Coming Across Things You Can’t Unsee
by mouseillustration
I recently “liked” a page on Facebook that showed funny pictures and sometimes posted enlightening articles. The other day this page posted a photo from another Facebook page intelligently titled “Ban Islam.” I was surprised by their affiliation with this page, and unfortunately curiosity led me to view it. Mistake. The page is dedicated to hate. In their own words, “What is wrong with inciting intense dislike of a religion if the activities or teachings of that religion are so outrageous, irrational or abusive of human rights.” Needless to say, I “unliked” the page that had taken me to this awful place.
One of the posts on the “Ban Islam” page was of Eid ul Adha, something I know absolutely nothing about. The picture was horrifying and it is something that I wish I hadn’t seen. It has been popping up in my mind for the last 24 hours and every time I think about it, I get the chills. After a while I realized it wasn’t the picture that was disturbing me so much, it was the comments that some people had made on it. What my fellow human beings were saying about each other was stemming from pure, undiluted hatred and fear.
I decided to draw a picture of the image that had so horrified me, in order to take some of its power away. Now it doesn’t scare me so much, but I am left shaken by the true ugliness of what I found: the level to which people will sink to single each other out and hate each other until there is nothing left. The “Ban Islam” page has nearly 7,000 followers that take time out of their day to hate an entire group of people.
From now on I’m going to stay on the nice side of the internet: easy chicken salad recipes and cat videos.
Here is a link to the photo. Warning: it is very violent and disturbing.
I’m too chicken to try your link, but I’m making the art was therapeutic.
Thank you! I would advise you not to click the link. I only put it up so people could see it if they really wanted to.
Definitely not clicking. I have a queasy stomach. The internet is a wondrous thing, but every thing has a good and bad side. I prefer to stay on the nice side as well. But it’s hard to avoid terrible ones, especially when you didn’t know what is coming. Some things you just can’t erase…
Amen!
I often think about the nature of influence and how you can’t undo experience. Sometimes, like this time, we get stuck with ideas we can’t unthink. It’d be nice if we all had a Yoda around to help us “unlearn what we have learned”, but in all my looking for a Yoda, I haven’t found one.
Well said!
Yes, it is part of life to see or experience things we would rather we didn’t. Rather than seeking refuge in cat videos, as entertaining as they are, there may be solace in the pages or commentary of people who have something intelligent to say about Islam and the diversity of people who incorporate this religion into their lives and cultures.