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Dear Editor,
With Vladimir Putin's horrifying invasion of Ukraine, various conspiracy theories serving to justify these unforgivable acts and to undermine the efforts of America and its NATO allies to support Ukraine and its people are now being pushed by certain media outlets and personalities.
Certainly the proliferation of such conspiracy theories during times such as these is not surprising, serving as yet another dark thread in this evolving fabric, and of course propaganda is another weapon used in every war -- and one which Russia has become highly skilled at using. But to see so many partisan media sources here in our own nation parroting and actively spreading such destructive nonsense, whether out of ignorance or, even worse, quite knowingly and as a way to serve their own small and selfish agendas, is particularly disturbing.
Not surprisingly, times like these bring with them deep-seated and powerful feelings of uncertainty, anxiety and helplessness, providing extraordinarily fertile ground for such conspiracy theories to take root and grow, and to mutate and metastasize like a mental cancer.
But to see so many intentionally exploiting this dynamic for their own ego-driven purposes and, in doing so, consciously choosing to add fuel to this dark fire is painfully disheartening.
I am old enough to remember the Cold War and its worldwide fears of nuclear war, and watching current events unfolding is a sad reminder of how fragile our world truly is and how dangerous power-hungry dictators can be. Indeed, it is quite depressing to watch the world fall back into this kind of darkness yet again, as I had so desperately (and naively, I suppose) hoped and wanted to believe that we had finally learned our lessons and moved beyond that.
I do worry deeply about humanity, especially when seeing the wanton destruction, death, and suffering which can be unleashed by one malevolent psychopath blinded by power and ego, lacking any capacity for human compassion and morality, insatiably hungry for yet more power, and threatening to use the nuclear weapons at this disposal to achieve his goals.
But then, to see the countless acts of courage, goodness and kindness arising in response to this crisis and all of its horrors does renew my hope that "the better angels of our nature" may yet ultimately prevail, and that someday we may finally learn to live together in peace.
So may we all do whatever we can to help, however small such acts may seem in light of the overwhelming events we are all witnessing, and to make at least our little corner of this world a kinder and more loving place.
Surely the world needs us all to do what we can right now to bring as much light as possible into this darkness, while reminding us to be humbly mindful of how truly fortunate we are as we witness the horrors and immense suffering now being inflicted upon Ukraine and its people, forcing us to once again gaze into that terrifying abyss of instability and chaos in a world with power-hungry dictators who control nuclear weapons.
Dale E. Buonocore,
Warren