Today's Tough Times Tuesday is another rough one.
I'd understand if folks really don't want to revisit the last nine months, and what they've brought out in us: the gamification of atrocity, the weaponization of data, the blatant schisms between local reports and how stories of Israel-Gaza manifested in Western discourse.
But I needed to grieve our indifference to truth and humanity in the throes of wartime missions, so I hope this serves anyone else in a similar mood.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/nine-months-at-war-with-our-own-worst
@MLClark "By and large, we humans are small-c conservative. Fill us with fear, make the world confusing and violent, and we will always cleave to whoever promises us the simplest moral claim."
That really struck me.
It's a hard, ugly facet of human nature, but also one that makes it easier to forgive my fellow human being for leaping to rigid and extremist thinking.
So much of who we are is shaped by fear, trauma, and a powerful desire never to be helpless again in the face of violence and confusion.
No monsters, only men - living as best we can with the fragility of our lives.
Thank you for sitting with me in the grief. 🕊️
@MLClark 🖤