THIS HAS been a week of shock for all of us. Like most, I was jolted by the news of the terrorist attack that claimed thousands of innocent lives. But I was even more disturbed by the way most Americans reacted to the event - with bloodthirsty calls to violence, couched in the shallow rhetoric of war and justice. America must hold itself to a higher standard; it must refuse to continue the chain of violence.
Across the country, people have been clamoring for revenge since the first plane hit the first tower of the World Trade Center. A recent New York Times poll showed that 75 percent of Americans think we should take military action even if that means innocent people will be killed. Congress has given the president full discretion to use whatever force he deems necessary against whomever he identifies as responsible.
It's understandable that emotions are running high. People want us to do something to make the pain go away as soon as possible. But violent retaliation won't - or shouldn't - make us feel any better or safer. More destruction won't rebuild the World Trade Center or Pentagon. More killing won't bring back the thousands of men and women who died or erase the terror with which we now live. Remember Gandhi's words: "An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."
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In haste, Americans have become willing to sacrifice many of the liberties and freedoms that we hold most dear, the rights that compose the bedrock of our civic existence. The Times poll reveals that 74 percent of respondents said they thought it would be necessary for Americans to give up some of their personal freedoms - such as the right to privacy - to make the country safe from terrorists. I'll let Mr. Jefferson respond to that: "Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."
Our leaders want to throw due process, evidence, trials, judges and courtrooms out the window and replace them with nothing more than brute military force. Vice President Cheney went so far as to say that, despite a standing executive order against government assassinations, if he could have Osama bin Laden's head on a platter, he "would take it today."
What if it wasn't bin Laden? Or even if it was, what do we show the world by killing him without a trial, acting in a spirit of anger instead of one of justice? What do we show our children?
If we abandon our most deeply held beliefs in justice, due process and the rule of law, if we give up on these values in a moment of difficulty by rushing to assassinate the individuals we think are responsible, those values will no longer mean anything important.
I'm disturbed by my fellow citizens' willingness to begin a war in which we likely will kill hundreds to thousands of innocent bystanders. KGO Talk Radio host Ronn Owens put it bluntly as he talked of "bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age," even if innocents die in the process. "We're at war," he said. "We have to accept collateral damage. What else can we do?"
Well, for starters, we can refuse to continue the bloodshed and refuse to hate. We can reject the hawkish claims that we are "at war," and that violence is unavoidable. We can choose not to become all that we deplore, to give into the evil that struck us. We can honor the thousands who have already died by not killing thousands more.
It's hardest to ask Americans who have lost friends or family members to live up to this standard. Their rage certainly is justified, the depth of their pain unimaginable. But more killing won't make their pain go away, it will only cause more. Those we kill in retaliation also have mothers, fathers, siblings, cousins, friends. They too have names. They too will die in agony and pain. They too will leave a void.
Right now, we have the world behind us; multinational support will make it impossible for the perpetrators of this act to hide forever. Justice can be served without violence if we seek to punish these perpetrators - whoever they turn out to be - in the appropriate domestic or international court. But other nations and peoples support us because they respect and admire the values we stand for - values we should not betray now, when we need them the most. So speak out when you hear friends calling for blood. Urge them to act like peaceful human beings instead of bloodthirsty terrorists. Please, no more violence.
(Bryan Maxwell's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at bmaxwell@cavalierdaily.com.)
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