“Racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, or hatred of
anyone with different beliefs has no place in the human mind or heart.”
These
words delivered by the late Rev. Billy
Graham, one of the most celebrated and respected American Evangelical Ministers
of all time, speak forcefully to the problem of prejudice which overwhelms
every aspect of life in every country of the world. Unfortunately, he died
without ever seeing any significant changes in the hearts and minds of the
people of the world to whom he preached.
Prejudice is
the prejudging, or the forming of an opinion on a subject, without being fully aware
of all the information available. It is at its worst when it is used to refer
to preconceived unfavorable ideas toward people for a wide range of differences
including, sex, politics, class, age, disability, religion, race, ethnicity,
language, nationality or any of hundreds of other differences. The very heart
of all prejudices is dominated in every single instant by two fundamental emotional
attitudes, ignorance and fear. These are
always present in one form or another and invariably play important roles in
the initiating and the propagating of the great majority of prejudices.
Psychologists
explain that human beings use this inherently in-bred tendency to prejudge others
as a way of insuring self-protection, especially if the others appear to be
different or threatening. Research has shown that there is abundant evidence
that this is an ingrained, instinctive tendency deeply embedded in the
individual, born of the influence of environment and attitude and developed
over the succeeding centuries of existence. They insist further, that most of
what passes for prejudice in society is the result of an underlying ignorance
and a subconscious fear resulting from lack of knowledge or of recognition.
This is made worse by the fact that it readily becomes fixed and inflexible
very early in life, and no amount of mental rationalization or evidence to the
contrary, will make a difference.
Without
any doubt, Words and Ideas whether spoken or unspoken, are the most
powerful poisons that man has available to use to achieve his desires in
establishing prejudices. They are the primary initiators and propagators of most
of the incidents of prejudice that have occurred, or are occurring in the world.
An ultimate example of the power of words appeared in the infamous statement by
the late Osama Bin Laden, the founder
and undisputed leader of the brutal Islamist movement, Al-Qaeda. It was delivered in a videotaped speech directed to
Muslims all over the world in 2000:
“The
killing of Americans and their civilian and military allies is a religious duty
for each and every Muslim....We, with God's help, call on every Muslim who
believes in God and wishes to be rewarded, to comply with God's order to kill
Americans and plunder their money, whenever and wherever they find it.”
The
most dramatic consequence of this verbal command occurred just over one year
later on September 11th 2001, when 19 Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists
hijacked 4 American commercial jet airliners and flew two of them into the Twin
Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Both buildings collapsed within 2
hours, killing almost 3000 innocent civilians, policemen and firemen. This
has understandably released a firestorm of antagonism against Muslims and has
launched a groundswell of Islamophobia that continues to grow with each
passing day.
But horrific as this may be, it is an unfortunate
fact that the concept of inciting and propagating prejudice by the use of words
has been a universal mainstay of all the societies throughout history. On some
occasions, even people who, while proudly proclaiming the highest standards of
ethics, have not hesitated to use this as a weapon, when the need arose.
History is replete with examples of people using words to incite hatred, wanton
destruction and genocide. Both Religious leaders and Political leaders
throughout the ages have been notoriously guilty of using prejudice to further
their cause.
In every generation and in every society there are
examples of the exploitation of the masses by individuals with evil or selfish
intent. Indeed there are countless examples of individuals inciting serious
prejudicial action by use of words in both oral and written form. The Roman and
Greek Empires developed and prospered on the strength of intolerance of
different cults and beliefs that were considered alien to their own. The
Ancient Chinese and Indian societies used caste systems to divide and control
vast populations, while the European societies survived and conquered by
judicious use of suspicion and prejudice among them. No one should ever forget
the deadly speeches by tyrants like Hitler and Mussolini that
eventually led to the Second World War, the Holocaust and the barbaric
destruction that resulted.
Even the United States, a nation established
by words – The Declaration of Independence,
and maintained by words – The Constitution, is guilty of some major
transgressions in prejudicial behavior. From its very inception, there has been
an undercurrent of racial prejudice, mainly exhibited by descendants of white
European settlers to the others who arrived later. First it was directed against
the Native Americans, then by years of Slavery of African-Americans, then on
Chinese-Americans followed by Japanese-Americans and more recently, the
Mexican-Americans and the Muslims. It seems that this country, founded on the declared
principle of freedom to all, has yet to learn the true meaning of freedom. Bob
Marley, the amazing Jamaican-born reggae exponent and social critic was
surprisingly on target when he observed:
“Prejudice
is a chain, it can hold you tight.
If
you’re prejudiced, you can’t move,
You
keep prejudice for years and never get nowhere.”
It is important to recognize that prejudice is invariably an exploitation of fear and
ignorance and any attempt to deal with it by using force or by separation will
only serve to exaggerate the situation and increase the flames of suspicion and
mistrust. Instead of pointing fingers or passing judgments when something goes
wrong, it would be far better to pause and look at the other side and try to understand
rather than lay blame. There is urgent need to re-examine the culture of the
society and to effectively change it so that the original biases can be neutralized.
A
good example recently occurred in the US when two black men in different
cities were killed by white police officers during separate public encounters.
This led to a disgruntled black gunman on the next day in another city, killing
five white policemen and injuring seven more before he was killed. When the
events were objectively examined the one outstanding common feature that stood
out was the sense of fear and suspicion that pervaded both the police and the
victims at each one of the encounters. One almost felt that there appeared to
be no real attempt at understanding or accommodating each other at anytime, and that
the final outcome was inevitable; obviously as a result of generations of
prejudicial poison exposure on all sides.
But at the same time, we need to understand that prejudice is neither in-born nor inherited but is the direct product of environmental influences and of learning. Nelson Mandela, the great black South African anti-apartheid leader who served as the first black President of the new Free Republic of South Africa recognized this very early in his career, when many years before gaining prominence he wrote in his manifesto:
"No one is born
hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or
his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they
can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its
opposite."
The real problem however is that although everyone
knows that there is only one answer to correct in this scourge, but alas very few people
are willing to make the effort to follow through and to sincerely implement it.
Most people are unwilling to admit to their own prejudices and they all readily
insist that the change must come from the other side. Society in general, gives lip service
to acknowledging the existence of this poison within it, but no real attempt
has been made to changing the cultural attitudes needed to neutralize the
poison. And even worse, many leaders, political or otherwise, continue to
exploit it whenever they feel they need to do so to achieve their desired power
and goals. Very few of us have seriously considered the wise words of people
like Charlotte Bronte, one of the
greatest and most successful of English authors and poets, in drawing attention
to this difficulty when she wrote:
“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult
to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by
education; they grow there firm as weeds among the stones.”
But correcting this imbalance and neutralizing
the poison that has pervaded the whole world in one form or another is neither
difficult nor impossible to achieve. For if we really wanted to do so, all they
needed to do was follow the advice of a lifetime recurring victim of prejudice,
Martin Luther King Jr., when he said:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness,
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate,
Only love can do that!”
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