YOU CAN’T KILL AN IDEOLOGY
At some point after October 7th, a phrase popped into my head, almost as if it was some sort of divine intervention - “You can’t kill an ideology.” The saying can be applied to any side of any conflict, and it is especially fitting following the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump just three days ago.
The motives behind 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ attempt are murky, but one can speculate that Trump’s polarizing persona may have fueled his personal crusade against what many perceive to be dictatorial tendencies. As former classmates come forward to admit that Crooks was bullied heavily throughout his life, my guess is that he saw himself as the noble challenger against the world’s ultimate bully.
Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever learn as a society that killing people only makes shit worse. Despite being one of Trump’s harshest critics, I’m overwhelmingly relieved that the bullets didn’t dissolve his brain on national television, echoing JFK’s live assassination in 1963. The aftermath would have plunged the nation (further) into chaos - as vengeance seekers would likely take to the streets to violently mourn their idol. And Trump’s rhetoric would grow, not regardless of his absence, but because of it.
Fascism, nationalism and religious extremism have many faces. Their leaders rise and fall, but it’s their extensions that create immortality. This mirrors the tale of Hercules and the Hydra - a powerful serpent with one dominant head and infinite others. When one head was cut off, two would sprout in its place. In other words, the more you tried to kill it, the more powerful it would become. Hercules wasn’t able to defeat the Hydra alone. He and his nephew, Lolalus, worked together to cauterize the head stumps with a burning torch to prevent further growth, finally stripping the Hydra of its power and enabling its defeat.
Whether it’s religious differences, territorial disputes, or identity clashes… you can’t kill ideologies. They’re like energy - they transform and evolve, but they cannot be completely destroyed. The challenge is not to combat hate-speech head-on (pun intended), but to instead sever its roots and cut off its oxygen supply. Strength lies in numbers.
Like Hercules, we have to wield a new and strategic approach to adversaries, even those who wish us harm. Prepare for a group-effort and a long-game. Education is our most powerful weapon, but it goes both ways, unfortunately. We have more access to information than any other generation in history, and yet, misinformation runs equally rampant. Distinguishing what’s right from wrong shouldn’t be a full time job in this day and age - but it is, and it’s exhausting. And in this social-media era, we may feel more connected to others, but there’s no substitute for face-to-face interaction and real-world exposure. Until we realize that we are all one and the same, we will continue to hurtle towards extinction.
Ask yourself, why do you believe what you believe?
“What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” - President Donald Trump, 2018
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command” - George Orwell, 1984
-SID
