and brain for your entire life.

A madman decides to stab young children outside a school because he’s angry about his welfare benefits? Not surprising.

A mob of thugs use the stabbing as an excuse to destroy property and spread anti-immigrant hate? Not surprising.

Another madman shoots three college students because they don’t look, talk or worship like him? Not surprising.

Hamas extremists cross the Israeli border and kill hundreds of innocent civilians, including many children? Not surprising.

The Israeli military responds by dropping bombs on hospitals and schools and shopping malls and neighborhoods, killing thousands of innocent civilians, including children? Not surprising.

None of it is surprising. The only surprising thing is how many people seem surprised by it.

————————————-

I don’t know what to tell our daughters about this world. I want to tell them that the world is a wondrous place, filled with magic and adventure, there to embrace you if you take the time to embrace it back.

Instead, I tell them to depend on themselves rather than others. Be careful who you trust. Be wary of strangers. Keep your guard up. Learn how to defend yourselves. Avoid compromising situations, steer clear of places where you could be a target, don’t share too much about yourselves, to thine own selves be true, because just about everything and everyone else is suspect.

Seek peace, seek warmth, live your adventure, enjoy the moments, be generous – but keep your guard up, always keep your guard up.

That’s the lesson the world has taught me. And now I’m passing it on.

Image: Public Domain Pictures