Hate speech can be first step to some devastating consequences
The “Pyramid of Hate” is an illustration created by the Anti-Defamation League to show how bias can progress from harsh words to violent deeds. It’s an educational tool consistent with the organization’s mission statement: “To stop the defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all.”
AntiMuslim posts that appeared on a Pearland City Council candidate’s Facebook page, which I discussed in my column last Friday, are examples of the pyramid’s lower levels: stereotyping and namecalling, for example. And on the very day my column was published, a dramatic example of the higher, more dangerous levels played out in Portland, Ore.
Two men were stabbed to death and a third was wounded when they intervened as a man screamed anti-Muslim insults at two women on a commuter train. The attacker faces two counts of aggravated murder and other charges; the three men he stabbed have been hailed as heroes.
It’s important to point out that none of the Facebook posts I wrote about encouraged or sanctioned violence. One message called for banning Islam, another for banning the Quran. Some crude imagery was employed.
Many people who engage in hateful speech would never consider harming anyone. But over time, as intolerant comments rain down on us from our social media feeds, from talking heads on cable news, and perhaps even from people we encounter in our everyday lives, they lose their power to shock. This leaves a safe space for those with truly ill intent, like the Portland attacker, to occupy.
In Pearland, the antiMuslim posts appeared on the personal Facebook page of Woody Owens, 69, an engineering firm executive who faces a 30-year-old Muslim pharmacist, Dalia Kasseb, in a June 10 runoff for a City Council seat.
Screenshots of the posts were featured in a video created recently by the Brazoria County Democratic Party.
Owens told me on Thursday that he did not share any of the posts featured in the video.
He said Facebook had contacted him to report that it was removing the video, which was posted on the party’s Facebook page. “They said there was no validity to it,” Owens said.
But Facebook has not removed the video; it was still online Thursday. The posts included in the video appear to have been removed from Owens’ page. A Facebook spokeswoman said the company could not comment on individual users.
Denial and skepticism
Owens said he was unsure how the posts appeared on his page. “I’m not a real Facebook person,” he said, adding that the entire episode was an irritating distraction: “I was on City Council from 2000 to 2013 and I’ll stand on my record.”
Kasseb said she is skeptical of Owens’ denial. And in any event, this isn’t the first time messages appealing to intolerance have surfaced in Pearland elections this year.
I’ve written previously about a letter warning that “gay rights Democrats” were trying to take over local government in Pearland, and about a school board candidate’s Facebook post that warned about Muslim candidates running for local offices.
Kasseb said it’s not a reach to suggest a connection between such messages and the actions of the attacker in Oregon.
“I’m not insinuating that my opponent is trying to cause violence,” Kasseb said. “But if this is part of our norms, and this is something that we’re used to, then where will it stop? When will it be enough?”
After Germany’s defeat in World War I, a young rabble-rouser named Adolf Hitler made speeches blaming Jews for the problems of his proud, struggling nation. Hitler’s fiery rhetoric struck a chord with frustrated German audiences, laying the groundwork for the human devastation that would soon sweep across Europe.
“The Holocaust started with hateful speech,” said Dena Marks, the Anti-Defamation League’s regional associate director. “There’s a slow progression up from the bottom of the pyramid, with the top being genocide.”
Backlash in Pearland
A few ugly social media messages are a long way from genocide, of course. And there are clear signs of a backlash against intolerance in Pearland.
The school board candidate who posted the item about Muslims, incumbent Rusty DeBorde, lost his seat to an 18-year-old high school senior who pledged to support students’ rights to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. And the valedictorian of Pearland High School emphasized the importance of kindness and tolerance in his speech to his classmates a few days ago.
In Portland, “the three gentlemen who stood up to defend those ladies represent the best of America,” said M.J. Khan, the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston.
In the same sense, perhaps Pearland’s emerging young leaders represent the best of that community. They have the chance to create a new illustration: the Pyramid of Love.