The Enemy Inside

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The Enemy Inside

I am trying so incredibly hard not to be angry with what is on display all around us. As I wrote last week, it is very difficult to understand how some people believe what they believe. These beliefs are explicit or implicit expressions of hatred that are now threatening and actually killing more and more innocent people. To say the least, my emotions are running on fumes. 

There are two thoughts primarily reverberating in my soul right now. I might double-click on them in future posts. 

The first is a growing feeling that we are fighting the wrong war. The second is that the main war is actually inside our own minds. In that sense, we indeed have met the enemy and he is us (to take a cue from the 1812 Perry quote made famous by this Pogo Comic strip published for Earth Day in 1971)

At least here in the US, our politics are severely broken. Our two main ideologies, and the people that support them, are pushing one another further and further apart through tactics that are dehumanizing, destabilizing, and debilitating. In this game, there are no winners. Both sides lose.

Bearing witness to the wars brewing farther away, it must be clear to anyone that the differences between the aspirations of Democrats and Republicans are nothing compared to the difference between a life lived in Tel Aviv vs Teheran or Miami vs Moscow. It's about time to direct our attention to where the real threats to our freedoms are coming. I wish our elected officials recommitted to the oath they took when they were sworn into office. 

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

And for those of you who aren’t brushed up on your civics, here it the preamble of the US Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

So. How are we doing?

Our world is more interconnected than ever before. It is rather obvious that our own political chaos, supercharged by technology, has enabled (or, worse, was perhaps instigated and fueled by) outside forces with very different ideas and beliefs than ours. Clearly, their objectives are to further destabilize the global order so that they can take advantage of the leadership vacuum this interregnum period offers. Allowing this to happen on our watch while we have been too busy with our own ridiculous infighting is a huge and dangerous mistake. 

While the global order in the last 75 years or so hasn't been perfect, I feel quite strongly that the alternatives would be horrifying, at best. The ideas that our current enemies believe in would result in nothing short of a global catastrophe throwing billions of people into poverty, creating widespread restrictions of freedoms, and ultimately, mass death. 

If there ever was a time for our elected officials to turn their attention to the real enemies outside of our borders, it would be now. Don't you think? 

Addressing the other thought around the enemy is us which I guess is the headline of this post which is to recognize the war inside our own minds. The Enemy Within. I did reference the other week that good and evil exist inside all of us. Whether we turn out good or evil simply depends on which one we feed the most. That's why our media is so troubling, in general, and social media, in particular. We consume endless clickbait that feeds our worst tendencies, and we miss out on nourishing the better angels of our nature. 

The evil forces out there are experts in misinformation. Their goal is to achieve what they now have achieved—turning ourselves against ourselves. 

But we must not let them. And it starts with us. We have to reject hate. In every form.

I can confess to you all that I struggle with this attitude mightily right now. But despite it being hard, I know it is right. So, I will do what I always try to do. Practice more. Dig deeper. Work harder. 

It takes enormous discipline and commitment. To be as clear about your moral convictions and beliefs as you are about your commitment to human decency and compassion is a task that is as difficult as it is important. 

Here are a few things that inspired me this week: 

First of all, Rabbi Sharon Brous from IKAR in Los Angeles gave a strong sermon on Shabbat. I thought she navigated this difficult dance between moral clarity and human compassion elegantly. She also inspired those of us (me, included) who are flirting with anger, disappointment, and disbelief to call on our own better angels and lead from a position of love. (If you prefer reading it, you can find it here). 

I thought this passage from her sermon was just incredible. It captures so much of how I have felt these past few weeks. Sad, confused, and certainly deeply troubled. And for most of us, she called out this other frightening feeling of loneliness and human disconnection. She said: 

“We yearn to cast our lot with humanity. We believe that we, too, are all caught up in an inescapable network of humanity. As much as we strive to build self-reliance, we—like all people—hunger to be understood. To be seen in our suffering. Our humble ask is that people give a damn when we die. And it visits an additional anguish on our broken hearts when they do not.”

And she then addresses this feeling of isolation and reminds us that we must not “return the favor”. Meaning, we should not treat others the way we are (mis)treated. She says:

“And I ask us to promise that this feeling of isolation and loneliness, the yearning for solidarity, will remind us of the sacred responsibility to step closer, rather than hide, equivocate and retreat ourselves when another people is suffering. We, who have been excluded by the narrow scope of others’ moral concern, must not narrow the scope of our moral concern to exclude others. Do you understand what I’m saying? Just because others have lost their damn minds, we must not lose our damn minds.”

I needed that. 

My friend, Daniel Lubetzky, keeps reminding and inspiring us to not fall into the trap of hate. He insists on having a “builder’s” vs “destroyer’s” attitude. You can join his newsletter here. Of course, he is right. I thought his interview on the Masters of Scale podcast was good. And his Zoom call with two strong leaders from both Israel and Palestine is well worth listening to. Particularly, hearing Ezzeldine Masri "explain" how Palestinians feel is something we all need to take to our hearts. And for some of us, it is certainly not "easy" to hear. But he does it with passion and compassion while at the same time denouncing terrorism and what that stands for. We can and must follow that example.

What is particularly difficult is who to trust these days. Misinformation is the real weapon of mass destruction. I remain both disappointed and frustrated with both the media and our universities. They have a lot of explaining to do. NYT, in particular, is a special case. Every day I find their reporting on the Middle East to be sorely lacking in perspective and context. Bari Weiss said it best in this piece. 

For those (and many keep asking) who want to hear a clear voice around why this is so devastating, let me point to two interviews. The first is with Mandana Dayani on Morning Joe this week. I think she is super clear. But, yes, people accuse her of being biased because she is a Jewish Iranian. I’ll contrast her interview with two other voices from the "other side". First, a tweet from Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, an Egyptian Middle Eastern peace activist who is trying to lay out the context.  Second, this interview with the son of one of the Hamas founders discussing the backdrop of this with Piers Morgan. 

Here's the bottom line: you can be absolutely concerned and in favor of wanting peace and prosperity for the Palestinian people (I certainly do) AND at the same time be supportive of Israel's right to exist and defend themselves. These are NOT mutually exclusive positions. On the contrary. They are both manifestations in support of the kind of liberal democracies and freedoms we want for all people. I think this letter from some Northwestern faculty lays this out with the utmost clarity here. 

I am hoping that next week I will find space in my soul to cover something different as a welcomed respite from these troubling topics of hatred and war. But I can’t promise. Hate has a penetrating quality which makes it hard to deflect or escape. I guess that’s the point of both this and last week’s post. We must—as hard as it is. Because, to channel my inner Hillel, if not this, what? And if not now, when? And if not us, who?