Hate Makes Us Blind
I was talking to a friend with whom I last talked few months back. He works in the IT Industry and because of the ongoing Covid pandemic has been working from home and rarely goes out. He is one of the only childhood friends with whom I am still in contact. He has a very different perspective to life. His life has not been a smooth ride. He has is quirks, e.g he will have is quirkiest spots for eating out. He will have a very specific dressing sense and while he is very brand aware, even in those this very specific tastes. Case in point was, he does not have a good Jacket or sweater. He found a 50$ sweater in a US site and could wait till a friend gets that for him to India.
Like me he also had to be cooped in home from time to time with limited exposure to friends and TV and news becomes the only source of distraction and has been agitated with the Indo-China border standoff. But like some of his extremities he has taken his dislike for everything Chinese to a whole new level. He has stopped using Chinese products, though he can not help or know even his apple phone is Made in China. He said that Apple only assembles in China, while I laughed he was matter of fact. While we have disliked the Chinese response to Covid and this virus has on our lives, the current standoff has only increased his bitterness towards China.
He had very fantastic slang against CCP and the Chinese leadership, He won’t ever consider going to East Asia as a whole including China, Singapore, Thailand or even Malaysia because of their skin tone and how they remind him of China which he hates. It came to head when he said he declined to be served from a service executive is from North East India because of his skin colour as it made him think they are Chinese. It was racist, it was really sad and alarming. While we are isolated away from social interaction and friends, TV becomes a major source of entertainment and information. But today in the name of news even the so called English media while are peddling Anti-China rhetoric it only will make to convert our dislike for China and Chinese action to hatred. And this will blind us in doing such things which will hurt others and damage us.
My friends reaction and hatred is not an isolated incident, this is rampant all over the country. At the start of covid there were many cases of racial abuse against people from North East and people of oriental colour. Not only illiterate but even educated people were indulged in such racial attacks. While disliking China or not wanting to use anything Chinese is fine but being blinded by racial hatred and abusing innocent people is criminal. And that is where we as civilized people should draw the line.
Even I dislike a political ideology, even I like the Chinese actions and the impact of Covid in our lives, but there is a limit to which we should take our dislike. If we start breeding hate and mistreat fellow countrymen, just because of their color, orientation, class, cast, religion and creed, where will its sensitive fabric go. And our hatred will only isolate and make communities enemies and will breed mistrust and conflict.
This instance also brings to the larger question of our hatred being used to racially abuse some one. In a civilized society we should not allow this to happen. As educated people should be allow ourselves be driven by hatred, while laughed away my friends reaction, but if I keep myself in the receiving end of hatred and racial abuse then I would have been humiliated. After hearing so many cases of racial abuse and violence at least people realize how their hatred is consuming them from within.
After humanity having gone through so much evolution and scientific development, I am appalled at the primal behaviour we show in our actions and outlook because of our hatred. I wish we find the absurdity of it and are not blinded by it.
