God, the purveyors of hate speech and us

There is plenty of hate speech presently trending the Nigerian social media. This is deeply regrettable but understandable, especially in the wake of the violence and massacres in the Nigerian northeast, southern Kaduna and elsewhere and against the backdrop of increasingly crushing economic distress in our hapless country.

Much of the hate speech and gung-ho religiosity find expression broadly along the Muslim/Christian divide. Embedded in these also are issues or tensions associated with ethnicity, region, language, culture and competition over access to land, resources, and opportunities for profit-making inside and outside the state system or the public economy.

Each side presents itself as the victim of the other, offering justifications or defence of its conduct, and seeks directly or indirectly to incite violence and revenge against the other. We are thus caught up in a depressingly vicious circle of mutual recriminations and destruction that ultimately leaves none of us the wiser let alone better.

We all should be extremely horrified and disturbed by this upsurge of hate and divisive tendencies among our peoples. I do not doubt that some on both sides are doing some mean and ugly stuff to the other. They always have, and do it in the misguided belief that they’re defending their people and/ or their faith from the villainies and attacks of the other.

But I would insist that what is often claimed by either side, or even the motives of the actions themselves, are far from the truth or the noble intents ascribed to them. Yet it’s very easy to fall for these dubious narratives, to feel that one’s brethrens or even oneself are threatened not just by routine malevolence and violence but even extermination. Hence, the urge to action.

It is precisely this reaction that the purveyors of this hate seek to induce out of the rest of us by appealing to our different and base emotions. They belong to the lunatic fringes of both faiths, but have particular talents for making you feel guilty or even inadequate if you fail to key into their evil designs. And they do all this in the name of the one and only God we all worship or claim to do so, usually citing dubious religious texts as props.

Now, I feel we must accept as self-evident truth that the God in question obviously created us in the same space or universe so that we may better understand each other and live and prosper together, not to slaughter each other. He also created us to worship Him, and this does not entail killing or committing other villainies in His name.

If I am wrong, then I respectfully submit that that God is not worthy of attention, let alone veneration or worship. For if we cannot all live in peace, we’d not be alive to worship the God many of us profusely claim to follow His injunctions.

None of us, I believe, had a choice or even a mere say over which family, community, country, faith, race, linguistic or ethnic group we were borne or socialised into. So it is abysmally ignorant and silly of anyone to claim superiority over the other, or actually look down on them. As to whether any faith is wrong or false is a matter that only our Maker has the answer. We as fallible human beings can only make our choices and hope we are right.

We must thus reject as false and evil the teachings of those who urge us to maim and kill the other on account of our differences of origins, faiths or views. These are sick creatures who seek only to use others for their self-seeking and evil ends.

If anyone, like the false man of God in the video clip, tells you to go maim or kill anyone, you must tell him in no uncertain terms that he needs to go take some Panadol. Or if he is unwilling, then he should do the maiming and killing himself, with his immediate family in tow. If we mostly react this way, I am sure we’d see less havoc and misery in our communities and the universe as a whole. Now is also the time to criminalise, not to ban, hate speech.

Yes, our so-called leaders and institutions, secular and nonsecular alike, have failed us. And, yes, they’d continue to fail us as long as we the people fail to properly hold them to account. No one individual or group can hold the rest of society hostage to their whims and caprices. A people, it is said, get the leadership or government they deserve.

My last word today, then, is we have an answer to the endemic hate, violence and disorder that plague and ruin our communities. We must play fair, respect one another, and ensure justice for all. It is either we live peacefully with one another as civilised beings, or perish together as fools. And that is a choice each and every one of us has in his or her power to make. Peace and love. Othman wrote this piece from Oxford, United Kingdom.