People Who Love to Hate
by Deanna Othman
Some of you may have recently seen, or heard of, a segment aired on CBS News regarding hate mail sent to local institutions and individuals. Though community leaders and the Mosque Foundation sporadically receive so-called hate mail, or threatening letters, in the past few months the Food Pantry, Universal School and some active community members have received letters from anonymous individuals denouncing Muslims, Arabs and  Islam. While the letters contained specific threats asking Muslims and Arabs to get out of this country, and proclaimed “the only good Arab is a dead Arab,” much of what was contained in the letters amounted to nothing more than senseless drivel. While worrisome and alarming, the only somewhat comforting thing about the letters was that the author was obviously someone uneducated about Islam, or quite possibly, anything else.
The media often dwells on the fact that Muslim extremists seem to revel in the rhetoric of violence and hate. However, such people deem the feeling to be mutual; they see Americans as “hating” them, and they in turn, “hate back.” It is no secret that society must always focus its antagonism on “the other”—a group it seeks to demonize, and rally against, in order to promote national unity and specific interests. “The other” has ranged from such groups as African Americans, Communists, and without a doubt, Muslims. In a recent Newsweek article, author Malcolm Jones discusses an unfinished work of renowned American novelist Ralph Ellison. He quotes a line from Ellison’s work, stating, “They’re fanatics! Terrorists! They’ll do whatever they’re told.” Jones goes on to say that Ellison’s story referred to African Americans, but states, “Ellison knew all about the fear of ‘the other,’ and efforts by today’s hysterical men to demonize all Muslims wouldn’t surprise him a bit.”
No indeed, it would not.
Many prominent authors have focused their works on exposing the apparent inanity and absurdity of demonizing groups for less-than-pure intentions. Whether it is Arthur Miller’s rendering of the injustice of the McCarthyism though the Salem Witch Trials, or George Orwell in his depiction of Big Brother and Goldstein, the oppressive nature of intentionally perpetuated hate becomes painfully obvious.
Only knowledge can combat hate. Unfortunately, many institutions have removed the study of religion from their curricula. Religion has been portrayed as defunct in an age where reason and rationality rule. Efforts to integrate religious studies into the undergraduate program of study even at an institution as esteemed as Harvard University have been met with strong opposition. However, proponents of including the study of world religions in college core requirements explain that students need not study a religion necessarily to follow it, but rather to understand the perspective of those who follow it. Just as students who must study evolution don’t necessarily have to believe it, students who study Islam or Christianity are not expected to convert.
We can extinguish and eliminate hate by empathizing and acknowledging the views of others—by educating ourselves and others. No individual accurately informed of another’s standpoint would ever send them a hate letter. Yes, they may differ, and yes, they may debate, but constructively, rather than destructively.
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