Food for Thought: Ignorance & Hate

‘People tend to be frightened of what they don’t understand’

It’s a simple quote, but a quote which I think resonates perfectly with the times we find ourselves living in at the moment. It’s also a quote I picked up watching the ‘Big fat Gypsy Wedding’…for all those who don’t know what that is…. it’s a show on channel 4 that highlights some aspects of the customs and traditions of gypsies.

But the reason why I speak about it is because I feel partially ashamed. But before I get into that I need to back-track a bit. Just before I watched the final programme of ‘Big fat Gypsy wedding’ I watched a programme about Geert Wilder on BBC’s this world programme …there is of course no nice way of explaining who this detestable guy is, and it’s also unfortunate that anyone has to hear of his name. He is a prominent Dutch MP in Holland who spews hate-filled, factually inaccurate and ignorant comments directed strictly against  the faith of Islam and it’s followers  …he is also a card- carrying hard-line ardent Christian-Zionist…It’s something I believe which partially explains a lot of about where his views come from. The reason why he has become so prominent is because his party unfortunately currently holds 12% of the parliamentary seats in Holland.

But that fact that he exists and has some public backing shouldn’t be a complete surprise. It is, if anything, an expected occurrence especially if you consulate with the history books. This is because whenever there seems to be economic turmoil or hardships  the minorities/outsiders/immigrants are always targeted and blamed for the faults of an inherently unequal system….I wonder if the dear old bankers contemplate this when they moan about banker bashing…It’s always an indirect consequence of economic hardship that people use and find scapegoats to blame all the countries woes and troubles on…and with the rise of Extremist far-right  groups across Europe, unfortunately  the scapegoat this time around is Muslims and Islam.

It’s saddening to see inside these far right groups, so called people of faith lamenting another faith-group vehemently with hate…it’s especially saddening to see that a select few happen to be Jewish.  This is because it wasn’t so long ago that they were themselves on the unfortunate receiving end of this kind of incoherent hate… albeit of a much worse kind. But it seems that history is intent on repeating itself one way or another, be it under a different guise or form. And how does this occur? Simply put because of ignorance. As it is only ignorance unfortunately that seems to best survive and breed on simple fear and misinformation… As Mark Twain once put it, A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

So to bring this article full circle, why do I feel bad after watching the final episode of the big fat gypsy wedding?

It’s because I realised, watching the last episode which dealt with the discrimination that gypsies faced, that I had fallen privy to the same mistake scores of people fall into everyday…that is to base my judgement of  people whom I’ve never met and whom I know nothing about on this one barely truly encompassing programme. I had done what many people had unfortunately done, treated this show and its participants as a joke and the people in it as uncultured or backward….but whom am I to judge and discriminate? How can  anyone claim to be a target of hate when they also harbour ill will to others? It’s not to say that you have to agree with everything they do or say, but to simply deal with some disagreements by slapping a label on the people you disagree with and turning your nose up at  them is in itself inherently reductionist and wrong.

Overall, I think none of the problems that we face in this world can simply be blamed willy-nilly on a marginalised group of people, the debate and problems we face are complex for a reason… So extremists should not insult our intelligence by suggesting otherwise. So for all those people who ask why they should bother with simply keeping in touch with what’s going on in the wider world…remembers this simple fact…by being ignorant, you are inadvertently building yourself up to be a perpetrator of prejudice and discrimination.

Till Next Time,

‘The Greatest Ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about’ - Anonymous

 

Anyone up for a battle royale?

I’v got an idea that I think will blow people away… literally… whilst also solving a few social problems. Here’s the basic idea, we get the extremist ‘Muslim’ jihadi’s and the extremist islamaphobes *im taking hardcore fundamentalist ‘Christians’, ‘Jews’, EDL members etc.* and we place them on an island somewhere, *one as far away as possible from the general civilized community* and we just let them fight it out, old skool style, dog eat dog etc. Let ignorance fight it out for the sake of our sanity.

I have had just abount enough of both sides utter nonesense. You get these well hard don’t-fuck-with-us brits showing their hardness by….protesting in areas like Luton with a bunch of  flags….well hard…you know they must mean buisness because the big bois have brought out the st. Johns flags. Rocky balboua ain’t got shit on these guys ….FACT. If these guys really wanted to combat ‘jihad’ then what the hell are they doing in quaint old Luton and NOT Afghanistan? Did they just get lost on the way and decide to set up shop in the nearest district with a substantial enough Islamic community? Targeting the moderates, that’s the way to do it.

And where to start with the ‘Islamic’ extremists…….well, firstly, when you speak off attacking the ‘heart of the west’ do u really just mean a bunch of innocent civillians goin abt their daily chores? heart of the west? As far as I know the bus’s and trains you attacked in London only follow 1 route and their destinations are not the lair of satan himself….Bummer. And in the process of your so called mission you happen to end up targeting the most defenceless people, where is the honour in that?  Not to mention you finish yourself conveniently off so as not to deal with the consequences of your ignorant and misguided act. You do kill 2 birds with 1 stone though, you manage to not only break the Islamic rule that FORBIDS one taking their own life aka suicide but ALSO you manage to disobey the clear saying of your own prophet which says you should in times of war leave non-combatants i.e. civilians, woman, children, elderly etc.   unharmed….. so that’s an Islamic combat FAIL. It’s like these people have decided to treat the religion like a pick and mix…picking NOTHING of relevance and MIXING in their own crap. And funnily enough, the heads of this extremist faction always seem to stay put where they are… in this life… unfortunately. I imagine the conversation goes a bit like this:

Mullah: So you see, your mission in life is to carry out this deed *hands bomb strapped vest over*. It is the rightful path for true believers.

Unsuspecting Dude; I understand, *straps on vest* So when do we depart?

Mullah: We? you mean just you right *nervous laugh*.

Unsuspecting Dude: haha, your a right old joker come on man, when are we heading out?

Mullah: Well your heading out  next week, I’v got a few errands to run here and there, you know, big man stuff, accounting, goat herding < them bastards are a rowdy bunch, chicken counting etc. etc. etc.,  someone’s gotta do the hard grafting, and unfortunately it lands on me….I’d LOVE to come, but I can’t, maybe next ti…..*cough cough* …*deadly silence*… brother  Ali? Did you call me?

UD: That was a goat

Mullah: You sure? Cause I swear I heard Ali call me saying something or other about an emergency…better check it out…*hauls ass out of the cave*

So how about both of you lot MAN up and go fight each other head on an island far far awayyyyy.

Till next time

“Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight you and do not trangress the limits. Indeed, Allah does not love those who trangress”. (Qur’an 2:190)