Dear Turkish-Americans, friends of Turkey, and all fair-minded, truth-seeking readers,
Let me give you a hypothetical scenario :
You go into a bar just after a brawl has ended. You see two parties, both heavily bruised and agitated and both held back by others trying to stop the fight.
One of them is very loud and aggressive and keeps screaming nonstop:
“He is the guilty party! Don’t hold me; hold him! He is the one who needs a good beating. He threw the first punch. Look, I am bleeding. Then he grabbed this 500 lb bier keg and repeatedly hit my face with it. There were three armed guys helping him, but no one helped me. I lost my friends: two men, four women, and six children. They just died due to lethal blows thrown by this barbaric aggressor. You don’t have to listen to him because he will probably deny it all. He is a denialist. I am a great guy. I belong to the same religion as you. I am also a very honestperson. So, please, trust me. Just condemn him. Go ahead. And then help me teach him a lesson.”
Would you immediately take this screamer’s side and condemn the other guy—who happens to be a silent type, not a big talker, and too proud to defend himself even when his interests are at stake?
The silent type, in contrast, just says “ Please ask around first and research all the facts. Then whatever decision you come to is fine with me. But things aren’t as the screamer makes them out to be. “
What would you do?
Would you ignore the silent type anyway and just go with the screamer?
Or would you try to talk to the silent type to find out about the other side of the story?
And what would you do if the silent type alerts you:
“Don’t take the screamer’s words at face value. I know him well enough not to trust his word. This screamer is the kind of guy who would enjoy your gracious hospitality at your home all day and cut your throat, rape your wife, and escape with your money at night. Still not finished with you, he would tell all in his new neighborhood that he was the one attacked and mauled by you. He would even write shameful fabrications, impossible falsifications, to fill a book and make films, too. But we all know what really happened, don’t we? He hit me first when I wasn’t looking. I was only defending myself after that attack from behind. ”
The metaphor above, of course, is only a vehicle to make you analyze your motives and inclinations.
If you are the kind who would take the screamer’s outrageous claims at face value, for the sake of friendship, bias, or whatever else, then you do not need to read the rest. Facts really do not matter to you anyway. Why bother learning the truth?
But if you a fair-minded, truth-seeker, who wants to solve a conflict fairly and bring peace, then you would talk to the accused, ignored, censored, and silent type and, therefore, you should read the rest of this essay.
Read it because facts do matter to you.
Warm regards to all readers and happy holidays!
ERGÜN KIRLIKOVALI
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