4 January to 11 January
Words of hatred: from playground bullying to murder and genocide
At a recent conference, in Salzburg, about the abuse of power, I presented a paper in which I referred to Allport's book The Nature of Prejudice, and in particular, to his 'scale of discrimination', which suggests that words may underpin and enable all forms of discrimination, from playground bullying to murder and genocide. He thought that:
'.under certain circumstances there will be stepwise progression from verbal aggression to violence, from rumour to riot, from gossip to genocide.'
As a child I was taught to believe that 'words can never hurt you'. I now realise that this is little other than a well-intentioned, but ultimately shallow and misleading untruth. Words are the stealth bombers of bullying that fly in under the radar of our defenses and cause chaos.
Words are the root of bullying. It seems not to change. We learn that during Romford's Remembrance Day Parade this year, some Scouts shouted, 'Let's kill the Jews' at Jewish service personnel. Where did they get this idea? What possible motivation could they have had for such an act? Allport's warning is as relevant now, as it was in 1954. Let's heed that warning, remembering that addressing words of hatred may prevent war.
Dave Hufton PhD Student, SAGE