Hate among men has had long and very deep historical roots. It has taken many forms by pitting people against each other. Its cultivation propagated by decades of fueling irrational fears against a particular race of individuals. Inbred ignorance has been the easy way to woo people into arousing hatred. There is now a mutual realization that most people possess inadequate knowledge about other nations and culture. In the days of old, fault lines were drawn along military pacts, geographical identities, and political ideologies, however in the recent centuries, it has taken a total shift and embraced one drawn on cultural considerations. The later resulted in deeper and more difficult confrontations as culture is profoundly embedded into the being of an individual. The proliferation of hate by a select few in society who are believed to yield knowledge thus entrenches the forms of hate witnessed in history namely, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and Hispanophobia. In the words of Professor Walter D. Mignolo, he illustrates that these forms of hate are possible. As he indicates, this is because whoever it is that controls knowledge also controls how meaning can be allocated, and moreover, can classify people in both a hierarchical order as well as a moral order (Arches Quarterly 24).
Comparison of Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia:
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are the most professed forms of hate to have existed. They have many commonalities though they arose from different historical circumstances. As alluded to earlier, they both are expressions of racism being that they are a decedent of irrational fears towards a particular human group. Another similarity is that they are both deeply part of the Western culture and society. Both terms have collectively been implanted to the psyche of the West. Propaganda against these two races that is, the Jews and Muslims has been hailed to instill the barbaric notions against them continually (Arches Quarterly 42-50). Propaganda saw an upsurge of hatred towards the said races in the western societies though one lies latently dormant as the other flourishes propagated under recent world events.
Holocaust Anti-Semitism propaganda:
Anti-Semitism unlike many of the other forms of hate has existed for a long time and has had a chance to incubate over the years. The notion deeply implanted in the western society over the years is that the Jews have been different, less civilized and somewhat evil. The most tragic events in history that show evidence of how one human race can be brought to the verge of extinction is the Holocaust. It was an atrocity fueled by the German Nazis, accomplished through propaganda (Perry and Schweitzer 145-150).
One such propagandist notion was that of selection bias. It was done by picking the negative attributes of the Jewish people and portraying them in an unpleasant manner. Consequently, it succeeded because inherently as human beings, we pay more attention to the negative compared to positive traits of our fellow people. For example, The German people were conditioned to see the unpleasantness of the Jewish people when all the while there was none whatsoever. Nazis perpetuated that the Jews were associated with Germany’s loss of World War 1 and all the blame for the failure of the Germans was all laid on the Jewish people (Yourman 148).
Further, the Nazi’s agenda was furthered by the use of media through print and poster. One significant theme on the onset of the Nazi movement was the deification of its leader Adolf Hitler as a messianic figure. The film industry was also not left out, and perhaps one of the most elaborate representation on film was the works of Leni Riefenstahl's in, “Triumph des Willens”. It was an attempt to manipulate the German people on their perceptions towards him, the propaganda against Jews through the use of similar methods was aimed at achieving similar objectives. The portrayal of the Jews in the media was, however, more explicit. It portrayed them as ugly, fat, greedy and a bunch of degenerates who always took sides with the enemy. The method was a success that saw the decision making of the German population biased against the Jewish community. For example, during Germany’s war of aggression, the use of the “Us vs. Them” theme was portrayed explicitly, where it showed in a poster a perfect German mother with a child against a background of an abject poverty stricken family of Bolshevik with a man closely resembling a Nazi Jewish.
Islamophobia propaganda:
Islamophobia is a phenomenon that has suddenly been heightened at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The phenomenon, however, does not suggest as has been a common misconception that it did not exist earlier. It can be said to have had proliferated as a consequence of events such as 9/11, though undeniably contrary to a report on Islamophobia by the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. Research across fifteen European nations after the New York and Washington attacks suggested much of what was witnessed was as a result of pre-existence attitudes around both Islamophobia and Xenophobia (Allen and Nielsen). Islamophobia has been shrouded in scores of religious rivalry and most profoundly is the form of new racism.
Like its counterpart anti-Semitism, it has been fueled by propagandists expressions with an aim to present the Muslim religion as cruel and Islam as people who are aggressive and encourage violence (Rehman, 15). Just as was the case of anti-Semitism, the westerners have been made to believe that the true enemy is Islam. For example in the United States, the aftermath of the 9/11 bombing attacks resulted in the tarnishing of the Muslim faithful’s as people who advocate for terrorism, a situation that has caused many countries around the world brand Muslims as terrorists and create an irrational fear among its citizens.
Perhaps the biggest selling propaganda has been sailed through the use of the media to portray a violent people. In America where there is a viral spread of anti –Muslim hate, it has been enabled by the establishment of a well-developed media echo that has amplified the voices of a few people stirring up the hate. Much like the U.S media own portrayal of the Muslims, the media in Europe has also been tagged along in contributing to the anti-Islam uprising. For example, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, titles in publications such as “Yes, this is about Islam,” in the Wall Street Journal underscore this notion (Abrahamian 529-544). In the European nations, the media’s perception on terrorism issues has led to the development of some far-right parties such as the British National Party and the Sweden Democrats.
Conclusion
Hate is just but a projection of inherent human behavior. It is deeply rooted in the realm of how we choose to perceive and define issues. When the choice is set to portray one human group as an exception from the rest of society, then the tragedy is that it results in dangerous interactions and depicts discrimination. What happens next is that we begin a process of demonization and dehumanization as a result of our interpretation and perceptions towards others as exceptions. Finally, adverse developments take root and atrocities as witnessed during the German Nazi regime that led to the Holocaust and the current Islamophobia violate the basic tenets of human rights.
Work cited
Abrahamian, Ervand. "The US Media, Huntington and September 11". Third World Quarterly 24.3 (2003): 529-544. Web.
Allen, Christopher and Jørgen S Nielsen. Summary Report on Islamophobia In The EU After 11 September 2001. Vienna: EUMC, 2002. Print.
Arches Quarterly. London: Cordoba Foundation, 2010. Print.
Perry, Marvin and Frederick M Schweitzer. Antisemitism. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Print.
Rehman, Javaid. Islam "War On Terror" And The Future Of Muslim Minorities In The United Kingdom : Dilemmas Of Multiculturalism In The Aftermath Of The London Bombings. [S.l.]: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. Print.
