Dear HCN,
Regarding Stephen Lyon’s
essay “An ugly message marches down an Idaho street” (HCN,
8/16/99):
The rise to power of the Nazi Party in
1933 was both surprising and rapid. Few people then anticipated the
process or magnitude of events to come. Just shortly before,
Germany had been a refuge from the wave of anti-Semitism sweeping
across an increasingly fascist Europe.
I commend
Stephen Lyons for recognizing the different faces of bigotry in
Idaho. I fault him for limiting his observations to Idaho, and for
dismissing xenophobia’s potential so lightly. Bigotry knows no
educational, economic or geographic boundaries, and it can hide
itself well in political correctness and in the most densely
populated areas.
My wife’s graduate research
centers around refugees who have escaped their home countries and
oppressive governments. Generally, a common experience of refugees
is that, prior to the outbreak of violence in their immediate
community, and even when faced with sufficient evidence of it
elsewhere, most persistently clung to the belief “It can’t be
happening, not to us, not now, not in our society.” And after the
violence (directed mostly along racial and ethnic lines) has been
experienced and the refugee’s understanding of order and meaning in
life has been destroyed, many are left wondering “I don’t
understand … they were my friends just before the troubles
started.”
Tolerance begins with the individual
and flows into the institutional fabrics of society, which after
time reflect tolerance back. The same is true of the destructive
partnerships of bigotry, fear, hatred, and greed. The most
dangerous individual is the one who is absolutely convinced of his
correctness and his cause, and Lyons should remember this. Let us
have the courage to re-examine the adequacy of our own tolerance
when we think the work we have done is enough; failing this, we
will lay the destructive foundations for others, and possibly
ourselves, to use.
Stephen
Hansen
Logan,
Utah
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The different faces of bigotry.
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