Bigots Are stronger than you think.
People with more extreme and rigid ideas tend to get the most attention. This is sadly the norm today. There is no love for the level-headed, open-minded ones.
In fact, they say that if you want half of the population to hate you, take on an extreme view the other half opposes. At least those on your side will be your friends.
But if you want everyone to hate you, be intelligent, moderate and open-minded about issues. Both sides will hate you because you are not putting down anyone, rather you are doing the unthinkable: you are showing merit and flaws of BOTH sides. Such blasphemy!
But why are people so easily influenced by bigots? The reason for this, I believe, is two-fold: technological and psychological.
Let’s look at the psychological reason: people are easily influenced by those with extreme ideas, mistaking that rigidity and dogma for strength and courage. Their unwillingness to question their own ideas and consider to even consider any different ideas, is perceived as conviction.
But it is really just narrow-mindedness, intolerance and fear. They have found themselves in an ideological comfort zone, and are secure there; any suggestion to come out of the zone will be met with resistance, and even violence.
It’s like a beast trapped in a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Its natural survival instincts will kick in, and it will fight with everything it has. That’s not courage, it’s instinct.
As for the technological reason, it has to do with how the social media algorithms work. They are programmed to reward posts that draw attention and interactions. And this is heaven for bigots.
It works in their favor because the moment they put out some polarizing nonsense, people on both sides get triggered and do the inevitable: they start to give the post attention, either through love or hate. And those posts are picked up by the algorithms and elevated to the point that they go viral.
But take a level-headed view and say something like, “group A has a good point, but…” and the algorithms go, “meh.”
So these factors contribute to the extremists and bigots gaining more publicity and traction, which is not to say that they are weak. I would argue that they can be much stronger and possess significantly stronger powers of influence than the level-headed.
This is because of emotions.
Being bigoted is easy because it uses a lot of emotions and very little brain power. It is easy to believe firmly in baseless ideas, such as “we are better because of the color of our skin” or “because of our genetics, religion or political inclination.”
In fact, using the brain is detrimental to bigotry, and is hence discouraged. The basic rule is to reject everything the other side says, and you will be fine.
It is like when Richard Dawkins, a vociferous and hard-core critic of Islam, was asked if he ever read the Quran. He tweeted his rather rhetorical response, “Of course you can have an opinion about Islam without having read Qur’an. You don’t have to read Mein Kampf to have an opinion about nazism..”
That’s right. Do not use your precious mental energies to assess the views of the people you are attacking. It takes a lot of mental energy to take an intelligent approach.
It’s as F. Scott Fitzgerald mentioned in his essay “The Crack-Up”, that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time.”
Ideas like, “I believe I am correct, and am confident, but… there might be merit to what the opponent is saying.”
But who needs a first-rate intelligence when you can get the views and go viral? When you can use rhetorical trickery, shame and fear tactics to get people on your side?
Why go to the trouble? Because trouble is the price of progress, peace, justice and fruitful coexistence in a world torn apart by war, genocide and exploitation.
The moderate path is a harder one, but a necessary one. Just to be clear, it isn’t a path where we to give up our ideals and beliefs to become some sort of bland monoculture (like in modern USA) or, worse still, nihilists.
Rather, it is one where we are strong in our own personal convictions, beliefs and culture, while at the same time recognizing and respecting that others are different, have different views and different opinions and different cultures, and choosing to work together for the greater good.
As the Quran says: ‘O People of the Book (Christians and Jews)! Come to common terms as between us and you…’ (Quran 3:64).
By embracing creativity and critical thinking, we can reclaim the narrative from the extremists.
Change won’t come easily—but when has anything worthwhile ever been easy?