On the justification of atrocities

On the justification of atrocities

At the core of the deepest expression of violence is dehumanisation. The reduction of life to data points, statistics, animals. (Although, as an animal lover, I find this reduction doubly horrific.)

The erasure of anything resembling human. The complete disregard for precious life.

The desire to starve, break, bomb, rape, oppress, exploit.

It speaks to the humans doing the dehumanising as monsters.

There is no justification for dehumanising that makes it right.

Not vengeance. Not some mythology that uses words like divine right or chosen ones.

The Christianity I was taught as a child was a religion of love. To welcome the leper and prostitute. To turn the tables of the tax collectors and the greedy. To seek for love, care and compassion. Yet in the name of Christianity, terrible crimes have been committed. And continue to be.

In the name of some vengeful God, terrible crimes reduce precious human life to rubble. This story is as old as time, and too old and broken to live past another day. Yet today it thrives.

It is this story of divine right to kill, usurp, break, or starve that needs to die. Across the arc of all religions. It exposes us for the immature humans we are.

We have reached a place where acts of such violence and brutality happen every day with such impunity. We fear speaking of the perpetrator, who is so politically protected that to confront them, we become targets for relentless hate and loss of employment.

I think of the story of the imaginal cells that eventually create a butterfly. In the beginning, a few imaginal cells pop up out of the undifferentiated goo. They are gobbled up by the goo, for they dare to be different. The first imaginal cells lead, and die.

But the imaginal cells exist and persist. Eventually, there are too many of them to be gobbled. Their numbers cross a threshold, and transformation occurs.

If we do not speak up, if we do not risk being hated on, then that transformation will not happen.

Dig deep. Speak up. Against any form of dehumanisation. Any violence. No matter the actor. Even if they are our government, our allies, our friends.

Stand against the Little Atrocities before they swallow the world, and we all lose our souls to the numbness of dehumanisation. (https://syntropic.world/little-atrocities-the-path-from-integrity-to-self-deception-and-bad-business/)

This article was written to honour and remember Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, 33, Muhammad Nur Ichwan, 26, and Farizal Rhomadhon, 28, not numbers, not data points – human beings – working for peace in Southern Lebanon. The relative silence from the Western media about their deaths makes me feel deeply ashamed and broken with sorrow. (I could add the names of thousands, millions more. In honouring these three men, I hold witness to all.)

Photo Taken March 17th 2026. Article published April 6th 2026