facing hate with grace

Siri Kirpal said:

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

One man's way of treating hate with grace:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/11/opinions/love-trump-hate-opinion-obeidallah/index.html

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Click to expand...

I admire this man.

I think it is time to revisit the philosophy of MLK Jr. and Gandhi, but it is indeed hard in times when so many seem to think that various segments of the population shouldn't be allowed to exist at all, or (at best) should have most of their rights and freedoms stripped away.

Fighting hate with hate isn't the answer, but will angry, frightened people be able to take the moral high road in a time when discrimination is being framed as Constitutionally (in the US, at least--not sure how it's being framed in Canada) protected "free speech" and "religious freedom" and the supreme court is one justice away from agreeing with them? I've never been so worried for the future of our society.

I watched it on Twitter, too. I was awed by the man's patience. From what I read, the loudmouth woman is a fixture anywhere "muslims" are gathering, shouting them down just like this no matter what. The problem, of course, is she so horrifically, obnoxiously ignorant, she doesn't even know (or maybe just care) the man's a Sikh.

The effect he was having on those around him who were sympathetic (and clearly worried) was remarkable.

I'm with you Roxxsmom. Worried, afraid, and ashamed.

ElaineA said:

The problem, of course, is she so horrifically, obnoxiously ignorant, she doesn't even know (or maybe just care) the man's a Sikh.

Click to expand...

I don't agree that this is the problem. I don't care that he's a Sikh and not a Muslim either. He himself refused to point that out, because to do so would imply that her behaviour would be okay if he were a Muslim. And I don't think it would be okay if he had been.
The problem, imho, is her hatred of anything other. Her ignorance is the vomit flavoured icing on her shitty, shitty cake.

JimmyB27 said:

I don't agree that this is the problem. I don't care that he's a Sikh and not a Muslim either. He himself refused to point that out, because to do so would imply that her behaviour would be okay if he were a Muslim. And I don't think it would be okay if he had been.
The problem, imho, is her hatred of anything other. Her ignorance is the vomit flavoured icing on her shitty, shitty cake.

Click to expand...

ACK! You're absolutely right. Though I didn't mean the implication you pointed out at all, my post was carelessly worded. Thank you for calling it out. I agree 100% with your concluding sentences.

The woman then went onto Facebook to issue an "apology" in which she confused Hindus and Sikhs. So that's the level we're dealing with, here.

This is probably the most attention an NDP leadership candidate has or will ever receive.

I'm still not voting for him . Though I do like him. And whoever wins is likely, IMO, to be a very temporary fixture, politically, given how fractured the NDP party base is right now.

As a few people have pointed out, we too often celebrate/expect his rare and difficult constraint in the face of hate and condemn any reaction that doesn't meet with social standards when what he showed is in fact incredibly hard to pull off and not something that can be reasonably expected of the vast, vast majority of people faced with such comments.