The Existence of Hatred: Universal Reality

The existence of hatred is a universal reality and it is what fuels the largest number of crimes and violent actions. Human beings are heavily opinionated about various topics and concepts, and almost anything that could have more than a single perspective. This tendency of our species is the main reason for the large number of hate crimes all around the world. In the past hate crimes were usually seen against people from different ethnic, racial, religious, national backgrounds and more.

In a precise manner, a hate crime can be defined as a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group or race. This would mean that the parties in question would be against each other in most aspects and so would be involved in constant rivalry. In terms of statistics, the rate of the incidence of hate crimes all over the world has remained fairly constant over the past ten years, neither increasing or decreasing drastically.

When talking about the documentary, Father, Son and Holy War one would immediately recollect violent images of religious wars, and gory, horrific and tragic religious practices. This documentary, just as it is named, talks about the rituals and preaching of religion from the point of view of the male perspective. In this sense, the religious practices highlighted are extremely detrimental to the safety of Indian women and girls and put their very lives in danger. Examples would include sati, child marriages, marital rape etc. the religious outlook portrayed in this documentary, showcases the views of close minded people who perpetuate their one sided, extremely biased views to the general public and to their followers, thus spreading warped and pointed information to their society as a whole. People at large are forced to follow these ideologies, or else they face dangers like physical abuse, ostracization, and in extreme cases even death.

The documentary revolves around emotions like fear, and anger, while connecting them with hate crimes and violence. Hate crimes and acts of violence are not small scale, but, inevitably involve the common, unrelated and unsuspecting populace. Innocent lives of men, women, and children in these societies enter a state of jeopardy, until the crimes cease. This concept can be linked to the poem The Unknown Citizen, which is a piece of writing that focusses on the ordinary life of a law-abiding citizen, who fulfilled all his duties towards the greater community. He was an average citizen leading an average and normal life.

When one discusses about the concept of hate crimes, not much focus is placed on the average citizen. It is believed that the main centres of such crimes are the instigators and the victims.

The parallel that can be drawn between the poem and the documentary when viewing both works from the common man's perspective.

In the event of a hate crime, large crowds of people rally either on streets or they come together to launch attacks on the group of people they are against. These crowds, due to their sheer size and temperament at that point of time, are a source of danger to the bystanders. The common man with absolutely nothing to do with the actions of the crowds gets swept into the mess, and instantly enters a state of fear and shock. The inability to escape precarious situations like this one, puts one in a dangerous position and forces them to escape said situation in any way possible. For the common man, this could mean breaking the laws and regulations of the place they are from, to ensure the safety of their life, but this would mean going against what they have worked for, throughout the course of their life. This outs them is a dilemma of sorts, as they are forced to forgo their lawful lives for their safety, which is a choice most people would inevitably make. The very fact that this life of hate crimes and violence is forced onto those who neither asked for this, nor signed up for it, get pushed to becoming involved in this sort of life, is saddening and morally wrong.

Hate crimes are a phenomenon seen all over the world and always consist of situations like this one. From the documentary itself, it is shown that the people who live around the area of a protest and crime in the name of religion get physically abused and shot down, if they even try and leave the safety of their homes. Even in real life, hate crimes revolving around religion, like the crime rate around ISIS, and the dangers posed to the lives of people who are not even related to the organisation, are seen all over the world, and sadly there seems to be no end to this sort of life in the near, foreseeable future of humankind.

Cite this page