Thoughts about Hate.

Just recently there was a commemoration of the holocaust that remembered the six million Jews that were murdered by the Nazis. It is widely, generally agreed that such a tragedy should never take place again. However, regularly minority groups are singled out and become victims of gross mistreatment and death, although not necessarily on the scale of Jews. Violation of rights and an absence of humanity in such acts can lead to depravity and a breakdown of basic social values.

There is a recognisable structure of procedure in crimes of this type that dehumanises the victims and starts off by the use of language. It is much easier to think of a potential victim as being evil and deserving of death. Extreme views can soon turn into blaming all the troubles of the world on a specific target. Often falsely accusing individuals and labelling them bad or troublesome can become commonplace and all too soon hate can take hold. Perspectives can become skewed and behaviour towards a certain group of people can deteriorate. The frightening part in all of this is that if good people fail to halt the aggression and malicious lies, the movement of oppression gathers momentum and eventually law and order is replaced in a country with a form of extremism. It is extremism that could turn into the spectre that allowed the mass extermination of the six million Jews.

Those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat those actions. Increasingly in politics there is a tendency to play a blame game. There are a growing number of politicians who use issues such as immigration as a platform to harbour ill feelings towards a minority group. Sowing seeds of discontent might be popular for some but it is a dangerous step towards growing hate and fear. Fixing inequality, crisis of cost and standards of services, are all important and integral to a positive progressive society but none of these will be improved if the very basis of humane judgement is lost.