How We Change (But Not Really)

Back in 2008, I was obsessed with Aristotle and Greek tragedy. I was in love with the style of the narrative; a hero of noble birth who is succumbed by his one character flaw causing a spectacular demise. I thought about Greek tragedy again recently. I'm attracted to the idea of a noble hero with a fatal flaw. Is a possible for a society to have a collective flaw?

Living in Cambodia, I meet people who seem quite Western values and ideas. They no longer use domestic violence, they overcome alcoholism, they educate their children well, they value democracy and free speech, they respect the poor, they are family people and involved in community service. But if Cambodia has one fatal flaw, it's racism. 

Cambodia and Vietnam have a complicated history. Both were superpowers at some stage during which they dominate the other. They seized land which went back and forth for centuries. The French lumped them together and split up the land haphazardly, which was later battered back and forth during the complicated Cold War era. In 1979, Communist Vietnam invaded Cambodia to debunk the genocidal Khmer Rouge Regime. The West calls this a "liberation," the end of the genocide. Many Cambodians call it "occupation," the invasion of a long-hated enemy. The Vietnamese stayed for 10 years until 1989 when the UN took over. The bitterness from my perspective seems somewhat one sided. Vietnam has bigger problems than their poor little neighbor, except when it comes to those islands off the coast. 

This bitter history is recalled in excruciating detail. It's reinforced and routinely exploited, particularly around border issues since there are some islands still up for dispute. Leaders stir up nationalism routinely by reminding their constituents they are one step from Vietnamese clearing them off the map. The racism comes up in normal conversation. All the prostitutes are Vietnamese, I'm told in completely seriousness. All the thieves are Vietnamese. All the cheap products are from Vietnam. An unset stomach is called "Vietnamese stomach." The Vietnamese make coffee with dirty laundry water at their restaurants. The Vietnamese-Khmer shouldn't be allowed to vote.

There is simply no way for us to comprehend this deeply held resentment. I don't have a comparable situation. Every country has their despised immigrants. That doesn't make it any easier, particularly when observing people who have made such progress on their sexism and classism.

I suppose we don't have to be an Aristotelian noble to have a fatal flaw. We just have to be human. You cannot undo centuries of hate overnight. You cannot pretend you understand because you don't. Instead, we celebrate the victories, and think about how to continue building peace in other areas. My country, no country is perfect. We all have our fatal flaws. We can hope they do not become our undoing.