Recent occurrences of violence and terrorism and the
response to them, e.g. the report on CIA use of anti-terrorism techniques;
police force to subdue protests and crimes in New York and Ohio; the murder of
newspaper staff in Paris, have raised two questions in my mind.
First, how do we identify the enemy in these situations? In
the case of the French slaying is it the two brothers, radical Islamic belief,
or Muslim ideology in general that is to blame? Second, once we do identify the
perpetrators, what should be the appropriate response? Are responses like
water-boarding, rectal probing or chokeholding suitable?
Three current shows and films provide some perspective on
these questions. Let’s see what the Arts have to say.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s movie adaptation of Into the Woods is a captivating fable outlining
the repercussions of getting our wishes and how that may not necessarily lead
to a fairy tale ending. Initiating the
musical with familiar parables like Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stalk and
Little Red Riding Hood, the authors illustrate how each character’s pursuit of
their one wish with a relentless passion can lead to unforeseen damage to the
community when these selfish paths crisscross.
In this case, witches, giants and old family sins reappear
wreaking havoc on our protagonists.
Although these are easy targets for being the enemies of the story, we
see that it is the pursuit of our heroes’ desires that unleashes them in the
first. The actions of these enemies may
need to be stopped, but their motivations are just the same as ours. As Sondheim writes: “Witches can be right,
Giants can be good, you decide what’s right you decide what’s good. Just remember someone is on your side, someone
else is not. When you’re seeing your
side, maybe we forgot they are not alone. No one is alone.”
Disgraced is the
Pulitzer Prize winning play by Ayad Akhtar.
Set in present day New York, we witness two couples having dinner until
a bewildering act of violence throws the characters into a harsh light. The culprit is clear and the response to his
actions tempers the motivation behind the deed. Through their conversations,
the characters invoke an important distinction - the response to a misdeed depends
on how strongly an individual or society values either order or justice. If one highly values justice, retribution can
be swift and as cruel as the original act of violence. If one highly values order, we accept that
the penalty for a crime will take longer and will be more measured.
Similar to many countries of the world, American society
swings between these values. After the
9/11 attacks, justice was highly prized and the government sanctioned methods
such as waterboarding. With the passing of
time we swing back to order. In the
play, the act of violence is motivated by a sense of justice, and yet
surprisingly the other characters’ response is one of order. By responding in this manner, a cycle of
violence is upended, and the culprit feels even more shame for the deed.
The Imitation Game
describes the story of Alan Turing during the critical years when he worked
with a team to break the Nazi codes and helped win World War II. The title is based on one of his papers that
describes how a computer may someday be able to mimic human thought. The movie portrays the imitation game on additional
levels - how the Allies tried to break the German code by replicating the
results, and how Turing tried to mimic individuals in general society despite his
awkward nature and homosexuality.
A pioneer in his field, Turing looked to find a way to
outthink his rivals. Rather than use
brute force to break the codes, he devised a machine and system that could
“learn” from its past actions thus getting smarter the more calculations that
it conducted. In the modern day our rice
cookers conduct these computations, in 1941 England it was a system of vacuum
tubes and analog dials filling a house.
Once the code was broken, Turing’s team used the information to decisively
outmaneuver by staying one step ahead of the Axis’ intentions.
From these shows, we see that although it may be easy to identify
an enemy at face, it’s important to recognize that their actions could be
motivated by a series of decisions both theirs and ours that were initiated by selfish
interests. We shouldn’t necessarily
forgive the perpetrators, but approaching the punishment with a sense of order
rather than justice, can prevent the initiation of a cycle of violence. Finally, by reflecting on our enemies’ motivations
and thinking the way they do, we may be able to stay ahead of the game.
