“Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts."
~ E. B. White
Analysis
May28, 2015 (Writings from Inside Jack Harwell Detention Center, Cell # J-136):It is compliance and conformity that they want. Diversity breeds annoyance and fear in the minds of
the assimilated. It’s much easier to judge the group as a whole based on the singular actions of
individual members than to allow for the anomalous deviant behavior of a few without impugning the entire set.
There was a time in our world’s history that Jews were gathered up into railcars for transport to
death camps. The Jewish beliefs and heritage were deemed to be abhorrent to those in power at the
time. At best, Jews were removed from their families and homes to live in prisons akin to a feedlot. At worst, their fate ended inside giant ovens designed for systematic genocide.
Dare we consider the comparison of Jewish murder during the Holocaust, Japanese internment
camps in the U.S., and the mass slaughter of freemen at the Alamo by Mexican soldiers to the plight of the American biker?
It has to be more about respecting one another’s contrasting beliefs and lifestyles than forcing
compliance and conformity. It has to be about extending grace and dignity if trust is to form the
cornerstones of better relationships led by diplomacy and integrity. We cannot dictate or demand a
complete solidarity of belief and action in a constitutional society which loves to speak loftily of the
freedom to choose and the right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. We must, instead, “secure the blessings of liberty” through the non-militaristic promotion of peaceful diversity. It is hard work.
Let the Muslim bow toward Mecca. Let the Jew worship at synagogue. Let the Christian celebrate
resurrection. And let the American biker pray to the wind and sun without fear of imprisonment or
seizure because of a lifestyle and worldview that colors outside the lines of normality.
Where there is criminal behavior we must insist on individual accountability. However, to indict an
entire lifestyle, belief system, or community based on the actions of a few is tantamount to a Stalinist
State.