Thinking About Hatred
On the weekend Lesley witnessed an interesting exchange in the change rooms at a clothing store. Overhearing two people conversing in what was presumably Arabic, a young Jewish girl asked her mother what language was being spoken. The mother's reply was something along the lines of "Oh, that's the language of Hizbullah."
The language of Hizbullah?
That's it? Reduce all Arab people and all of Arab culture to one radical group. Do we call English the language of the KKK? No no no. What about Moses ibn Ezra, the great Jewish writer, who, given what he wrote and when, sure must have known some Arabic. Was Moses ibn Ezra a terrorist? What about his relative, another great Jewish thinker, Abraham ibn Ezra who would have known some Arabic? Had this particular Jewish woman even forgotten that Maimonides wrote in Arabic?
Heh, the language of Hizbullah indeed!
Yet this is how hatred starts. Someone defines The Other and starts telling the new generation how evil The Other can be. Mel Gibson recently said some rather stupid and hateful things, and he is fully responsible for his comments. But when I read that his father seems to say worse things sober than Mel does when he's a bit tipsy, I cannot say that I am surprised. I'm sure that Hutton Gibson explained the world in way that seemed to put all the blame for everything on the Jews. We all have the capacity to hate, and we all bear the responsibility for our hatreds, but that does not mean it isn't in part an inheritance.
As I return to that woman in the change room, I can't help but think how she is destroying her child's ability to understand the complexities and nuances of the world. Instead, that child will learn to group all Arab-speakers (including Arab Christians and the afforementioned medieval Jewish scholars) under the Hizbullah banner.
Tags: Hatred, Mel Gibson.
The language of Hizbullah?
That's it? Reduce all Arab people and all of Arab culture to one radical group. Do we call English the language of the KKK? No no no. What about Moses ibn Ezra, the great Jewish writer, who, given what he wrote and when, sure must have known some Arabic. Was Moses ibn Ezra a terrorist? What about his relative, another great Jewish thinker, Abraham ibn Ezra who would have known some Arabic? Had this particular Jewish woman even forgotten that Maimonides wrote in Arabic?
Heh, the language of Hizbullah indeed!
Yet this is how hatred starts. Someone defines The Other and starts telling the new generation how evil The Other can be. Mel Gibson recently said some rather stupid and hateful things, and he is fully responsible for his comments. But when I read that his father seems to say worse things sober than Mel does when he's a bit tipsy, I cannot say that I am surprised. I'm sure that Hutton Gibson explained the world in way that seemed to put all the blame for everything on the Jews. We all have the capacity to hate, and we all bear the responsibility for our hatreds, but that does not mean it isn't in part an inheritance.
As I return to that woman in the change room, I can't help but think how she is destroying her child's ability to understand the complexities and nuances of the world. Instead, that child will learn to group all Arab-speakers (including Arab Christians and the afforementioned medieval Jewish scholars) under the Hizbullah banner.
Tags: Hatred, Mel Gibson.
posted by Dan at 12:54 AM
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