{"id":12842,"date":"2021-11-02T12:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T12:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/?p=12842"},"modified":"2021-11-03T10:36:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T10:36:53","slug":"ethiopias-civil-war-is-systematically-ripping-apart-the-social-fabric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/?p=12842","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia\u2019s civil war is systematically ripping apart the social fabric"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/andrew.decort\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Andrew DeCort<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">November 2, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ethiopia\u2019s civil war is systematically ripping apart the social fabric. We can trace this through the current use of the key words enemy, stranger, neighbor, and friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More and more people are being labeled as \u201cenemies.\u201d Referring to another person or group as \u201cenemy\u201d has been utterly normalized. \u201cEnemy\u201d essentially means \u201chated one,\u201d the one I wish didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">High-level officials are warning the public to be suspicious and even hostile to \u201cstrangers.\u201d They are represented as potential undercover enemies to be \u201cweeded out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Influential media personalities are calling \u201cneighbors\u201d to be cruel and attack their neighbors along identity lines. Like the stranger, the neighbor is pictured as a potential enemy, lurking and needing to be cut out like a \u201ccancer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFriendship\u201d increasingly becomes another word for political agreement and loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The social fabric is what supports a flourishing society of shared dignity and security. We see each other as woven together, strands of something larger than ourselves that work together toward the common good. We enrich each other in our differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neighbors honor a covenant of mutual care and service. Strangers are welcomed and treated with respect. Conflicts are resolved nonviolently through dialogue, mediation, and law. These relationships weave together a complex but thick fabric of shared value and a basic level of trust across differences and disagreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today this social fabric is being systematically unraveled. Suspicion, enmity, and violence are being urged from the highest levels as patriotic virtues and existential necessities. But what will be left after the war \u2014 when more children speak viral hate against people they don\u2019t even know, when strangers feel more unsafe in communities that host them, when neighbors grow further apart and see each other as potential threats?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The implications will be far-reaching and long-lasting. I will never forget hearing little children naming their regional neighbors as \u201cevil\u201d \u2014 how much more now and for generations to come? The intangible bonds of assuming the best \u2014 or at least not assuming the worst \u2014 about people are vital for quality of life and public resilience. The effects of assuming the worst of the others around us rips our society to rags. Harvard research shows that its damage is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Refuse to become a partner in ripping apart the social fabric. Commit now to reweaving the social fabric. Protect friendship with those who disagree with you. Honor your neighbors with kindness and care. Make sure that strangers are safe and thoughtfully engaged. Refuse to be an enemy to anyone and seek peace as much as you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The way we see others produces the society we see, for better or worse. Rebel against the enemy-making vision. Let your eyes be the starting place of peace and a rewoven society. There is still time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Andrew DeCort November 2, 2021 Ethiopia\u2019s civil war is systematically ripping apart the social fabric. We can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[215,32],"class_list":["post-12842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-andrew-decort","tag-english"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",960,687,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",300,215,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",640,458,false],"large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",640,458,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",960,687,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",960,687,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",803,575,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",573,410,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648.jpg",600,429,false],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/648-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Axumawian Media"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/?cat=2\" rel=\"category\">Article<\/a>","tag_info":"Article","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12844,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842\/revisions\/12844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}