OPINION | What. Is. Wrong. With Our Species?

by Lola E. Peters

What. Is. Wrong. With our species? At what point will we look back on the patterns of history and say, "Wow, it looks like violence doesn't work in the long run, shall we try something else?"

Once again we are mired in the unproductive debate about whose fault it is and what degree of murder is acceptable when it's done by a government. It's truly surreal.

Years ago, Rev. Dr. Anita Farber Robertson used an analogy in one of her sermons that I've never forgotten. I don't remember it exactly, so I'll replicate my version of it here:

I walk into a building where I'm supposed to give a talk. At the front desk, I ask the receptionist where to go. Following their instructions, I find and enter the auditorium. On approaching the podium, I notice the audiovisual [AV] equipment I'd requested isn't set up, so I go back to the receptionist and ask who I need to talk to.

Apparently, the AV equipment is kept in a closet, just outside the auditorium. I make my way to the closet, but it's locked. A staff person for the facility sees me trying to open the door and asks what I'm doing. I explain the situation. They tell me the only person with a key to the AV closet is the maintenance person and offer to go track them down. I gratefully accept their offer.

As I'm waiting, another staff person comes by. I explain the situation. They tell me the door often is just stuck or jammed. They pull out a credit card to jiggle it between the lock and door in hopes it will loosen the jam. Another person comes by and we explain that I'm trying to get the AV equipment out of the jammed closet. They offer additional suggestions.

Pretty soon a group has gathered and I'm feeling the time pressure of getting the AV equipment before the talk is scheduled to begin. Someone suggests we just break down the door. A debate ensues. It gets heated. People take sides.

You may think this story is about the escalation of a problem. It's not. Here's the thing: Everyone in this story, including me, has assumed the AV equipment I need is in the closet. In truth, the maintenance person may have taken it to the wrong room, or may have been in transit with it while I was headed to the reception desk to ask about it. The receptionist could have mistaken me for another speaker and sent me to the wrong room. I could simply have not recognized a new AV technology.

The escalation within the analogy resulted from a lack of basic self-interrogation. There is an innate ignorant arrogance in this, an unwillingness to question our most basic beliefs and examine their effectiveness. Millions of sons and daughters are sent off to die or become murderers in the name of the outmoded belief that war is winnable. But is it? And if it is, what does "winning" look like?

All over the planet, we see the outcomes of wars that have been "won." Each conquered generation creates another generation of bitter, angry, oppressed people bent on retribution while each conqueror produces a generation of entitled, self-righteous, self-serving, resource-gobbling oppressors too bloated by institutionally fed narratives about their history.

While the U.S. has long had the strongest economy in the world, our economy has been built, much like Britain's, on subjugation. From slavery-enriched cotton plantations, East Coast bankers, and shipping magnates of the 16th through 19th centuries to 21st-century tech gurus reliant on low-wage gig workers and corporate contract employees for their wealth, oppression is the foundational cornerstone of the country.

In Seattle we have the mythology of the Denny Party landing at Alki Beach. I have often wondered what type of society we would have today if those colonizing settlers had chosen to respect the Indigenous population … work in partnership with them … asked to share the abundant and fertile land. But their East Coast-bred internalized white supremacy, rooted in the Doctrine of Discovery, led in another direction, one that almost destroyed the people who lived in and cared for this region for 10,000 years.

What if the U.S. and Britain, instead of supporting the post-WWII Zionists, had negotiated a shared place for Palestinians and Israelis to call home? What if the U.S. had refused to provide Israel with the military arms it would use to take over more and more land? What if Israelis had to negotiate the use of the land with those already living on it?

What if violence was universally intolerable?

I could write a book on all the ways our country has made things worse around the world by using physical or economic violence, but others, like Howard Zinn, Daniel Berrigan, Alice Walker, and many others have written much more eloquently and in-depth.

Locally and regionally, how can we expect young men and women who feel their lives have no agency to respond with anything other than violence when we affirm violence on a global scale as the gateway to access resources and power? Do we think they're not watching, learning?

The choices of generations before us have led to the moment we live in now. The choices we make now will define the futures of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We can continue to believe the AV is in the closet, or we can step back and interrogate the basic beliefs about ourselves and others that got us here. We can continue pursuing behavior that has proven ineffective for millennia or we can stop, put aside our fears, and show future generations ways to resolve differences without violence: physical, economic, or otherwise.

We can allow our children and grandchildren to die, or we can teach them to negotiate ways to keep the future of our species alive.

We must redefine power and how it's attained. We must choose differently. We must find ways to evolve beyond violence. We need a global cease-fire.

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📸 Featured Image: Thousands joined in a march from Heritage Park to the Washington State Capitol building in Olympia, Washington, calling for a cease-fire in the latest war between Israel and Hamas, in solidarity with pro-Palestine demonstrations globally on Nov. 4, 2023. (Photo: Alex Garland)