Danny ChaiI actually liked The Interpreter. Any movie that has a message that sticks with me is a plus in my eyes. The message from this movie: you need to let go of vengeance and rage. People get wronged all the time. But insisting on reparations for it leads to a neverending cycle of conflict. It is possible – it might even be the only way – to move on from being wronged without requiring personal justice or payback, whatever that is. We’re the ones who choose to move on and have closure in our hearts. We make that decision internally. It’s not something that happens through external events.
I think that’s true. A problem with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is that each side has been so wronged, and they both want justice. One side has done terrible things to the people of the other side. The people respond with guerrila tactics and suicide bombers. Which necessitates a military response from the other side, which leads to more suffering. It never ends.
I really think one or the other side needs to just end the cycle and not respond for things to progress. But the people on either side won’t stand for that, so it won’t happen.
I also think this is why I agree with Friedman that Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. I dunno if you know anything about this guy, but he’s amazing. He has enormous influence in Iraq, but he lives in poverty and rarely lives home. The biggest thing is, even with repeated, frequent Sunni attacks on Shiite mosques and civilians, he has insisted that there never be retaliation, which would have undoubtedly led to civil war, making a bad situation far worse. How many people have the courage to say, no matter how much we are being attacked, we’re not going to fight back? Not going to rightfully retaliate for the sake of peace? That’s amazing.
And no one cares.