Blind Hatred and Violence

This morning, as I struggled to place my walker (zimmerframe) in the boot of my old car, an old man came up to me. I mistakenly supposed that he would offer to help me, but I could not have been more wrong about that. Instead, he shouted at me: 'I hope some one bombs your car and blows you up!' Evidently this did not suffice to express his hatred, as he then shouted: 'I should get a bomb and blow you up!'

Evidently, this outburst was prompted by a sticker on the back of the car that said nothing more than: 'Got Freedom? Iraqis and Palestinians don't.'

What is interesting about this man's response is the fact that most negative responses to a political message of this kind are extremely violent in nature. He was absolutely incandescent with hatred and rage. I had done nothing but paste a sticker on the back of a car. I had not behaved provocatively or forced him to react to anything.

In like manner, an old Jewish woman upon seeing an anti-Zionist sticker once screamed at me: 'I wish we could put YOU in a gas oven!'

Why should a simple phrase or sentence prompt such hatred and expressions of violence? I would understand if some one engaged me in dialogue in an attempt to persuade me of the 'error of my ways'. That seldom occurs, however.

In fact, it is precisely because there is no logic whatsoever to their responses that they are so violent in nature. Evidently the truth threatens people like this.

After telling me that he was going to find an explosive to blow me to kingdom come, the old man proceeded to call me a 'whore'. As I was clothed very modestly from head to toe with only my face and hands exposed to the world, it could not have been my physical appearance that inspired this assessment. He then told me he was going to do everything in his power to make certain that I would 'get to those 72 virgins you can't wait to have for yourself in Heaven'.

This, of course, was totally bizarre. The entire outburst was peculiar, to say the least, but it is not the first time that I have taken abuse because of my political stance. What distinguished this particular confrontation from others was the fact that, despite the fact that I was a woman and a disabled woman at that, his first impulse was to call me a 'whore' and then to rant about '72 virgins'.

The man apparently believes all Arabs are Muslims and terrorists and that jihad consists only of a simple compelling desire for death in the interest of a future existence surrounded by '72 virgins' irrespective of gender.

None of this would be worth recounting except for one fact that is rather frightening: the man never looked at ME.

He knew nothing whatsoever about me, nor did he take even a moment to acquire any knowledge based on simple observation. This demonstrates the ultimate dehumanisation of the 'Enemy' through propaganda. The old man was so consumed by ignorance and hatred engendered by media and/or social propaganda that he did not see me as an individual. His remark about the virgins, so completely irrelevant in the circumstances, made that perfectly clear.

I was not intimidated by his pathetic performance but there are people who are victimised every day by ignorant individuals like him. Moreover, it is from individuals like this that support for the spurious 'war against terror' is derived and sustained.

People like this do not know that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, nor do they know that Muslims are not all Arabs nor are all Arabs Muslims. They tell Palestinians to 'go home', not realising that the very crux of the problem is that Palestine is occupied by a foreign invader. The Zionist entity will not allow the Palestinian people to 'go home' and furthermore continue to drive those who remain in Palestine into exile.

In this modern age, when technology makes it possible for people to become aware of news instantaneously anywhere in the world, people continue to live in abysmal and inexcusable ignorance. How can any one be unaware of the simple facts about Islam and Palestine that I have enumerated here? How indeed?

Media propaganda is partly to blame, but there are other factors involved in this situation as well. Personal selfishness and the greed born of consumerism cause people to focus on their own desires and 'needs' to the point where they are blinded to anything else. If the government lowers a tax or offers a rebate of some kind, however trivial it may be when compared to all the increased costs levied on society, that is all that matters to most people. They are too involved with their quest for a bigger house or a better car to question the reports of the government or media. When those reports are challenged or even proven false by any one, few take the time or trouble to give the matter any attention at all.

This is true of government representatives as well as individuals. Corruption in government would not exist in any substantial way were it not for greed and the promise or hope of gain. Government officials make political and moral compromises daily for the sake of profit, whether for themselves or their consituencies.
Beyond that, however, ignorance is possible on a grand scale only because of general indifference to anything that does not appear to affect an individual personally.

For example, there are quite a few who believe that Saddam Hussein was involved somehow with the attacks on the Twin Towers without any evidence whatsoever, and who continue to believe that Iraq had 'weapons of mass destruction', despite all evidence to the contrary. It would be laughable, were it not for the fact that it is from ignorance and misinformation like this that support for the spurious 'war against terror' is derived and sustained.

I was not intimidated by the man's pathetic performance today but there are people who are victimised every day by individuals like him. After the attacks of 11 September, Muslims in the West had to endure many terrorist threats based on nothing more than ignorance. It was hardest perhaps for the children who had to suffer through many nasty encounters very similar to the one I experienced this morning. Their innocence was lost the first time they were insulted or terrorised simply because they wore hijab. Instead of being seen as the symbol of modesty and purity that it actually represents, hijab was perceived as the badge of a terrorist.

Furthermore, it is this sort of ignorance and dehumanisation that encourages rapes, torture and murders by American soldiers in Iraq as well as the inhumane and despicable treatment of prisoners by Americans and their allies throughout the world. It is said that every serial or thrill killer is able to kill because he/she first dehumanises his/her victims.

And yet, if we fall into the same error, there will be no hope for the future. Rather than spitting hatred back at that horrible little man, I told myself that if only one person sees that sticker and begins to question the American government's policy towards the Arab Nation, it is worth every insult or threat that I may be forced to experience from others.

Even so, how can any one truly wonder why people in the streets in the Arab Nation celebrated when they saw the Twin Towers crumble? When faced day after day with the sort of blind arrogance and unreasoning hatred this old man exhibited, is it any wonder that there were those who did not mourn when they witnessed a symbol of that arrogance fall into dust? When the deaths of thousands of Arabs as 'collateral damage' in acts of terror committed by the U.S. and its allies meet with indifference or violent glee from individuals like this old man, is it any wonder that Americans sometimes are perceived as ignorant and selfish?

Whose duty is it to change that perception? I submit that Americans and members of other Western nations have a responsibility and duty to prevent men like this from speaking or acting in their name. I would like to believe that there are enough people out there who would be humiliated, embarrassed or even outraged enough by this sort of behaviour to do something to change American foreign policy rather than allowing this appalling state of affairs to continue. Of course, I never have been entirely cured of my idealistic principles...