Fear and Hate Over Rationale and Love

Rational. After three years of studying economics, what I have been trained to understand is that the world is rational. It gets too complex and complicated when it isn’t, making economic/human actions almost impossible to understand and quantify/experiment on. Foolishly, of course, I thought this was a reality and not just an assumption we made.

What we’re also taught is that on a more holistic level, the majority rational will outpace the minority irrational. It’s not only easier to quantify that way, but it is also the glass half full view of the world. So when Brexit started to become a legitimate cause, many of us, including myself, thought that the rational would win over the irrational. It had to. The glass would only be half-full that way. The decision announced two hours ago was the glass half-empty version of it all.

Of course, democracy is democracy. The people of Britain wanted out, and they chose to go that way. But what scares me more is that this isn’t an isolated event. Britain took the step that many other countries will no longer hesitate to take. The so-called European Union ‘empire’ that stood its ground just shy of 23 years is set to crumble.

Blame whatever you may please, but if history and the great depression are any indications, there are only more countries that will swing in support of the extremists and those who perpetuate hate (as we’ve seen in the recent elections cycle), and the result will be a more isolated world.

In this world of rationality, we’re taught to remove human emotion from decisions-rational people don’t use emotions to think. Of course, using that perception, we would all think that countries wouldn’t follow suit – its almost as if we believe that countries aren’t run by people, and that people aren't human beings that are driven by emotion.

An analogy to human behavior would be about perfect right now. Although it would make more sense to stay together, the thought of being alone at this moment sounds just right to many countries. In their sense, they’re tired, battered and bruised. What they don’t want is to keep fighting; they just want to be left alone. Little do they know the power of the group, and how working together has a much better outcome than going mentally insane on your own.

Another issue that alarms me is that fear and hatred might win the election for the leader of the free world over rationale. France also faces a similar situation with extremism and isolationism on the rise, as do Greecd and the Netherlands. So far, I’ve believed that rational people will over-power and win over the people who, at some level, are very rightfully are stricken with fear and hatred.  That people will come to, and the world will continue on an upward trajectory as it had before. As the future unfolds, my vision, along with the vision of millions who stand by me, starts to look like two completely different movies playing at the same time.

Of course, most of what I said are predictions and thoughts. What I fear most is that one day, an innocent child, full of optimism will ask me if I think love trumps fear and hate, and I will have to look this child in the eye, and either break her heart today by telling her the truth, or break it tomorrow, when she learns the truth herself. It sounds cynical that way, and I can try to stay glass-half-full, but the world is turning into a glass half-empty kinda situation. 

20 minutes of action for him, 20 years of nightmares for her

I broke down last night. I broke down when I read the letter Emily Doe, the girl from the Stanford sexual attack case, wrote. After the twelve page tear jerker, I just have a feeling that I need to write something addressing some of the players in the situation, and that even though they probably won't get, but are things that I need to say to get off my chest. 

To Dan Turner: 

You released a statement a few days ago, telling the world how 20 minutes of action ruined your poor boys life. While it is true that he's now a registered sex offender and it is true prison won't be fun, what you have failed to consider how the 20 minutes of action will result in 20 years of therapy for Emily, and if she's lucky, she might one day resume her daily activities of being her goofy old self. You didn't consider how it has effected Emily's sisters life, who is  going through the same things you claim your son is. She too can't eat, can't sleep. She blames herself for this entire thing. 

What disgusts me more is that in your statement, you praise your boy. You tell the world in a statement that he got into Stanford, a place with 4% acceptance rate or that he got the highest GPA on the swim team. How does that justify rape? You go on to mention that he was socially depressed. I'm sorry, when did social depression make it O.K. to rape someone? The answer is never. 

You should be ashamed to call yourself a human. If this were my father I swear I'd've been subject to corporal punishment, banished from the family and he would've adopted Emily as his own. I am ashamed to  be in the species as you. 

To Judge Persky: 

You said in your sentencing that you "understood the devastation the victim suffered". No your honor (I associate you with honor very loosely and only because it's a societal norm, not that I believe you have an ounce of honor in you), you do not understand the devastation one goes through after such an event. You may ATTEMPT to understand it, but unless you've been through it yourself, you do not understand it. 

And since when did it matter that he was an all star athlete? Since when did it matter that because of all of this ordeal "he had to lose a scholarship to Stanford?" Oh no, now his daddy might have to pay tuition 6 months from when he gets out. How sad it must be to live the ugly life. I thought justice was blind. It saw no rich, no poor, no male, no female. I don't care if it were President Obama himself, it's no excuse for you to lessen a sentence, especially if it was rape. I so wish that you lose your next election. If this is what represents one of the most developed countries in the world, then let me tell you, your justice system is no different to India, or Saudi Arabia, where according to people "the justice system is a failure". 

To Emily: 

You are brave. The words you speak, the things you say surprise me. Your outer calamity, way you have responded to your attacker deserves nothing short of the utmost respect. What got the tears rolling was when you say "Your life is not over, you have decades of years ahead to rewrite your story. The world is huge, it is so much bigger than Palo Alto and Stanford, and you will make a space for yourself in it where you can be useful and happy. Right now your name is tainted, so I challenge you to make a new name for yourself, to do something so good for the world, it blows everyone away. You have a brain and a voice and a heart. Use them wisely. You possess immense love from your family. That alone can pull you out of anything. Mine has held me up through all of this. Yours will hold you and you will go on."

I cannot fathom what it takes to wish your attacker a happier life. To hope that he goes on to be happy. If I were in your place, I'd rather have him on his knees, begging for mercy while the gun I aim at his head blows a hole through it. That's all the mercy I have in my heart. I don't have much to say to you but to wish you well. To hope, just like you wished Brock a happier life, that you too go on to lead a happy one too. That you, and your family at some point, can work past this, and you can find your place in the world too. 

To the rest of the world: 

The reason I know much about this case is because of the outburst behind the judges decision, which I understand. But please have the right reasons for the outburst. If it's because the case sets a bad precedence, or if it's to shelter the next victim from such a poor ruling, then go ahead. But, if you're thinking that you'll be serving justice to Emily, know that her justice isn't your justice. 

While she may not forget it, ever, and while she'll still have nightmares about it till the end of time, her justice is to forgive. While the shorter sentence might surprise her, it's not that big of a deal. You see, to forgive, you need someone to ask for an apology, and an apology is all she wants. She wants the person who set her back so far, who changed her family's and those close to her life for worse, to look her in the eye, acknowledge what he has done, and say sorry. So do not fight for her justice. Her justice has nothing to do with a prison sentence. Her justice is to do with two words that a Brock Turner cannot utter. If you can convince him, then her justice is served. Instead, do it for everyone else that comes after, do it for the "girls everywhere". Do it for those who are doubted and dismissed and be there for them. Sentencing one man for another 5 years isn't helping much in the grand scheme of things. Work to sentence the 5000 others that will walk free, or ones yet to come.