Demonization

By SKIP MENDLER

“The devil came here yesterday. Right here... it smells of sulfur still today... “

That was Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, talking recently about George W. Bush’s appearance at the United Nations. The “devil” comment is, of course, what made all the headlines.

Mr. Bush really shouldn’t be surprised by such rhetoric; after all, he and his supporters have been using similar language for years now. From the famous “Axis of Evil” speech to the present day, the Bush regime has repeatedly defined itself as embroiled in the front lines of the Eternal Struggle Betwixt Good and Evil, in which the Global War on Islamo-Fascist Terror (or whatever it’s being called this week) is but the latest skirmish. The Bush regime and its allies are, of course, on the side of the angels, and anyone against them is—well, you know.

As noted in the column “The Need for an Enemy,” of a few weeks ago, you’ll realize that one of the luxuries of having an absolute enemy is the permission to dehumanize them. This absolves one from any burden of guilt for whatever atrocities one might happen to commit against them. Demonization—by which the Enemy is not only inhuman, but infernal—ratchets up the next step: not only are we freed of guilt, in fact, since we’re struggling against Evil Itself, we are required, morally compelled even, to pull out all the stops. Hence Bush’s perplexity as to why anyone would have any question about his right to order torture, unauthorized surveillance, or illegal imprisonment of people who are obviously—well, you know.

Now, I do believe there is a certain kind of malevolent force at work in the world, one that draws us off the paths we would prefer to walk, and that seems to thrive on causing suffering to others. I don’t know if I would assign sentience or intention to it (much less hooves, horns and a tail), but one thing I do know is that it’s awfully sneaky. In fact, it can make you think that you are fighting against it when you’re actually helping it.

Or to put it another way: when we demonize someone, that opens the door for us to become more demonic ourselves.

So how does one fight against such a force? Well, here are some interesting suggestions:

“You fight evil with acts of decency and kindness. You fight evil by doing something good. You fight evil by teaching a child that somebody loves them. You fight evil by being an L.A. Laker that convinces somebody to be a mentor for some child in inner-city Los Angeles who wonders whether there’s any love or hope in the world. That’s how you fight evil.”

Guess who said that? You might well guess Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King (except for the Lakers reference, of course). Certainly sounds like a pacifistic kind of response to me.

That was none other than George W. Bush himself, congratulating the Lakers on their NBA championship back in 2002.

Yeah, I was surprised too.

You see, as Chavez showed yesterday, you don’t have to be a fundamentalist Christian, or a fundamentalist anybody, to demonize others; it’s a temptation to which any of us can succumb, whatever our point of view. The struggle is to hold on to the sense that one’s opponent, however ill-intentioned, misguided, or uninformed they may seem at the time, is nonetheless still human.

It’s when we forget that fact that we open the gates of hell.

P.S. Readers might want to research the facts behind Chavez’s comments about two other matters—a fellow named Luis Posada Carriles, and the assassination 30 years ago of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier. Very interesting and enlightening bits of history are there to be found and contemplated.