Not nationalism, racism, bigotry or hypocrisy.

THIS may very well be the age of ignorance. From Europe and the United States through the Middle East to Asia, ignorant politicians are leading people apart.

Not only in their language these ignoramuses promote “othering”, but also in their brutal actions. Gulags, the corrective labour camps of Joseph Stalin, are making a comeback.

We witnessed this beastliness of men in Nazi Germany. We are witnessing this barbarity now in Israel (a strange case of victims turning tormentors), Myanmar, India, China and elsewhere. Ignorance is a dangerous thing.

Picture this. A leader rises among us holding extremely nationalist and racist views. He joins a political party and gets the party to glorify his ideas.

He then markets them. Ignorance breeds gullibility. Not all races are created equal, he says. There is one superior race, and the rest must be rid of.

Thus did Hitler’s Nazi supremacy lead to the extermination of the Jews. So were the Roma, Sinti and nameless others. The world cannot afford another holocaust. Neither by the tormentors nor the victims. One Hitler is one too many.

What the world needs is education. Education — the process through which we gain knowledge about us and the world around us — will tell us that we are all created equal.

Yes, we come in different hues. But this doesn’t mean one pigment is superior to another. Neither are the disabled any lesser than the rest. We are all differently abled. Diversity is the secret of creation. A common thread runs through humanity.

Knowledge unlocks this secret and let’s us share this vast Earth with all of humanity. After all, all of us trace our origins back to a pair of parents: Adam and Eve. We are all of one race: the human race.

What is happening around the world has a lesson for us in Malaysia. “Othering” — either you are with us or against us, as former American president George W. Bush infamously put it — is a dangerous thing. Occasionally, we seem to succumb to such base instincts.

Evidence surfaces in speech and writing, now and then, of people of one ethnicity labelling another of a different ethnicity of resorting to racism, bigotry and hypocrisy. Truth be told, there are traces of these three diseases in all the races in Malaysia. All are guilty as accused. These aren’t badges that any race should wear proudly.

Our intellect and heart need to be educated to gain understanding and compassion.

In this crowd of 34 million Malaysians, there surely will be the loud and errant. There will be troubled souls with mind-forged gulags. Isolation leads them to ignorance and intolerance.

But if the majority can stand out as compassionate souls, Malaysia will have the strength of spirit to mend the wayward hearts. They will begin to see that everyone has a place on this diverse piece of Earth we call Malaysia. If we nurture others, they will us.

Those with knowledge have a way of seeing. They see unity where others see divisiveness. They see one in the multitude many. They see humanity.

They see creation where others see colours. Pigment is after all just skin deep. We see what we want to see. Like the world, we too need some education.

 

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/leaders/2020/01/555952/nstleader-world-needs-education