Glenn – No Beauty In The Beast – Israel Without Her Mascara

84GRABBING A WOLF BY THE EARSGrabbing a Wolf by the EarsThomas Jefferson, co-writer of the American Declaration of Independence and 3rd president of the UnitedStates once remarked that the introduction of slavery into a society was akin to “grabbing a wolf by theears,” in that the person grabbing the wolf must never let go for fear that if he did the wolf would devourhim. Jefferson should not have limited his statement merely to the crime of enslavement, but rather,should have expanded the idea to include the crimes of oppression and systematic brutality of people aswell. After all, enslavement could be argued to be any system wherein one person or a group of personsimposes their will upon others, which in its most common form is recognized as government, and thattherefore enslavement as a word by itself does not suffice to explain the hideousness of the situationimposed upon its victims. Rather, the stigma of enslavement, that thing which makes it odious and whichhas earned it its rightful place in human understanding as a crime which calls out to heaven for justice isto be found in its oppression of people and in their subjugation to a life of violence and indignation. Andhe was right; one dare not let go, for if you do you are dead.In essence what Jefferson (a slave owner himself) was saying is that human nature is such that peoplehave long memories and that they are all imbued with the instinct to survive. Therefore, when someoneor a group of people are subjected to oppression for any extended period of time, they will rememberwith perfect clarity the circumstances surrounding what was done to them and by whom it was done.Human nature, also imbued with the need for justice, will at sometime come calling for it, and given thelevel of violence with which the life of an oppressed individual was marked, it is safe to say that one canexpect the same to be meted out in return, or put in simpler terms, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for atooth.” History has born the obvious proof of this out in the various slave revolts that have occurred fromthe time of Rome to the post-colonial age areas wherein Europeans were responsible for subjugatingindigenous peoples to lives of oppression.If examples from the past do not convince the reader of the truth in Jefferson’s prediction, than the presentshould, in examining the relationships that exist between white Americans and those whose ancestorswere the victims of the kind of oppression which he names. Beginning with the Native Americans, itwould be difficult if not impossible to find any sense of overall favorable sentiments by the majority ofthem towards white Americans, and how could one expect otherwise? They, the Native Americans, aretoday a group of people whose ancestors were forced out of their lands, starved, shot, and lied to atalmost every turn by a group of people intent first upon enslaving them and later on stealing their lands.To say that the white Americans of today do not bear any responsibility for the suffering of those in thepast holds obvious merit in its most basic sense, but at the same time, means nothing to the averageNative American who today is born on a reservation in circumstances of poverty and want. If the aforementionedrelationship exemplifies the tendency of a formerly oppressed people to rely on long memoriesand the mistrust that these long memories create, then as well there is no better proof of the accuracyin Jefferson’s predictions than in examining the situation that exists today within those communities ofblack Americans who, just like their Native American counterparts, are born into circumstances of povertyand violence and who inescapably direct their gaze towards the whites of the past who were and areresponsible for their present condition.All this discussion about oppression and long memories couldn’t take place at a better time than now,given the items in the news concerning the events in the Middle East and in particular Palestine. Bush’s“Roadmap for Peace” and all the extolling of a “liberated” Iraq are events that are inextricably entwinedwithin Jefferson’s remarks, despite the fact that they are taking place thousands of miles away and con-