HOW HATE SPEECH HAS BECOME MAINSTREAM
"... (a person) hated the ... (a religious group), as did everyone in ... (a village),..." (An excerpt from a bestselling novel) I was reading a novel by a bestselling author yesterday when I came across the sentence above. I paused to reflect on how easy it has become to write in a mainstream novel that a whole group of people hates another whole group of people, and no one raises an eyebrow. I deliberately removed the names of the religious groups involved, and the author, because unfortunately this wasn't a unique experience. I have read similar statements by authors belonging to many religions, against many religious groups. I kept thinking how would this author knew that every member of the other religious group hated his religious group? Did he ask all of them, did he conduct a survey, or is it just guilt by association; because some members of that group have expressed hateful ideas about another religion, therefore, it must mean all of them hate every member of t