Hate the sin, pity the sinner

By Neil Gonsalves | The antidote to hate cannot be more hate; the response to repugnant speech should be considered speech. In the face of hatred this article calls for humanity

Written by Neil Gonsalves for Seeking Veritas on Substack

(Image by Javier Robles from Pixabay)

On Saturday October 19th, 2024 the burned deceased body of Gursimran Kaur, a 19-year-old young woman was found in a Nova Scotia Walmart bakery oven. She was originally from India and had immigrated to Canada with her mother about two years ago. Halifax Regional Police have said a criminal investigation is currently ongoing and for this reason I won’t speculate on the specifics of the incident as there is a great deal that is unknown at this time.

The focus of this article is not on the actual event, but rather the social media reaction to the tragic death of this young woman. A couple of months ago I wrote an article titled Unwelcome and Unwanted, it focused on the concerning trends related to hate directed at South Asians in Canada. I really wish I wasn’t writing another piece on the same subject so soon.

In that article I shared a story from July 26 2024, about a man of Sikh ancestry who was spat on and had his turban knocked off and stepped on in Peterborough, Ontario. According to Statistics Canada, hate crimes toward South Asian communities, has increased recently by 143%, evidence of troubling implications for the Indian diaspora in Canada. - And here we are again.

Social Media Cancer

In the aftermath of the tragic death of Gursimran Kaur, the social media trolls were quick to spread hateful and derogatory commentary about the incident. The posts below provide a sample of the vitriolic hate that is currently circulating.

It is tempting to respond to these posts with righteous indignation, however the antidote to hate cannot be more hate. I wouldn’t even demand that their abhorrent posts be taken down, de-platforming them should not be the logical choice in my opinion. I suggest that the response to repugnant speech should be considered speech. I do not make this suggestion lightly. Those messages undoubtedly spread hateful sentiments. The nature of algorithmic incentives will result in them going viral, that is inevitably and unavoidable. What we should do is respond by summoning the better angels of our humanity.

It is important to recognize that 80% of the viral content on these social media sites are generated by approximately 10% of users. The implication of this skewed content creation distribution is that it falsely creates a sense of consensus. But their views are NOT the consensus, these sentiments do NOT represent the best of our Canadian values. I have heard people say these are conservative white people who hate immigrants, I disagree with that characterization as well. These sentiments do NOT represent all white people and they are NOT representative of conservatives writ large; at best it is a crude caricature of conservatism.

Let’s be clear, and let’s say it repeatedly, these views represent a small fraction of people, albeit people with a large microphone attached to parasitic technologies. Their views have been fermented by hate, convoluted by fears, and influenced by economic and social change which threatens their identity. We should not look upon them with hate, we should feel sorry for them. I probably wouldn’t call them a basket of deplorables, but they appear to lack the critical thinking skills necessary for functioning in a complex society - it must be very challenging to be that myopic.

I urge you no matter how difficult, to not hide these posts from others, don’t delete them, rather talk to people you know about it, expose it for what it is, UN-CANADIAN, UN-DEMOCRATIC, and utterly INDECENT.

Social media has become an undeniable force in shaping the landscape of our culture. As of 2024, there are 5.17 billion people actively using social media globally. The average user engages with 6.7 different platforms and the average time spent per user per day is 2 hours 20 minutes. These platforms have quickly become the primary sources of news and information for many users. Is it any wonder why hateful lies spread around the world so feverishly before the truth even wakes up in the morning?!

An olive branch and a devil’s bargain

If you are indifferent to the posts above, if you support the posts, or plan to pile on even in private, then I offer this;

If you believes that there is a justifiable debate to be had about Canadian immigration policy, many South Asians agree too. If you believe that housing prices and inflation cause economic stress, many South Asians agree too. If you believe unemployment rates cause frustration and anger, many South Asians agree too. If you believe that wokeism and calls for segregated spaces solely for coloured people is vacuous and misguided, many South Asians agree too.

So here’s the devil’s bargain - If you want to inundate us with a cacophony of putrid verbal dehumanizing rhetoric, my generation and the ones that came before us are no strangers to such antagonism. From the Portuguese to the British, from Komagata Maru to Idi Amin we have seen it all, so … bring it! - Just leave our kids out of it!

The victim of this tragic event in Nova Scotia was a 19 year old girl, a child, someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s family, someone’s loved one - What if it was your child, your daughter, your sister, your family, your loved one? What common decency would you demand? What humanity would you hope for?

About the author: Neil Gonsalves is an Indian-born Canadian immigrant who grew up in Dubai, U.A.E. and moved to Canada in 1995. He is an Ontario college educator, a TEDx speaker, an author and columnist, and an advocate for new immigrant integration and viewpoint diversity.

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