How Americans’ Expectation of Perfect Protection Can Kill Their Empathy and Feed Racism

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Kathleen Barry
Although the “Mosque Controversy” is fading from daily headlines, in today’s blog, I move on to the next question in the politics of empathy: Why do so many Americans allow themselves to be driven again into a frenzy of fear of Islam and Arabs?  To empathize, we must know the conditions and situations in which those we empathize with act and behave.
A long time ago, a friend, an Italian diplomat, pointed out to me that Americans are almost the only people in the world who believe that they not only can but must be protected at all times from any possible harm that could come to them.  But people who live through wars and conflicts know that perfect, ultimate protection is impossible.  Still Americans live in the illusion of perfect protection which justifies their state turning other parts of the world into killing zones.  As President Obama told us, he escalated the war in Afghanistan “to keep Americans safe.”
Under such delusions, those who provoked the “Mosque at Ground Zero” controversy intensified white Americans fears that their safety is at stake with Muslims in their midst.  They promoted systematic lies and misinformation about the proposed community center to feed fear and the fiction that every Arab and any Muslim is a threat to our security.  That is racism, the strategy of choice for pro-war, pro-military fanatics. But hatred is not their final goal which is to turn the majority of Americans’ attention away from the ever expanding U.S. military and ongoing war. We can do better than that.  Next blog: How can those Americans with good hearts and positive intentions, who, not being fanatics, turn against the racism that some would use to drive us into expanding wars?

Although the “Mosque Controversy” is fading from daily headlines, in today’s blog, I move on to the next question in the politics of empathy: Why do so many Americans allow themselves to be driven again into a frenzy of fear of Islam and Arabs?  To empathize, we must know the conditions and situations in which those we empathize with act and behave.A long time ago, a friend, an Italian diplomat, pointed out to me that Americans are almost the only people in the world who believe that they not only can but must be protected at all times from any possible harm that could come to them.  But people who live through wars and conflicts know that perfect, ultimate protection is impossible.  Still Americans live in the illusion of perfect protection which justifies their state turning other parts of the world into killing zones.  As President Obama told us, he escalated the war in Afghanistan “to keep Americans safe.”  Under such delusions, those who provoked the “Mosque at Ground Zero” controversy intensified white Americans fears that their safety is at stake with Muslims in their midst.  They promoted systematic lies and misinformation about the proposed community center to feed fear and the fiction that every Arab and any Muslim is a threat to our security.  That is racism, the strategy of choice for pro-war, pro-military fanatics. But hatred is not their final goal which is to turn the majority of Americans’ attention away from the ever expanding U.S. military and ongoing war. We can do better than that.  Next blog: How can those Americans with good hearts and positive intentions, who, not being fanatics, turn against the racism that some would use to drive us into expanding wars?

About Kathleen Barry

I am a feminist activist, author of five books including Female Sexual Slavery which launched an international movement against trafficking in human beings and a sociologist and Professor Emerita. My latest book Unmaking War, Remaking Men has prompted this blog.
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4 Responses to How Americans’ Expectation of Perfect Protection Can Kill Their Empathy and Feed Racism

  1. Registered nurse says:
    October 12, 2010 at 11:44 am

    found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later

    Reply
  2. Robert Wilson says:
    October 18, 2010 at 8:59 am

    thanks for the post

    Reply
  3. badmash says:
    October 23, 2010 at 9:30 am

    I just signed up to your blogs rss feed. Will you post more on this subject?

    Reply

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