Staff Column: See, hear, and speak no evil

By Staff Writer Eleanor Chen

“See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.” Growing up, I would hear this mantra repeated countless times in Sunday temple class, accompanied with the associated image of the three wise monkeys plastered on a XS summer camp t-shirt. It was meant to encourage core values of Buddhism: understanding, respect, and kindness. In my family, it came to mean an unspoken rule: keep to the bright side; ignore the bad. Generally, it was taboo to discuss topics like politics, sickness, and death. Talking about them was considered to be “impure,” rendering the household available to bad spirits or negative energy. My father likes to give me this advice: “Don’t talk about bad things. Chinese people do not like to talk about that.”

Now, as masked ICE agents are patrolling the streets and terrorizing neighborhoods, I’m seeing this saying in a whole new light. On social media, I’ve encountered perspectives ranging from avid MAGA supporters to distraught socialists, but one stood out to me: those who choose to remain neutral on the issue. Initially, I was confused when I saw  people my own age react to real-world issues in this way. I had always associated such passivity on issues like ICE with my family’s old traditions. I was shocked when a friend from Valley Christian High School in San Jose where the school had issued a statement urging students to remain neutral. Despite this issue of neutrality, exits to the school were blocked off to prevent students from protesting on Friday January 30, the national day of action against ICE. That’s the moment when neutrality stopped feeling like harmless passivity and more of a deliberate choice. 

Objectivity is often framed as maturity and, in theory, being the bigger person. Schools and institutions have always prioritized orderliness and calmness over authentic expression of one’s feelings to better contain students. Art, the most human form of self-expression, is encouraged only within neat, black lines on a coloring book. Scribbling on walls, disagreeing with a teacher, and being upset —- all of this so-called destructive behavior sends children straight to the time-out corner where emotions can be regulated. Protocols are specifically designed to formulate stoic responses to emergencies: from standing single-file in a burning school to remaining underneath a desk during an earthquake. 

This mindset extends beyond school as online spaces encourage this passivity. Some claim that this situation is too complicated to pick a side, that neutrality means peace for everyone, and that politics isn’t their thing. The problem is exacerbated online, whether it’s especially easy to scroll past disturbing footage of Renée Good and Alexi Pretti shot dead by ICE rather than to face the emotional toll of properly digesting it. “See no evil” and “hear no evil” become the default.

This isn’t new; it’s history. People always have an excuse for neutrality, either without or fully realizing this impartiality does benefit a side, the oppressors. People like to think they could have spoken out during the Holocaust, tucked Anne Frank safely away in their basement, but in reality, they turn a blind eye to what’s happening right in front of them.  There’s a certain quote, from author and essayist Naomi Shulman, that continues to stick out in my mind: “Nice people made the best Nazis. … You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.” It’s a strong reminder that just being nice doesn’t cut it, that the traits we were taught to admire and strive for allows for the people in power to continue hurting marginalized groups.

Students in MSJ may feel like they live in the safe bubble that Silicon Valley creates. I’ve seen MSJ students online baffled by the protest, confused as to why we were doing it. The reality is we are an incredibly diverse community; for example, Fremont is home to the largest expat Afghan population. The terror striking the neighborhoods of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis could easily come for our neighbors next. You can’t just sit on a fence when one side of the fence is a dictator and the other side includes not only your neighbors, but yourself. Neutrality in that moment becomes complicity. You can’t stay out of politics if you live in America. Our access to healthcare, affordable groceries, and our very constitutional rights depend on the candidates and policies we vote for. You can’t not care when we come from families, friends, and neighborhoods of immigrants.

“See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.” was meant to protect one’s peace; however, ignoring it doesn’t make the evil go away. Eventually, that peace will be eaten up by the evil remaining. Our actions have the ability to shape reality, and although it’s natural to feel uncomfortable addressing difficult topics, speaking up doesn’t have to mean hostility. It can simply mean absorbing the events that are happening around us, asking the right questions, and caring enough to stand up for what you believe in. Neutrality is not an option in the dystopian state of our world right now. We just don’t have that luxury. Even quiet conservations matter, but we must start taking the first steps to talk about it, create awareness, and raise solidarity. “Do no evil” is not about avoiding harm, it’s about choosing action over silence. We should all try to “Do no evil.”