Beware of the pandemic of hate
No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse,” said Randy Pausch, professor of computer science, Carnegie Mellon University.
The coronavirus pandemic is definitely a bad thing. Sadly, people can make bad things even worse than they already are. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the coronavirus pandemic is unleashing “a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering”. He also provided several examples of how this pandemic is quickly becoming a “human rights crisis.”
• “Anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets. Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and Covid-19-related antiMuslim attacks have occurred.”
• Migrants and refugees “have been vilified as a source of the virus — and denied access to medical treatment.”
• “With older persons among the most vulnerable, contemptible memes have emerged suggesting they are also the most expendable.”
• “And journalists, whistleblowers, health professionals, aid workers, and human rights defenders are being targeted simply for doing their jobs.”
Why do people act this way? People divide the world into “us” and “them” categories, with “us” being the groups they belong to and “them” being the groups they do not belong to. People tend to show favoritism to their own groups, and hostility to other groups.
A European research team led by
Henri Tajfel decided to conduct a programme of studies that would determine when people would begin to show this ingroup favoritism and outgroup hostility.
Their findings suggest that people are naturally predisposed to dividing the world up into “us” and “them” and to adopting a negative stance toward “them.” Sadly, prejudice and discrimination follow from this predisposition. Furthermore, this predisposition can make a bad situation like a global pandemic even worse. For example, ingroup members tend to blame the outgroup members for starting the pandemic, such as blaming
It is always important to treat people kindly, but even more so during a pandemic.
Chinese people for the virus.
How does one fight against this natural tendency? Learning about the minimal group effect is the first step. Understanding this natural tendency can help you guard against showing hostility to outgroups.
“And I ask everyone, everywhere, to stand up against hate, treat each other with dignity, and take every opportunity to spread kindness,” Guterres said. It is always important to treat people kindly, but even more so during a pandemic. Let’s not make bad things worse by hating others.