If the human race is evolving, the direction of mankind’s evolution is questionable. There’s little peace and harmony around and few signs of a budding higher consciousness. Indeed, in many respects, human nature appears to be in retrograde mode. While the Middle East has long been wracked by sectarianism, in part due to borders drawn by imperialist powers on the principle of divide and conquer, western powers never fail to tout their so-called “values,” democratic principles and respect for human life and have passed laws, which reflect such beliefs.
But laws only apply to overt actions and rarely influence thought or under-the-radar behaviors.
Today, the kinder side of human nature is being polluted or dragged down to the lowest level by people’s reactions to real or perceived injustices with the result entire ethnicities and religions are being negatively branded with broad brushstrokes. Surely, there is nothing more unjust than punishing entire communities for the missteps of their governments or for the dirty work of a few bad apples among them, over which ordinary folk have little control.
For instance, due to the Israeli government’s air campaign in Gaza that robbed over 2,000 of their lives and left 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, anti-Semitic attacks in Britain have risen four-fold and include attacks on synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses and even Jewish children.
A recent poll, conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research on Anti-Semitism in the UK, suggests up to 80 percent of British Jewry believe non-Jews blame them for Israel’s actions.
Anti-Semitism is driving British Jews to buy properties in Israel. An Israeli property consultant is quoted in Ha’aretz saying, “The phone here hasn’t stopped ringing since the end of the summer.” Likewise, France has experienced anti-Semitic riots and the Israeli ambassador to Germany, which has some of the strictest laws against anti-Semitism said, “They pursue the Jews in the streets of Berlin…as if we were in 1938.”
Islamophobia, which peaked subsequent to the 9/11 attacks when thousands of Muslims in the US were rounded-up without charge and were refused access to family members or legal advice, is also on the rise at a time when Daesh parades its gruesome trophies on social media. Never mind that that this terrorist organization has been vilified by Muslim sheikhs and scholars and primarily threatens Muslims, even American liberals have taken to the airwaves to launch attacks on Islam.
Comedian and talk show host Bill Maher found himself in a center of a media storm when he announced that “vast numbers of Muslims want humans to die for holding a different idea” while accusing Muslims of having “too much in common with ISIS.” What is truly shocking is that CNN has also descended into the same murky Islamophobic quicksand.
When religious scholar Reza Aslan was invited to comment on Maher’s remarks, he rightly pointed out that female genital mutilation predated Islam and while it is a cultural practice in some Muslim countries, it is also practiced by Christians and animists in non-Muslim countries. But rather than accept that as fact, CNN host Alisyn Camerota supported Maher’s ignorant rant.
Over the past year, hate crimes against Muslims have risen by 143 percent in New York but the authorities are doing little to stem this growing trend and, worse, are permitting hate-filled individuals such as Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer of the “American Freedom Defense Initiative group” to nurture Islamophobia with posters in New York subways and on buses defaming the Qur’an. American Muslims are outraged but their protests are being ignored on the grounds the advertisements are protected under First Amendment free speech rules.
Muslims in Australia are also feeling the heat. A young Muslim woman was recently assaulted before she was thrown off a moving train in Melbourne; three Muslim men were detained by the police during a rugby game for “suspicious” use of their mobile phones — and an Australian imam missed his Haj flight because he was taken into custody at an airport simply due to his appearance. Australian women of cover say they are increasingly afraid to go out for fear of abuse. Prime Minister Tony Abbott stands accused of not doing enough to change the hostile climate and one lawmaker, Jacqui Lambie, openly spewed a toxic message in Parliament calling those who support Islamic law “maniacs and depraved humans.”
But there’s hope. Prominent people are speaking out against bigotry. Actor Ben Affleck was passionate in his defense of Islam calling Maher’s offensive diatribe “gross” and “racist.” “We’ve killed more Muslims than they’ve killed us, by an awful lot. We’ve invaded more Muslim countries than they’ve invaded ours, by an awful lot,” he said. Notably too, non-Muslims are signing up to an Australian campaign called Wish (Women in solidarity with Hijabis) which involves donning headscarves and taking selfies to be posted on Facebook and Twitter.
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are both signs of the same coin, which is why Muslim and Jewish leaders joined together in the European Parliament to denounce all forms of bigotry under the slogan “We refuse to be enemies.”
Good people are showing the way but unless the majority drops its fears and hatreds long enough to find a path to peaceful coexistence, what differentiates us from animals, our God-given humanity, will be in peril.
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