here is a painfully thin line between, on the one hand, drawing attention to the wrongs that people have committed along with holding them morally responsible for those wrongs and, on the other hand, fostering hate on account of having been a victim of those wrong.  And if there is anything that blacks, Jews, and Muslims have in common over and above their humanity, it is that they have all failed to be sufficiently attentive to this difference.  Of course, lots of others are teaching hatred as well. However, it is quite interesting that this claim can be made of these three groups.

Among each one of these groups one can find individuals who speak with such venom about the wrongs that “their people” have suffered that hatred for those who committed those wrongs would seem to be the only morally appropriate stance that a self-respecting black or a self-respecting Jew or a self-respecting Muslim could take.  And almost all talk as if the horrors of “their people” define the very nadir of evil.  Nothing could be worse than what "their people" went through.

So, little Muslim boys and girls are raised to believe that the world has been particularly hostile towards Muslim people; for it is held that no other people have come even close to suffering more.  Little Jewish girls and boys are raised to believe the parallel claim about Jews; and, of course, little black boys and girls are raised to believe the parallel claim about blacks.  Why this line of presentation is justified in the name of ethnic identity and solidarity. 

But it is not just this sort of thing is taught.  Rather, it is taught in a way that invites in a most profound way mistrust of the “others”.  Worse, this sort of thing is taught in a way the belief that “others” hav an invested interest in harming “your people” has enormous credibility. 

Needless to say, it does not take much to get from these remarks to hatred.  And there is no better catalyst for hatred than a very rich mixture of fear of “others”.  Fear automatically gives one a reason to distrust and an abiding distrust is to hatred what oil is to a match: a combustion waiting to happen. 

Things were not always like this.  Indeed, it is very difficult to find a message of hatred in the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Most unfortunately, though, hatred serves very well as a way of galvanizing people, because it is easy to instill fear which is, as I have already pointed out, is the primary catalyst for hatred.  A message of hatred is often the substitute for a positive message.

What makes this blog-entry particularly interesting, though, is just the fact that blacks, Jews, and Muslims can all be equally accused of teaching hatred.  And this is a commonality that no doubt each despises. 

Now, the claim that I am making is particularly sharp.  This is because I am in fact accusing each group of participating in evil.  And it is easy enough to think that surely I exaggerate.  Alas, I think not. 

First of all, no child is born with a sense of ethnic identity.  Ethnic identity is learnt.  Second, it is not from other ethnic groups that children learn to distrust those who do not share their ethnic identity.  No, children learn that from those who share their ethnic identity.  These two premises pretty much suffice to establish that it is from Muslim adults that Muslim children learn to hate “others”; and that it is from Jewish adults that Jewish children learn to hate “others”; and that it is from black adults that black children learn to hate “others”.  So who is teaching hatred? The answer is: blacks, Jews, and Muslims.  And to teach hatred is to participate in none other than evil itself. 

Now, I have spoken in quite broad generalities.  There are blacks who are not teaching no such thing to their children.  There are Jews who teaching no such thing to their children.  There are Muslims who are teaching no such thing to their children. 

But all I need for the argument is that enough are doing so.  As I noted at the outset: the justification for this is that “our people” have suffered. 

It goes without saying that the history of evil should be taught.  But a fair teaching would have lessons regarding “our faults” and not just the incredible wrongs of “others”.  Indeed, there seem to be some blacks in America who think that the only wrong blacks would ever have committed prior to American Slavery would have been that of consuming too many berries or whatever. 

Jews do not have a history of sainthood.  But what Jewish child learns this from adult Jews in the community?  Blacks do not have a history of sainthood.  But what black child learns this from black adults in the community?  Muslims do not have a history of sainthood.  But what Muslim child learns this from adult Muslims in the community? 

Needless to say, the considerations of the preceding paragraph lend considerable support to my claim that Muslims, blacks, and Jews are teaching hatred.  We are all fallible and make mistakes.  No group has cornered the market on infallibility; no group has cornered the market on fallibility.  But where does anyone—especially any child—learn this fundament and ever so basic truth? 

I do not claim that three groups have taught hatred equally.  The differences, though, if there be any, are absolutely uninteresting to me.  This is because nothing will change the fact that each group is guilty as charged.  The differences, such as they might be, do not give the members of any group anything to boast about.  All should be ashamed.  Starting there would already be the beginning of a better world. 

Painfully, it is most certainly the case that this blog-entry has equally offended blacks, Jews, and Muslims.  I shall take that as proof par excellence that I have actually gotten it exactly right.  When it comes to teaching hatred, especially to children, no one's suffiering can be properly countenanced as a moral pass.  Evil starts with the suppostion to the contrary; and blacks, Jews, and Muslims have, in the name of suffering, all ventured down that path.      

This essay owes much inspiration to Claudia Card's book The Atrocity Paradigm (Oxford University Press, 2002).  She makes the quite simple, but ever so profound point that victims of wrongdoing can themselves be evil.  I have merely undescored that truth in a way that most would not expect because, after all, her claim applies only to "others".