Imagine you have a 7-year-old son who’s become the target of a more powerful boy in his class who’s making life miserable with vicious and false personal attacks. The bully calls him stupid, a thief, claims he has a deadly disease they all could catch, and says his family eats dogs.
This bully doesn’t physically harm your son but so dehumanizes him with his repeated lies, while instilling real fear amongst the other students, that it’s eventually easy for him to inflame his followers to hate and fear your son. The bully claims he’s also a victim and needs everyone’s help to stop your son before he destroys the school. The bully concocts a plan for everyone to march on the schoolyard, attack your son and threaten your family and friends!
Now, you’re distraught, knowing your son’s a good person and the bully’s claims are outright lies. So, you post the truth in the school paper, exposing the bully as a liar and a cruel person who’s hurt other young children and threatened other families. By this time though the bully, with his constantly repeated lies, has influenced those around him to believe that he’s actually their savior from this “very dangerous” young boy. They turn on you for telling the truth and denigrating the leader they adore and attack you as the one who started all the violent hate. Nothing you say makes any difference. Their minds are made up.
The school’s now very divided with each side hating the other and thinking they need to do something drastic to protect the school from the other side. What can we do?
Misinformation divided us; truth could save us. Reject manufactured fear; see each other as brothers and sisters with whom we may disagree — not as enemies; debate without hate!
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