Recurrence of Hatred

By Khandoker Asef Safa Kabir

The US presidential election of 2016 is taking place amidst a rapidly evolving global political landscape. The turbulent events of this flaming reality-show have considerable implications for the broader world. The conflict in the Middle East is going off the cliff; extremism is on the rise worldwide; and emboldened Russia and North Korea are proudly threatening the world order. We are witnessing one of the worst refugee crises of the century. The rejuvenated xenophobia and the rise of chauvinistic nationalism at the expense of trampled humanity are paving ways for global disintegration, in the form of events like BREXIT. In such a problematic context, we are witnessing the ominous ‘Trump revolution’.
No, I am not going to waste another article criticising Donald Trump and his misogynistic comments about women. More interesting things than Trump are going on, and no one is talking much about those. The mainstream media, as Trump would put it, is too busy in highlighting his spicy scandals and ‘locker-room banter’ that it almost forgot to analyze ‘what’ transformed this gruesome nightmare into a blazing American dream.
We can deny it and blame it on Trump. But it is true that we are living in a world where someone like Donald Trump can come this far, and possibly become the most powerful person in the world. Despite calling women slobs, or Mexicans rapists, or calling global warming a hoax, or supporting a complete ban on Muslims entering the US it was surprising to see him become a Republican nominee in the ‘prestigious’ presidential election with the endorsement of almost half of the population of the United States, which is often viewed as the leader of the free world.
Some people would attribute this phenomenon to the merit of Trump’s economic policies that promise to revamp America’s economy, while others would regard his rise as the result of ignoring the underprivileged middle-class Americans in governmental policy making. However, I view this phenomenon as the by-product of unrestrained hatred in our world today. We are living in a perplexing world full of hatred and distrust. Hatred comes in all shapes and forms. We are arrogantly entering an era characterized by renewed hatred for foreign cultures; hatred for diversity; hatred for someone else’s religion or race; and hatred for ideological differences. We are not hesitating to forsake our basic moral values for the violent hatred, which is raging in our hearts. When you have hatred in your heart it will be exploited by someone, be it Trump or Baghdadi. Hatred needs an outlet for expression. Hatred blinds us and consequently we fail to see more important issues happening around us. Trump himself has become an epitome of hatred in the mainstream media. We need ‘a face’ at which we can express our unexpressed angers. We spend hours criticising Trump, and in the process forget to talk about the real issues that gave birth to a Trump. Terrorist organisations around the world are probably laughing at the US and saying, “See, what we have made out of them.”
Arguably the main problem about Trump is ‘uncertainty’. No one really knows what will happen if he is elected as the US President. And after everything that he has done no one knows what will happen if he is ‘not elected’ the president.
Nevertheless, Trump is a clever businessman and he views the world through the eyes of a shrewd businessman. He identifies his opportunities well, and takes advantage of them to make immoral profit (without paying tax). Like an astute businessman, he connects well with people to circulate his unrealistically grandiloquent ideologies. However, the fundamental question is why such racist ideologies are getting momentum in a country which is perhaps one of the most advanced democracies in the world. Or, is it the loophole of democracy that gave birth to someone like Trump? Democracy is an imperfect system, and often people endorse individuals who do not deserve to be on the big stage. There are some demagogues in every epoch who exploit fears and anxiety of innocent people to climb the ladder of power. Trump is not new. Infamous leaders like Hitler and Mussolini did similar things decades back and humanity faced the catastrophic consequences.

The writer is a lecturer at School of Business and Economics, NSU.

Editor’s note: This article was written ahead of the November 8 US election.

 

Recurrence of Hatred

By Khandoker Asef Safa Kabir The US presidential election of 2016 is taking place amidst a rapidly evolving global political landscape. The turbulent events of this flaming reality-show have considerable implications for the broader world. The conflict in the Middle East is going off the cliff; extremism is on the rise worldwide; and emboldened Russia and North Korea are proudly threatening the world order. We are witnessing one of the worst refugee crises of the century. The rejuvenated xenophobia and the rise of chauvinistic nationalism at the expense of trampled humanity are paving ways for global disintegration, in the form of events like BREXIT. In such a problematic context, we are witnessing the ominous Trump revolution. No, I am not going to waste another article criticising Donald Trump and his misogynistic comments about women. More interesting things than Trump are going on, and no one is talking much about those. The mainstream media, as Trump would put it, is too busy in highlighting his spicy scandals and locker-room banter that it almost forgot to analyze what transformed this gruesome nightmare into a blazing American dream. We can deny it and blame it on Trump. But it is true that we are living in a world where someone like Donald Trump can come this far, and possibly become the most powerful person in the world. Despite calling women slobs, or Mexicans rapists, or calling global warming a hoax, or supporting a complete ban on Muslims entering the US it was surprising to see him become a Republican nominee in the prestigious presidential election with the endorsement of almost half of the population of the United States, which is often viewed as the leader of the free world. Some people would attribute this phenomenon to the merit of Trumps economic policies that promise to revamp Americas economy, while others would regard his rise as the result of ignoring the underprivileged middle-class Americans in governmental policy making. However, I view this phenomenon as the by-product of unrestrained hatred in our world today. We are living in a perplexing world full of hatred and distrust. Hatred comes in all shapes and forms. We are arrogantly entering an era characterized by renewed hatred for foreign cultures; hatred for diversity; hatred for someone elses religion or race; and hatred for ideological differences. We are not hesitating to forsake our basic moral values for the violent hatred, which is raging in our hearts. When you have hatred in your heart it will be exploited by someone, be it Trump or Baghdadi. Hatred needs an outlet for expression. Hatred blinds us and consequently we fail to see more important issues happening around us. Trump himself has become an epitome of hatred in the mainstream media. We need a face at which we can express our unexpressed angers. We spend hours criticising Trump, and in the process forget to talk about the real issues that gave birth to a Trump. Terrorist organisations around the world are probably laughing at the US and saying, See, what we have made out of them. Arguably the main problem about Trump is uncertainty. No one really knows what will happen if he is elected as the US President. And after everything that he has done no one knows what will happen if he is not elected the president. Nevertheless, Trump is a clever businessman and he views the world through the eyes of a shrewd businessman. He identifies his opportunities well, and takes advantage of them to make immoral profit (without paying tax). Like an astute businessman, he connects well with people to circulate his unrealistically grandiloquent ideologies. However, the fundamental question is why such racist ideologies are getting momentum in a country which is perhaps one of the most advanced democracies in the world. Or, is it the loophole of democracy that gave birth to someone like Trump? Democracy is an imperfect system, and often people endorse individuals who do not deserve to be on the big stage. There are some demagogues in every epoch who exploit fears and anxiety of innocent people to climb the ladder of power. Trump is not new. Infamous leaders like Hitler and Mussolini did similar things decades back and humanity faced the catastrophic consequences. The writer is a lecturer at School of Business and Economics, NSU. Editors note: This article was written ahead of the November 8 US election.