The society that existed two or three centuries ago has evolved. Today more things divide people than in those days. As a result, there is more construction of otherness than pulling together as a community. Religion has now taken center stage in the construction of otherness.
The first step in constructing otherness deals with stressing the real or imaginary differences between the racist and his victim. It seeks to benefit the accuser at the victim’s expense. Even when there is no difference, the racist person usually invents one (Mele 2). Mr. Schreiber makes the Florida mosque his target because of the relation it had with the former bomb attackers.
Assigning a value to the differences seeks to highlight the defendant’s inferiority and the accuser’s superiority. When the black race is inferior, then the white race is superior. The negative value is usually on the defendant, while the positive value is mostly on the accuser (Rothenberg 178). The community as a whole should not allow the color of the skin or the languages they speak to differentiate them. Schreiber chose to place a negative value on Islam and its followers.
The racist always works on stretching the negative and the plus signs to maximize the difference. The more one puts down one’s victim, the better he seems to become. He marks the difference at the expense of his victim. A simple difference, whether imagined or real, biological or cultural, would most probably lead to very many descriptions to demean the defendant. It leads to hatred, envy, and thoughts that may lead to the destruction of the victim. For instance, there is no need to mention the word, Jew, among those who have discriminated against them (Mele 2). It would automatically lead to repulsion. The trend of otherness expands from biology all through towards metaphysics. The accuser chooses to become fundamentally superior after making the difference to be radical.
The creation of otherness characterizes the victim’s personality through the difference and generalization. All the people that belong to the victim’s group become the target of accusations. Biological differences now become the primary source of difference that leads to the entire tribe or ethnic community (Rothenberg 178). By now, the victim can also feel the difference so painfully that he may choose to retaliate in his way. Once the difference becomes part of the victim, it also becomes his family’s issue.
The real or supposed defects of the defendant extend to the household that shares his blood and or circle of friendship. For instance, if one or two Muslims commit a crime, then the whole group is guilty of the offense. None of the members of the defendant’s group can escape the stereotyping and social determinism. The difference becomes final as it connects the past to the future of the respondent. For instance, if Moner Mohammed carried out a suicide bombing in Syria, then someone else from the same mosque will do the same shortly. And there is nothing that will change him. The accuser, Schreiber, becomes the judge, and the defendant must suffer his wrath.
The racist individual has racist motives. Human beings make mistakes, and in the desire to protect their interest, they blame other people. They can even blame an object or an animal. Racism can rise from intellectual rivalry. Anxiety can also lead to the desire to fight back the difference.
The accuser does negative things towards the defendant to justify the action as being an answer to the defendant’s punishment. The defendant may not have done anything wrong. However, just because one falls in the classified category of the victim, one has to suffer the punishment. The Jew is already guilty even when he has not done anything wrong. The victim and those who are part of his circle are already punishable.
The Florida man had come to hate Islam as a whole. He had posted on his social media platform sentiments that portrayed how he had constructed otherness in those who practiced Islam. He had witnessed the September 11, 2001, bomb attack and other attacks on other communities. The attackers were either Muslims or professed to have the inclination towards Islam. It is not certain from the witnesses that he is the one who caused the fire. However, he had been to the mosque before the fire and left the scene just as it was burning.
The hate crime from his posts on the Facebook account would increase his charge from second-degree arson to first-degree arson. He had built a difference against Islam believers over time and had categorized them as radical (Mele 2). The mosque that he purportedly burned was also the place where some of the radical Muslims had worshiped before committing their crimes. The Mosque’s Sheikh and other congregants said that they do not teach, support or engage in any activities that are radical other than Islam’s peaceful teachings.
Albert Memmi says that “it is not the whiteness that differentiates the white man from the black; it is the blackness that disastrously separates the black man from the white…” (175).The quote helps in understanding that the difference gives the colonizer power over the victim. It gives the meaning of creating otherness.
The societies are not moving positively forward toward cooperation socially. The differences exist in people’s minds. Joseph Schreiber’s actions indicate that because of constructing otherness, the society is moving towards increased construction of otherness.
Works Cited
Mele, Christopher. Arrest Made in Arson at Mosque that Orlando Nightclub Gunman attended. Web.
Rothenberg, Paula S. Beyond Borders: Thinking Critically about Global Issues, New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2006. Print.