Blog #15--Fear Perpetuates Mutual Distrust

Blog #15 --Fear Perpetuates Mutual Distrust, by Jack Tuttle http://dreamtime3.wix.com/jacktuttlebook

I spend several chapters of my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life” talking about some of the many ways people are manipulated through scare tactics and how we must overcome fear to reach our full spiritual potential. As we digest and try to heal the pain created by recent incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere, there is a need to find common ground between rival groups of self-interests.

I have no desire to assign blame or evaluate the political and social ramifications of these incidents. To find peaceful solutions to eruptions like these, we must find a common denominator upon which opposite sides can agree. The obvious common denominator is a mutual fear of each other.

People describe myriad reasons for their fears. Those who struggle making ends meet are often in full survival mode on a regular basis. Under these conditions, additional insults can drive them over the edge and cause all sorts of misbehaviors. If police in their community ratchet up fear levels by arming themselves with military-style gear, hiring agents provocateur and using a macho attitude, fear becomes even more intense. If racial profiling and excessive arrests occur also, extremes of behavior are possible.

Likewise, community leaders who encourage their police to arrest or attack minorities without just cause do so out of fear. They would have less need to do so if there was more trust and less fear. Police have more firepower, but many in minority communities have dominant personalities and more self-confidence, making them a threat to those who are fearful and submissive. Add in the possibility that some arrests are carried out to supply slave labor for private prisons, and you have a volatile mix of greed and fear. Of course, greed isn’t necessary either when there is no fear for survival.

There are many causes of racial bias, too many to discuss in a short blog. The same is true for those who distrust law enforcement. But conflicts between opposing sides will continue throughout the world until they get better acquainted and recognize the common problems they both face. If both sides actually want peace, finding the good in each other and decreasing fear levels will increase trust between them. The entire community can benefit.

As I state in my book, conflicts are a necessary aspect of life on three-dimensional Earth. Whether we can voluntarily reduce fear levels enough to re-create peaceful communities is debatable. But identifying our common problems and working to overcome them cannot help but improve conditions for making a peace that can last. That is, if peace is really what we want.

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