The Semih Çelik murders and the poison in the dose

You turned on the television, saw people lying in blood, and also saw liquor bottles reflected on the screen. What do you do? Do you establish a link between alcohol and death? For some, this might be the first thing that comes to mind; indeed, events are often considered alongside the phenomena that surround them. It is necessary to talk and discuss. 

On the other hand, analyzing the developmental processes of events and considering phenomena within their circumstances is often more difficult than talking about the results. Because this is a laborious field; it requires knowledge, effort, and time. And, of course, a heart that is willing to "touch the beloved's lock of hair" (take risks). 

So, is a person able to demonstrate this courage, the time for reflection they would dedicate to social events, and a culture of scientific debate in every situation? Unfortunately, we cannot give a positive answer to this question. Due to ideological, cultural, and religious reasons, we do not always address the root causes of events with the same speed. 

We only talk about what flows inside through the frame of whichever window we open to life. Without caring about the direction or dimension of the darkness, we think the lantern in our hand will illuminate everything. Why, then? Let the following quote by Abraham Maslow answer our question: "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."

Most recently, the President made a statement that exemplifies this situation. Regarding the Semih Çelik murders that shook Turkey, he explained the event by associating it with modern popular culture, social media, deviant trends, and, of course, alcohol. 

Similarly, Prof. Ebubekir Sofuoğlu, while discussing the aforementioned murder, chose the path of "explaining the event with Islamic sensitivities." He asked, "If the children in schools had been raised with Islamic sensitivities, would we have faced the same result?" And he concluded his words as follows: "As long as Islamic sensitivities continue to be violated, of course I do not want it, but unfortunately, we will continue to encounter these painful events."

So the issue is that simple; if we observe Islamic sensitivities as Sofuoğlu puts it, face modern popular culture as Erdoğan puts it, and impose sufficient control over social media, will these heinous events disappear, is that it? 

Let us give the answer immediately: no, they will not disappear. Let us recall in one breath: the terrible events that took place in the Uğur Korunmaz community in Bursa, the child abuse cases that emerged in a community dormitory in Güdül, Ankara in 2012, the harassment of women at a Quran course in Aksaray in 2013, the sexual abuse of two boys in another community dormitory in Oltu, Erzurum in 2014, the sexual abuse of 45 male students staying in a religious foundation dormitory in Karaman; how then are we to explain the sexual abuse cases that emerged in various communities in Adıyaman, Konya, Denizli, and Istanbul? 

All these examples we have listed are not illuminated by the "religious lantern" in our hand; we cannot approach these examples through "alcohol, popular culture, or deviant channels." Here, the nails give us different messages; for instance, they tell us that the hammer in our hand is not enough. 

Let us recall, community leader Fatih Nurullah, who was stated to have sexually harassed a 12-year-old child while approaching the age of 60 in Akyazı, Sakarya, said in an audio recording that he was under the impression that the child was given to him based on dreams of "marriage with the Mahdi," and said to the father, "there is nothing that went too far, humans have desires, we had marriage talks between us, I may have made a mistake." 

Then how are we to explain the sexual abuse cases I listed above, or the fires in community dormitories that occurred due to negligence and ended with the lives of children? Akit, which we often know for its toxic language, ran a headline after a heinous event that happened just last month, saying "The Kemalist regime produces crime machines" and stated, "As long as justice is not established with Islamic law, the social order where the nation is the sheep and the criminal is the butcher will continue." Yet, the examples above did not happen in "Kemalist" dormitories. How, then, did the crime machines emerge in Akit's language? Did the aforementioned newspaper run a headline that truly confronts this, holds the problems and those responsible to account, and goes after the truth? Was this included in their news analysis? No. Then we understand that the concern is not the truth; the concern is to strike at "adversaries" and to use even heinous events for political purposes. 

So what should be done, how should we talk about the problem, those responsible, and what has happened?

The fundamental truth of life is that an event can have more than one cause, and the only key we have may not be enough to open all locks. Indeed, this is what happens most of the time. Therefore, the same situation applies to almost all problems. The air breathed from economic, social, psychological, cultural, and religious perspectives can cause pathological cases to emerge in life in many ways. Even a hate crime may require analysis and examination from many aspects. What needs to be done then is a holistic view and a scientific approach. Of course, one wishes to illuminate all the darkness in our lives in the shortest way, with the shortest words. However, when it comes to darkness, the lantern of light must show the depths, not the surface; it must save the future, not just the day; and it must reveal the entire area it sees, not just what is desired. 

Paracelsus says, "Everything is poison. The important thing is the dose." Everything that exceeds its dose in life turns into poison; it makes a person sick step by step, our soul can darken day by day with what they have experienced or not experienced; then we must look at that dose everywhere in life, with its excess and its deficiency. Because the poison is hidden within that dose.