The Plural of Epiphany: Brought to you by Repetitive Conditioning (Thanks Mom)
In October, Osama Bin Laden vowed to launch a new wave of “martyrdom operations inside and outside of the United States until you stop your injustice and you end your foolishness.” 
(awareness+1) I admit it, I’ve kept myself shrouded against the mainstream media; this particular quote came from an article in the Globe and Mail, over a month after the threat was first heard in the western world. Maybe that was the wrong way to do things; maybe I should be more involved in the mainstream media, if for no other reason than to know what’s going on. I’ve avoided it, mainly out of fear. Out of the fear that it will somehow influence me, that if I let my guard down I will somehow become just that little bit more like the businessmen the publication caters to. Like the businessmen who used to pass me by, keys to the Lexus and pocket change jangling; as I sat shivering, with a smile on my face offering to read their fortunes for a buck.(flashback+1)
We accuse them of generating a culture of fear; “question the media,” we are told. They manipulate the way the facts are presented to generate interest. They convince us with numbers, and statistics. We rebuke by putting the numbers into perspective. 
“Our enemies have killed thousands,” they say.
“Your allies have killed more,” we reply.
The media teaches us fear. It’s been common throughout history, a natural means of group defense. 
“Don’t eat these berries,” our ancestors would say.
And we wouldn’t. 
But now we distrust the wisdom of those who tell us not to eat the berries. It turns out that some of what we’ve feared was probably good for us all along. We fear them, for we fear their misinformation, but the fact still remains: some of the berries they warn us about are poisonous. Whether the source is reliable or not, there is still information that can be gleaned, if one is discerning enough to keep the information and the way it is presented, separate. 
We accuse them of fear mongering, yet I suddenly found this morning that I had learned to fear the media(epiphanies+1). We have been doing our own fear mongering; and that makes us hypocrites. 
As much as the media enjoys creating fear, though, it also enjoys disseminating it(undertand now+1). It’s a two way street. Create the fear, and you can also get rid of it: both garner public attention if in varying degrees. If you doubt it, explain my adolescent fascination with television shows on sharks. They were all about removing fear and introducing respect.
“Sharks don’t eat people for food, they spit us out.”
“We have to learn that the water is the sharks’ environment, that we are the intruders and that when an attack happens; we have no one to blame but ourselves and our ignorance.”
All you have to do is replace the word “water” with any environment you want. Iraq. India. The Muslim community. The living room. 
The sharks can be any fear of your choice. The military. The government. The media. The people.
“We” can be any group, individual or organization you desire. The United States. Britain. Al-Queda. You.
“We have to learn that Iraq is the people’s environment, that the United States are the intruders and that when an attack happens; the United States has no one to blame but themselves and their ignorance.”(enforce with parallellism+1)  
Eerie.. isn’t it?
But what else did those shark shows teach us? That beyond fear; is understanding. This understanding can only be achieved by looking at things through a different point of view. The emphasis was always on why the sharks behave the way they do: that understanding this is the only way to avoid conflict. 
“Know thy enemy.” The old adage goes. Don’t just learn their tactics; know them. Know their motivations, know what drives them to say and do the things they do. Beyond fear lays understanding. To understand is to remove all fear.(point made+1)
(awareness+2)“…until you stop your injustice and end your foolishness.” Those words struck me. Those words made me have an epiphany. A realization. A flashback. 
“Stop being so foolish!” It was my mothers’ voice, conditioning me with repetitiveness.(flashback+2) When I was a child, I immediately stopped whatever I was doing when those words were spoken; regardless of whether I thought I was being foolish or not. When I got a bit older, and learned of nostalgia I came to a realization: those words didn’t pop up for everything I did wrong. Whenever she said it, it was because she was right. I was being foolish. Not just childish, or naïve, but downright foolish. Whenever someone has to say those words, I realized, it’s because you are being foolish. 
There’s another old adage, one that’s being hidden behind with increasing frequency: “an eye for an eye.” Those whose eyes have been bloodied have not replied in kind. They’ve gone far beyond the injuries sustained. Rather than a punch back, the perpetrators have been systematically and violently dismembered, disassembled and put back together in the way the retaliators see fit. That seems a bit excessive. That seems a bit.. well, foolish, wouldn’t you agree?
I had this realisation while reading a very right wing newspaper. The words I quoted were placed in the article to inspire fear in its readers. It’s a threat. Fear the one who spoke it. But is that the way the words were originally intended? “…stop your foolishness.” Sounds like Mom to me.
Suddenly I achieved this vast understanding of a group of people who up until today made me vaguely uneasy. With the arrival of understanding came the departure of fear; that uneasy feeling I had.(epiphany+2) 
We here in North America, and indeed much of western society have been doing what we deem best for ourselves, and it has worked; life here is wonderful. (understand now+2) Our natural ambition, then, is to share this wonderful, decadent way of life with the rest of the world. We don’t understand why people hate us; who could possibly hate big screen television, fast food and Mickey mouse? Who would not want to share in this wonder? 
The problem is that we have long been unaware of where this joy came from. There is a natural balance. There is an agreement between play and toil. Toil hard, play hard; and have we ever been playing hard. But who’s toiling? Where are all of our cheap electronics, gasoline and food coming from? Certainly not here. Other people, in other places; most of whom we will never see and of whom we are largely unaware. They grow and harvest and transport and prepare and cook our consumables. They do all of the work making our grand “meal.” Should we be surprised when they look at us with disgust and disdain when we offer them a few fries from our whole happy meal? Should we then sit and wonder why they hate the taste of fries so much? I assure you, it’s not because they’re too salty.
The people who are fighting aren’t fighting for a bigger share of the spoils; they’re fighting for the recognition they deserve. They’re doing exactly what the heroes of American history did against the British. Standing up and saying, “This life is ours, and it is US who is responsible for all of the luxuries you have. All of the wonderful goods; the gold and the grain, came from us, came from *our land.”(enforce with parallellism+2) And the world will not forget them, or look upon them poorly in the future. 
These are people who are finally standing up and saying, “stop your foolishness.”
And to them I say “thanks, Mom.”
(point made +2)
 
*Yes, I am, as I’m sure all first nation’s peoples are as well, aware of the inherent irony in that statement.