Good vs. evil inevitably falls short

When I was at home recently, there was an anti-abortion rally
outside the local Starbucks, complete with pictures of dead babies
and slogans about murder. The abortion-rights people got wind of
this rally ahead of time and posted themselves on the other side of
the street with slogans of their own, chanting and screaming to be
heard.

Driving down the street with, “Baby-killer!” on my
right and “Bible-thumper!” on my left, all I learned
that day is that there are two sides to the issue. But as time goes
on, I’m finding that lesson to be more and more valuable.

I have been writing opinions for the Daily Bruin more or less
once a week for the past 20 school weeks. The charge of an opinion
writer is to be persuasive; the simple fact that I am writing for a
newspaper does not make my opinion any more valid than anyone
else’s. What (ideally) makes Viewpoint worth reading is that
it is reasoned with logic and informed by research.

It is through this research that I have learned one lesson, over
and over again, and this being my last article, I want to share it:
Nothing is as simple as it seems. Nothing is black and white, and
more often than not, those who think there is a clear right answer
and a clear wrong answer are missing the point.

Take, for example, last week’s “Israel and
Palestine: Obstacles to Peace.” Anyone who has taken Bruin
Walk this past week has been talked at by those who believe that
Palestinians are freedom-loathing suicide bombers or that Israelis
gleefully kills children.

Being brought up Jewish, I have historically sided with Israel.
And in many ways, Israel can be seen as a sovereign state under
attack by terrorists. It is easy and natural to sympathize with a
people who are attacked by men who walk into restaurants and try to
kill as many civilians as possible, as recently seen in the case of
the April 17 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

And seen through another lens, Israel is a cruel tyrant
viciously abusing the human rights of a besieged people. According
to the UK newspaper the Guardian Unlimited, Israeli soldiers have
killed 2,700 Palestinians and bulldozed several thousand civilian
homes in the last five years.

This is an important issue, one that weighs heavily on our
world, and it deserves impassioned discussion and fierce
debate.

But that debate should be informed and reasoned. To simply paint
one side as evil and the other as good is dangerously ignorant, as
that exact thing is likely what has perpetuated the conflict all
this time.

In beginners’ writing classes, they teach the concept of
good vs. good, which says it is not realistic to see stories in
which the antagonist is a mustache-twirling, cackling villain
because it bears little resemblance to real life. There
aren’t many people who walk the earth with a desire to do
evil. Realistic conflict amounts to each side acting out their idea
of what is good and right, and those ideas sometimes clash.

In other words, if one side of an issue cannot understand the
other side’s reasoning, they haven’t seen their
argument through.

Walking down Bruin Walk the other day, I was reminded that the
number of minorities in California has gone up while the number of
minorities admitted to UCLA has gone down. These numbers are
stirring, but what is not addressed is the reason Proposition 209
““ outlawing race as a factor in admissions ““ was passed
in the first place.

I’d be more likely to join the cause for affirmative
action if those who advocate for race to be a factor in admissions
addressed the opposing argument and explained why their own is
better. Being a white male, I feel grossly unqualified to speak on
the subject of affirmative action, but what I do know is that
people who oppose it are not racists.

There is a case to be made that affirmative action undermines
equality, and that’s a case that can and should be made in a
debate.

There have been so many times when I have felt one way about an
issue and sat down to write it out, only to find in the research
that the issue is not as clear cut as I thought.

I love that people have passion and get active in issues that
matter to them, but I am always wary of those who claim their way
is the only way. There is almost no major issue that is black and
white.

Too many times I encounter sources or strangers who come at me
with blinders and a cause.

“Do you want amputee orphans to be tortured? No? Then join
our club!”

And so as useless as it may seem to have abortion rights and
anti-abortion protesters next to each other, it was actually more
complete than the rallying of any of the demagogues I’ve
seen.

Scratch the surface of any cause and you’ll find more than
right and wrong. It is good to care and to be active.

Ignorance, on the other hand, is destructive, no matter how
righteous the fight may be.

Tell O’Bryan why he’s wrong at
jobryan@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.

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