Darkness in the mind has no frontiers. Paranoia and xenophobia are equally prevalent in the 'modern' West as well as in the 'medieval' East. Never underestimate the capacity of humans to behave badly. Technology has not been accompanied with greater enlightenment, nor has the glut of information led to piercing insights.
A new paperback book, "The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age", by Martha C. Nussbaum, a noted academic at the University of Chicago, makes an insightful contribution on the widening spread of prejudice in the West. It singles out Western intolerance directed against Muslims.
Unscrupulous politicians everywhere encash on the climate of fear and keep fanning embers of mistrust and anxiety to ensure that particular segments of society remain unpopular in the public imagination and, hence, serve as ready-made targets. Democracy has not prevented erosion of democratic decency and civility.
West-based Muslims often have over-prioritized economic considerations at the expense of core human dignity values. But, in Malmo, Sweden, Derakhti, a young Swedish Muslim, has made his mark by standing up against hate crimes targeted against Muslims and Jews.
Europe was supposed to fare better in the post- 9/11 virus of hate, given its 20th century history of genocidal crimes against humanity. But, according to the book's author, Europe has done worse than America. The anti-burqa campaigns in France, Germany, and Belgium, along with a constitutional amendment (following a public referendum) banning new minarets in Switzerland, are meant particularly to drum up bigotry - steps taken under the disguise of secular democracy or anti-terrorism measures. The duality is glaring. Nuns can cover their heads, but not Muslim women.
Chronic inadequacy and defensiveness is a hallmark in the approach of the educated elite amongst the Western Muslim community. Beneath the hullabaloo is the cold reality of a lop-sided power imbalance. Power disparity results in one party seeking dialogue and the other party rebuking it. Accordingly, rules are applied to others but not to oneself.
In Montgomery County, Maryland, the school system - which recognizes major Christian and Jewish events as school holidays - recently did not approve adding the two Muslim Eid celebrations to the list of official school holidays, citing insufficient evidence of absenteeism of students and teachers from school on Muslim holidays.
Amidst it there are potential silver linings. The US Government has designated Arabic a "critical language", leading to new Arabic programs for American children in Washington.
Because of the vulnerability of the Muslim community in the post-9/11 West, the principle of individual responsibility is being replaced with the principle of collective guilt. In other words, individual Muslim misconduct continues to be deployed as a weapon to put the entire Muslim community on the back-foot.
Opinion-makers are quick to pounce on the flaws of others, while turning a blind eye to their own. A society that accepts its diversity and differences of opinion ensures that the larger union endures.
Education may be a part of the solution, but as my late mother would say, it is darkness in the minds of the educated which more often is part of the problem.