A call for tolerance posted on a Macintosh users' mail list.
Subject: [EVANGELIST@LARGE] September 11
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 11:53:03 -0500
From: Chuck Rogers <chuck@macevangelist.com>
To: "Mac EvangeList Classic" <EvangeList@macevangelist.com>You are subscribed to the Mac EvangeList
SEPTEMBER 11
"These and the like we have long time hoped you would have minded, and have made such an establishment for the General peace and contentful satisfaction of all sorts of people, as should have been to the happiness of all future generations, and which we most earnestly desire you would set your selves speedily to effect; whereby the almost dying honour of this most honorable House, would be again revived, and the hearts of your Petitioners and all other well affected people, be afresh renewed unto you the Freedom of the Nation (now in perpetual hazard) would be firmly established, for which you would once more be so strengthened with the love of the people, that you should not need to cast your eyes any other ways [under God] for your security: but if all this availeth nothing, God be our Guide, for men sheweth us not a wan for our preservation."
- The Leveller Petition, September 11, 1648
The Levellers were a group of English reformers mainly active during the period from 1645 through 1649, who originated many of the ideas that eventually became provisions of the U.S. Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. The above quote is part of that petition, which is also sometimes referred to as the "Leveller Manifestoes of the Puritan Revolution."
Nearly one-third of all Londoners signed the petition, which clearly spells out the Leveller agenda. Among other principles, everybody should be subject to every law of the land, including kings, queens, aristocrats and clergy; separation of church and state; private property; free trade; people must not be forced to testify against themselves in criminal justice proceedings; no imprisonment for debt; and no military conscription. The document was presented to Parliament on September 11, 1648.
353 years later people who no doubt believed fervently in their cause attacked those ideals.
I have a suggestion. Carefully police your obsessions, for when you become obsessed with your enemy you BECOME the enemy. If each of us does this, the world will become a better place.
It is OK to have an opinion. But more importantly, it is OK for others to have an opinion. It is when someone decides THEIR opinion is so very right that they must impose it unwillingly on others that things start to go south.
I don't have the background or life experience to understand what motivated last week's attack. It isn't a matter of not understanding Arabs - I'm not sure that is the real issue. After all, who among us can say we truly understand what motivated Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City?
These are crazy people who are imposing their will on us.
WHEN PLANES ARE OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE PLANES
Last year, I watched as Salmon Rushdie and rock musician Todd Rundgren argued about gun control on Politically Incorrect (a TV show here in the United States, for those readers outside the US). Todd is an avid gun supporter, while Salmon would prefer guns are outlawed. Whether guns should or shouldn't be outlawed is beyond the scope of this column - and a political (and emotional) hot potato I would rather not touch. But Salmon said something very interesting.
Todd pointed out that he could quite easily rise out of his chair, grab it, and bludgeon Salmon to death, and asked if that means chairs should be outlawed. Salmon said "No, because chairs are for sitting on, not beating people. For what other purpose do guns serve except to shoot something?"
Both points are interesting. I think it is important we focus on how our actions affect other people. If everyone had the respect for firearms that Todd Rundgren does, there would not be a need to consider banning them.
Recently, I wrote some comments about Microsoft. I normally receive a few emails after each column as something I say resonates within the reader in some way. But after the Microsoft column, I received dramatically polarized emails. While I received roughly equal amounts of praise and poison, it was a couple of the people who disagreed with my views that startled me. They accused me of all sorts of things that weren't true (one even suggested I was paid by Microsoft to make those comments), and in at least one instance I was called names that are unprintable in a public forum.
This is what disturbs me. I want to say this again: it is OK to have an opinion. But we must all be tolerant of those with different opinions lest we sow the seeds of hatred.
It is reported that last Tuesday a terrorist cell gathered on the rooftop of a building across the Hudson River from the World Trade Towers and cheered as the attack took place. It is simply beyond my comprehension how anyone could rejoice at such catastrophic loss of life.
So what's the point of all this? Be tolerant of others. Remove yourself from the center of the universe. It isn't all about you - at least not anymore. As a Mac EvangeList subscriber you already enjoy the benefits of a strong community. Extend that to the rest of your life. In the aftermath of these terrible events, do not succumb to hatred. By all means, you have a right to defend your viewpoints - but not when doing so entails hurting someone else.
The concepts of freedom existed long before the United States of America. As it was so well stated in the Leveller Petition: "... for which you would once more be so strengthened with the love of the people, that you should not need to cast your eyes any other ways [under God] for your security: but if all this availeth nothing, God be our Guide, for men sheweth us not a wan for our preservation."
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